Marx Toy Kings Volume 2 (Glossy soft cover Book) by Russell S. Kern

Description: YOU ARE INSIDE MARX, THE WORLD'S LARGEST TOY COMPANYMARX: TOY KINGS Volume 2 continues the epic story from Volume 1. A defining work on the development of the Marx playset, the people who ran it, invented the toys, and their personal trials and triumphs, from the design tables to the factory floor, from the office of the the Toy King himself to the man who mixes the plastics for the playsets and the paint line for the steel trucks, from the earliest days of Louis Marx & Company to its demise using factual accounts and eye-witness interviews in exhausting detail it's all here. Volume II picks up with Louis named “Toy King” by Time magazine. But he faces his greatest challenge ever as television advertising puts his competitors right in the homes of children and Louis refuses to manipulate a child’s desires with TV ads. Meanwhile the firm is at its height, the Glen Dale and Erie plants are at maximum capacity and Louis’ designers Frank Rice (Battleground) and Al Bagg (Iwo Jima) and Ed Hjelte are turning out the greatest playsets the world has ever known: The Giant Blue & Gray, Battleground, Wagon Train and many more, driving toys into a new age of plastics and playsets. This history at its finest -- and most fun! Here is their story, told for the first time in book form -- an “inside-the-halls-of-Marx” history as told by the men who lived it and created the astonishing miniature worlds in a box. Participating fully are a wonderful bunch of guys, funny, informed and they were there, in the offices and halls of Marx with Louis at the height of the firm -- and you will be amazed at what they saw and tell about: Charles Marx who worked at the firm from the mid-1950’s until the end, Ed Furie, Marx’ personal assistant and a top salesman during the same period, Frank Rice and Al Bagg, playset designers of D-Day, Battleground, Fort Apache, Iwo Jima, Battle of the Little Big Horn, Guns of Navarone and many others. - What inspired Marx to invent playsets?- What made Louis open the Hong Kong Factory? - Learn how the Glen Dale factory operated making playsets- What really caused those toy substitutions in Marx sets? - What strike? And why did it happen at Louis' beloved factories? - Why did the FBI investigate the lovable Toy King? - Why was famous TV commentator Walter Cronkite involved with Marx and playsets? - What led to the demise of the firm, what smug young men in suits marched in and destroyed the toys? - Why did employees call it the Alamo?Hear from the people who lived it throughout the history of the firm, learn their secrets, and the names of the men and often beautiful women behind the scenes at Marx, making “Toy Kings” Volumes I and II the bountiful, definitive reference works on the Marx company and the heyday of 1950’s & 60’s toys and playsets. Impeccably researched during a ten year period and written by Rusty Kern, with his producing partner and wife Kathy, the two are publishers of Playset Magazine, America’s only source of information on vintage playsets and plastic figures. We cover playsets in extreme detail in Playset Magazine, or our other two books on ebay "Fort Apache, King of Playsets" and "Marx Civil War" which also includes a chapter on other makers sets and toys like MPC Blues & Grays, Ideal, Timmee, Lido and many others.Shrink wrapped, Glossy cover, color & black and white vintage photosHard cover version available on eBay from Atomic! Over 225 photos Here's what reviewers are saying: “JUST WONDERFUL!” - Alex S. Zachweja Jr. Lebanon VA "The best thing that’s ever been put out there. Pictures are fantastic. – Bill Cable The book will bring back good memories and maybe spur you to replace that long lost playset. Fort Apaches are on Eaby all the time and they are cheap. You can find them without the box for under 50 bucks. Once you get that one under your belt, we can move onto the Blue and Gray playsets. Sept 9 2015 Dear Kathy and Rusty, Your Fort Apache book arrived today, and it is perfect. It had more pictures than I would have expected, and they are all excellent. What a great book! Thank you for all the research and effort which must have gone in to it. Thank you very much for inscribing your book--it makes it even more special for me.Best wishes,Hal H- Wow! Just plain Wow, just like when I was a kid. When I came home from the office, my Fort Apache book had arrived, much faster than Ralphie's Little Orphan Annie decoder too. First you guys get me with Issue Number 83, and now this book. My first reaction was to fly back to New York, as if it were 1957 or 58, and go to Roy's Toyland on Tremont Avenue in the Bronx, as if I could still do so, and feel that thrill of the play value of such playsets. But, your book will more than suffice for me, in the impossibility of going back. I read voraciously, and have many special interest books; cars, trains, ships, World War II history, and every now and then I get one which is clearly a labor of love by someone who knows their subject so well. Thus it is with "Fort Apache: King Of Playsets," So thanks again guys.Sincerely, Larry Osborne Today I received my Marx Fort Apache book and was I excited! This book is amazing. It's everything anyone could want who was a Fort Apache kid like I was. The quality of the book itself and the bright color photos are wonderful. Please believe me when I say like other subscribers to your wonderful magazine, we take none of your hard work for granted and it's greatly appreciated! After showing my wife and a very good friend of mine who's also been "published", I decided I will order two more copies (maybe more) for more Grandsons. They both are fans of the toy soldiers I collect and paint and will enjoy the books. I'm sure this was quite an undertaking for both of you and I wondered, do you have plans for future similar books on other Marx issued toys? Thanks once again. -Bob K On Thu, Sep 3, 2015 at 12:54 PM, Atomic > wrote: Hello Robert and thank you for your purchase-we'll have it shipped tomorrow “I just wanted to let you know how much I have been enjoying my copies of Marx Toy Kings Volumes 1 & 2. Of particular interest to me is all of the in-depth information about Louis Marx’s life and career, and how his New York office operated. (I’m not aware of any other book about the Marx Company that has this many photos of Marx in his office, with VIPs, with his family, etc., or as much detailed information about his personal life.) I was especially interested to read that Marx and Joshua Lionel Cowen were friends. (Too bad no photograph of them together was available!) Of the various Marx men, you mentioned, the one who sounded the most interesting was Cliff “Crunch” Freeland. And I must also mention the fantastic photo of the Ben-Hur playset on pages 118-119 in Volume 2. Of all the playset photos I’ve seen, this one was in a class by itself! Thank you for making all this information available. - Eric Beheim Descanso, CA

Price: 49.95 USD

Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado

End Time: 2024-12-07T16:16:53.000Z

Shipping Cost: 6.95 USD