LOUIS MARX 1960S DISNEY TELEVISION PLAYHOUSE PLAYSET FIGURES

HERE ON AUCTION IS A GROUP OF 9 PLASTIC MOULDED DISNEY CHARACTERS FROM THE 1960S. THEY WERE PART OF LOUIS MARX DISNEY TELEVISION PLAYHOUSE PLAYSETS OF THAT TIME. INCLUDED ARE MICKEY MOUSE (3), PANCHITO (1), JOSE CARIOCA (3), JIMMY CRICKET (1) AND DONALD DUCK (1) FIGURES. 

NOTE I HAVE VARIOUS OTHER VINTAGE TOYS AND LEGOS ON AUCTION THIS WEEK. 

SIZE 
2-4CM HIGH

CONDITION: IN GOOD USED AND PLAYED WITH CONDITION. 

COLLECTING LOUIS MARX TOYS
Louis Marx started his toy company in 1921 with his brother David, using equipment purchased from his former employer, the Ferdinand Strauss Toy Company.  The company grew through the 1940s, with the bulk of its sales being mass-produced tin lithograhed toys.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Marx and other toy companies introduced toy playsets that included figures, buildings, and related accessories such as animals, trees, wagons, and furniture.  These toys were manufactured with new injection molding techniques developed during World War II.  Each playset was created around a theme, such as a farm, an airport, a gas station, or a military base.  One of the earliest and most popular themes was the American wild west.  The popularity of these playsets among children resulted in a "playset era" that continued into the 1970s.
Figures in the earliest playsets were molded in a rubber-like vinyl and were crudely sculpted with little detail.  Within a few years, Marx changed to a soft plastic material, which allowed much more realistic figures.  Figures in playsets were not painted; they were the color of the material used to produce them.  Marx mixed the material into many shades of yellow, brown, blue, red, gray, and other colors, including an off-white that Marx referred to as ivory.  Marx did sell some similar figures -- or in some cases the same figures -- that were painted, but except for a few miniature sets, these were not included in playsets.
With the playsets as their backbone, the Marx Toy Company became the largest toy company in the world by the 1950s.  Mr. Marx maintained his offices in New York City, but the company's factories were located in both the U.S. and overseas.  He became known as "The Toy King," appeared on the cover of "Time Magazine," and was a close friend of President Dwight Eisenhower.
Mr. Marx sold the company to the Quaker Oats Company in 1972.  Unfortunately, many key Marx employees left the company at that same time, and Quaker Oats was unable to maintain Marx' extraordinary toy empire.  In 1975, the company was sold to Sir Richard Beecham of the toy conglomerate Dunbee-Combex of England, which ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 1980.  Liquidation of the remaining Marx Toy Company assets began in 1980 and was completed by Chemical Bank, the company's primary creditor, two years later.  Marx toy assets were purchased by Jay Horowitz and his company, American Plastic Equipment, Inc.  Subsequently, most playset and action figure prototypes were sold to Chuck Saults (several thousands), while a smaller amount went to Gene Scala (a few hundred).  Mr. Saults has since passed away, and his incredible collection was auctioned off on eBay over a period of more than a year.
Since that time, many people -- including Mr. Marx' son -- have used some of the old Marx molds to manufacture figures.  However, these re-issued figures are usually (but not always) easily distinguishable from the original figures, and collectors are quick to point out that they do not meet the quality of original Marx figures. Mr. Marx died in 1982 at age 85.

MARX PLAYSET AND DISNEYKINS FIGURES:
Marx made two Disney playsets and also sold separately a wide variety of figures representing Disney cartoon characters.  The first playset -- The Disney Television Playhouse -- was released in 1953 and based on Walt Disney's television show.  The set included 35 figures . The second set was the company's Disneyland Play Set, which came out in 1961.  
Marx also sold very small painted figures called Disneykins. Disneykins are a unique brand of miniature hand painted plastic figures manufactured by the Marx Toy Company from 1961 to 1973..

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