Dear collector and Marx books owner:
Thank you for your purchase! We hope you have enjoyed your books. Changes to our original Toy Kings were necessitated when the printing co’s discontinued the original size, forcing us to revisit Marx Toy Kings Volumes I & II.
As a result, during the reworking of these landmark stories of Louis Marx and his Company, there were corrections and a few new facts have come to light which we incorporated. And the books are about ¼” larger all around (Note: For new versions “Revised” appears on the cover and title pages). Most changes are fairly simple, some explanatory, and some informative. We want you to have them as just a friendly service (except the fixed typos are not listed). Again, thank you sincerely for your purchase and making these books a part of your collection.
TOY KINGS VOLUME I
Changes incorporated:
Pgs. 8 and 40 - Charlie Salerno (with an “a”) is the correct spelling for Dave Marx’s brother-in-law who started Homewood Distributing. That firm is responsible for getting all Marx product into smaller stores of California.
Pg. 39 Misspelled Clark Gable’s name and fixed. (Thanks to Raymond Spong)
Pg. 37 We refer to Ralph Kauffman. He was married to Louis Marx’ niece, not daughter.
Pg. 43 We refer to Ralph Kauffman. He was married to Louis Marx’ niece, not daughter.
Pg. 56 The map of the Marx offices is accurate. But description swaps what the Erie and Girrard factories produced, though our text in other places is correct. Girrard produced trains, Erie did guns, games and Great Garloo, among many other things. Glen Dale did playsets, truck and gun lines. The corrected map in the new book is expanded to a full page.
Pg. 57 Murray Finklestein is misidentified as Marcus Finklestein. Murray is correct.
Pg. 95, the bespectacled man In the large photo is Lothar Kiesow, not Wally Gryce. Lothar was an important client who worked for Sears in charge of Boy’s Toys.
TOY KINGS VOLUME II
Changes incorporated:
UPDATE: FRANCIS X. RICE – Frank Rice was born Feb 28th, 1922. Rusty his wife born Dec 7th 1921. Frank’s father Douglas was a stone cutter who worked on bridges. Frank is the youngest of 5 brothers, one worked in Nigeria as a purchasing agent and who began sending him stamps from the age of five, which began a lifelong pursuit of collecting. Update: We lost Frank to natural causes but he lives on in legend and fact.
UPDATE: TOMMY TAYLOR (from Charles Marx): “T. Suffern Taylor (“Tommy” Taylor) was a total society blue blood who hung with Jack Kennedy. My folks were playing poker with him and there was some kidding and Tommy was invited to come to work. One day, he showed up. Charming and with a perfect laugh a fun person, without a trace of snobbery. He showed up in Bermuda shorts and always laughing. His favorite salesman was Charley King – who had the same grace and charm that Tommy had. Louis adored Tommy, we all did".
UPDATE, JOE KLING: Joe Kling, salesman who left Marx, still lives and works and remains highly influential in the toy business. He regularly flies around the world and has stayed in touch. CORRECTION: The real J Edgar Hoover’s photo replaces Herbert Hoover’s, p.162 v.2. Yikes. (Thanks also to Raymond Spong)
NEAR TRAGEDY AVERTED Late in the 1940’s / early 50’s, Louis was distraught over the loss of his wife. He wanted to invest in finding a cure to the cancer that had taken her life, and --at exactly the moment Louis Marx & Company was about to accomplish the products for which they are (would become) famous and beloved in the hearts of baby boomers, Louis was about to end it all by selling or quitting. The arrival of Ed Hjelte, Frank Rice, Sy Wane, and Harmer Cox changed the events even as Charles Marx handled sales and Archie Marcus kept the factories humming until Louis got back into it.
UPDATE: THE END OF GEORGE DESSLER’S REIGN AS HEAD SALESMAN George was a favorite character of ours as we told the story of Marx. As the new wave of salesmen arrived after WWII, they began to take over the individual accounts that Louis and George Dessler had handled personally. George began a long process of easing out; Ed Kelly, a student of the toy industry, succeeded him. Kelly was made sales manager about 1960, succeeding George, and George slowly faded away. “It’s about time,” said George. (Thanks to Charles Marx)
WHY NONE OF LOUIS’ FAMILY TOOK OVER LOUIS MARX & CO. You need two things to succeed: the desire to create a business, and the desire to make money. Louis told each of his children he would give them one million dollars, and that was it. After that they were to go out on their own. Thus, they had money – one half of the formula. Two, they all attained a certain amount of success in an area of their own interest. So in effect, Louis himself killed any chance that his children would take over the toy business. Said Louis: “It requires a certain touch, the kind of judgmental touch you can’t teach someone else. Also, to keep the toy company up front, you have to work harder than I want any kid of mine to work. Anyway, there are more important things in the world than making toys.”
VERY END: I had always intended the end of Volume II to be much more cheerful than I have been told it in fact is. Please consider that the end of Louis Marx, and of his company, was never the end of the Marx toy story. His name grew and prospered almost as never before. In their zeal to collect, Marx toy values have escalated in some cases into stratospheric levels. Marx quality continues to impress, and bring joy, to the thousands and thousands of toy collectors. The name Marx has lived on for decades and continues to mean fun, quality, affordability. www.PlaysetMagazine.com
FORT APACHE KING OF PLAYSETS Added 50 pages- Book is now 159 pages with room in back for your notes. Glorious new cover features the great blockhouse over the gate.
Pgs 5-6 Added 2 pages for contents (old version had 1 page).
Numerous additions fill-out and cover the earliest years of the Fort Apache Sets.
• 3509 Fort Dearborn rearranged
• Previously suggested, now fact3606 & 3607 sets added. Spec’d by Glen Dale August 15, 1951, these are the earliest Fort Apache sets.
• New photos show factory specs and change Mrs. Kaden’s photos from “possibly the unknown” to 3606. Adds factory documentation fixing the dates of the sets Sets date of first sets to 1951, one year earlier than thought Adds 3609 set added – 45mm set with Dearborn figure.
Adds factory doc of Cavalry figure descriptions including the mystery man as “Tied to tree”.
Pg. 21 – large photo added of 3606
Pg. 29 - No.3610 mint boxed contents(6 Frontiersmen, 12 60mm Indians, 8 Camp Indians,
Pg. 30 – Added page on PL-411 Cannon. More factory documentation and photos of Louis Marx’ memo dictating creation of same.
Pg. 31 – Added Previous unknown set – Spiegel’s Fort Apache, first set with PL-411 cannon, 1952. 6 original 60mm Frontiersmen11 sections stockade fence
Pgs. 44 -145 generally expanded adding or enlarging photos, numerous more two-page spreads Expands photos throughout book. Pg. 136-137 Adds 3683 “Cavalry Post” set found by Larry Lovely – blue not aqua 7th Cavalry
Pg. 138 – 142 expanded photos on Carry All sets
Pg. 144 – Expanded documentation of Sears Heritage sets
Pg. 145 – Fort Apache Fails safety tests by new owners of Marx, Quaker Oats
Pg. 148 – Additional Fort Apache (3686, 3687) and 4202 sets plus contemporary sets
Pgs. 152-153, mold groups tidied up.
Pg. 154 - List of sets with Blockhouse over the Gate, List of sets with Falling Horse and Rider. Sets with Long Coats, Sets with Wagons, Sets with Pegged HQ Building.
THE ALAMO Book is now 156 pages New Cover Graphics enhanced and slight changes to text to fix typos. Collectors’ dioramas expanded to 20 pages of photos. Some photos changed, many enlarged -- But very few factual changes from first edition.
Thank you and we hope these are helpful. Rusty Kern, Author, Marx Toy Kings
