Louis B. Marx, born on August 11, 1896, in Brooklyn, New York, at the age of fifteen, began his career in the toy market, and because of his genius, became a millionaire at the age of twenty four. In 1955 Mr. Marx was known as the Toy King and his company was the largest maker of toys in the world. Louis Marx passed away on February 5, 1982, at his home in Scarsdale, New York.
Louis Marx & Company was founded in 1919 by its namesake, Louis Marx, at 200 5th Avenue, in New York City. Mr. Marx was a masterful salesman, he represented F.J. Strauss & Company, one of the largest mechanical metal toy companies, where Marx had received his early professional education.
Following a dispute with the Mr. Strauss, Marx had enlisted in the army for World War I. Honorably discharged after the Armistice, Louis Marx returned to the profession that he knew and established his own Representation company in a small office of the Fifth Avenue Building (FAB) as it was known within the toy industry.
Marx represented Strauss and a few other companies such as The Girard Model Works company and the Vermont Wood Toy company. His positive personality made the business such a success that his younger brother, David, joined the business.
The early success of his toys was highlighted by the introduction of the yo-yo in 1928. Marx designed and contracted the manufactured of a wide variety of toys, and the company copied toys made by other manufacturers, improved them, and sold them at lower prices. Millions of durable Marx toys were sold through stores and mail order catalogs.
The Company in the early 1930s, during the Great Depression, seized the opportunity to acquired manufacturing plants of their own in Erie and Girard, then in Glen Dale, West Virginia, near Wheeling. The Erie plant, opened in 1933, was the oldest and largest, followed by the Girard plant, which was acquired in 1934 with the purchase of Girard Model Works, which produced toy trains for the company.
In 1921 Louis Marx & Company had purchased the used tooling and product rights to two of the old Strauss products that were thought to have run their course: The Climbing Monkey and the Mechanical Minstrel Singer. Marx’s salesmanship brought these two products back to life. Manufacturing millions of units in Erie, the factory became known as the Monkey Works among the workers and residents alike.
During the expansion of the 1930s Marx purchased the recently closed, quarter mile long Fokker Aircraft plant, in Glen Dale, for the manufacture of heavy-gauge metal vehicles and large non-mechanical toys. In 1948–49, an addition was built for the production of plastic toys, making the Glen Dale plant the largest. The huge Glen Dale factory manufactured more toys than any other Marx plant, helping Marx become the largest toy maker in the world in the 1940s and 1950s.
Marx supported the war effort in World War II by converting his toy factories to make munitions, detonators, bazookas and other related war materials including the distinction of participating in the Manhattan Project.
By the 1950s Louis Marx and Company was operating 3 huge manufacturing plants in the U S A. The Erie, Girard, and Glendale plants employed over 8000 full time domestic workers.
The Marx wind-up toys were primarily produced in the Erie factory. The Erie factory produced mechanical wind-up toys and mechanical trains. During the 1950s the Erie factory produced millions of mechanical cars, tanks, and tractors annually. In the 1960s the Erie factory also began to produce blow-molded plastics including many of the ride-on toys. In 1975 the Erie factory was closed.
Large toys produced at Glen Dale included doll houses, trucks, service stations, airports, the popular Big Wheel tricycle and numerous other riding toys, and toy replicas of the White House and U.S. Capitol. The factory also made play sets with plastic miniature figures, including Johnny West, Fort Apache, Roy Rogers, Flintstones, knights, vikings, cowboys, Indians, soldiers, astronauts, the presidents, and the Sindy Doll.
When Mr. Marx reached his 70s and his second generation had not taken over the company, it was time to consider an exit strategy. He said, “Toys is a young man’s business.” At that time, Mattel was quickly catching up with Marx in sales. After flirting with RJR on the private sale of the company, they quickly consummated a deal with Quaker Oats to sell the U. S., Hong Kong and Mexican divisions for the sum of 52.8 million dollars! Marx disposed of the other branches privately. Following compliance with the terms of the agreement, Mr. Marx remained available for consulting for 6 months and then was honorably discharged.
At about the same time, Quaker Oats purchased the smaller pre-school toy company known as Fisher-Price and consolidated operations. What worked for one, did not necessarily work for the other. It was the time of President Nixon, Watergate and Viet Nam; Quaker did not feel that the Marx Military product line fit in with the overall wholesome Quaker Oats image. By immediately discontinuing the line, it cut Marx’s revenue without replacement. Furthermore, the Quaker management raised the Marx overhead considerably. After 52 years of consistent profit, Marx Toys under Quaker took a loss. Quaker never got the feel to manage Marx Toys, and after 3 years of mismanagement put the company up for sale.
Poetically, in 1975, Marx Toys was sold to Richard Beecham, the British Marx manager at a huge loss ($52.800,000 cash purchase, and sold for $15 million LBO). They operated under the name Dunbee-Combex-Marx, and although Mr. Beecham, with the talent of Larry Passick, Bob McDarren and Barry Piels, tried hard to turn it around, it was too far-gone.
In 1980 Louis Marx filed for bankruptcy in United States Federal Court, Southern District of New York. During the legal procedure, the assets were awarded to the Chemical Bank of New York as the preferred creditor in 1982. The Chemical Bank hired David Strauss & Company as the liquidator, who in turn contacted American Plastic Equipment, Inc. to purchase all of the non-real and financial assets. American Plastic was interested in obtaining the intellectual property rights and steel product molds, and therefore purchased all of the assets in order to obtain the molds. Toys manufactured by Marx are now sought after by collectors. The Official Marx Toy Museum opened in Moundsville in 2001.
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| Marx Toys, Erie Factory (1900s) |
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| Louis Marx Toy Company, Borough of Girard (October 1937) |
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| Marx Toys’ Tool Room, Borough of Girard (1950s) |
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| Girard Manufacturing Company, also known as Marx Toys; Borough of Girard (October 1937) |
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Marx’s “Jocko the Climbing Monkey” (1930s)
Manufactured in the Erie plant. |
