Nutty Mads Appreciation Thread

[horrorhunter]

I did learn something about Nutty Mads I had wondered about for years. In this pic you can see the Series 3 Nutty Mads in the back of the top shelf:



Five of the six are green ("Heritage" slightly translucent plastic) but the Gutterball Annie is tan (flat colored plastic). I always wondered if that figure was original or a repop. The eBay seller didn't know (of course), and the base bottom gives info correct to the other Series 3 Nutties. I saw some of these listed on eBay a few months back and they were stated to be from the Plasti-Marx factory in Mexico circa 1970s. Plasti-Marx was a subsidiary of Marx and did fairly good work, not like the slipshod operations in Mexico now that knock out those repops with little or no quality control. The lime-green flat plastic Marx Uni-Mons that turn up from time to time were made by Plasti-Marx in the '70s. I guess technically the Plasti-Marx product could be considered repops but they are of good quality and were made in the 1970s just a decade after original Marx figures. Plasti-Marx figures seem to command at or close to the prices of original Marx figures on eBay, though I doubt most people have any idea they are Plasti-Marx or even what Plasti-Marx was. I never could find out for sure but I believe Plasti-Marx went out of business sometime in the late '70s or maybe into the '80s. That's probably the reason those molds got swapped around down there over the years.

Here's a section of the Wiki listing for Marx:
"In 1972, Marx sold his company to the Quaker Oats Company for $54 million ($246 million in 2005 dollars) and retired at the age 76 (Smith 2000, pp. 9–10). Quaker also owned the Fisher-Price brand, but struggled with Marx. Quaker had hoped Marx and Fisher-Price would have synergy, but the companies' sales patterns were too different. Marx was also faulted for largely ignoring the trend towards electronic toys in the early 1970s. In late 1975, Quaker closed the plants in Erie and Girard, and in early 1976, Quaker sold its struggling Marx division to the British conglomerate Dunbee-Combex-Marx, who had bought the former Marx UK subsidiary in 1967."

From what I've been able to gather Plasti-Marx was the Marx subsidiary in Mexico up until Marx sold out to Quaker Oats in 1972. At that time Plasti-Marx became it's own company. Plasti-Marx quality wasn't as high as original Marx quality, but it was better than the Mexican repops cranked out since.

Sure would be nice if someone with some real knowledge of this stuff stepped up and filled in the blanks. Most of what I know is based on bits and pieces of things I've read over the years mostly online (a large part of which came from some detective work involving eBay listings). A lot of it is guesswork and supposition.

[Hepcat]

I wonder if the sixties vintage Popsicle blue Marx figures that very occasionally surface might have been production from a Plasti-Marx plant?







The above examples are from the collection of Freddie Poe.

[horrorhunter]

I wonder if the sixties vintage Popsicle blue Marx figures that very occasionally surface might have been production from a Plasti-Marx plant?

I can't say for sure, but I would wager those "Popsicle" blues are just original Marx UniMons that were made when Marx changed plastic types on some of their figures in 1964 (possibly late 1963). Most of the orange ones from 1964 are of the slightly translucent "Popsicle" variety ("Heritage" plastic as some collectors refer to it), but there are a few scarce orange ones in the older flat lead-based plastic that most of the teal blue ones came in. Some collectors call the flat orange ones "Pumpkin" orange.

To sum up, there was a plastic change and a color change in late '63/'64. Most of the teal blues were made in the lead-based flat color plastic and most of the oranges were made in the newer "Popsicle" slightly translucent plastic, with a few blues in the "Popsicle" plastic and a few oranges in the older flat plastic.

Again, much of this is guesswork on my part, but it seems to be the most logical explanation.

[creaturefan95]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nuttymads/albums/72157629421541811

[Allhallowsday]

MARX Nutty Mad All Heart Hogan 


MPC Daffy Daddy Oh Rockin' Ronnie 
 

MPC Daffy Daddy Oh Fractured Francis 

[Allhallowsday]

Yeah, the Generals are great! 
Anyone know anything about these guys?
They look to be plastic figures based on Parks' Born Losers model kit from 1961-

These look like those MARX generals, but apparently not...

[horrorhunter]

More of my Nutty Mad stuff:



The Nutty Mads Bagatelle is, of course, by Marx. The 2 loose water-guns are by Palmer, I believe (if that's wrong someone please correct me  ). And, the bagged knockoff water-gun is by Elvin (the little header-card screams to my inner Monster Kid  ).

[Hepcat]

That header card absolutely screams 1960's monster goodness!

[Hepcat]

I did learn something about Nutty Mads I had wondered about for years.

From what I've been able to gather Plasti-Marx was the Marx subsidiary in Mexico up until Marx sold out to Quaker Oats in 1972. At that time Plasti-Marx became it's own company. Plasti-Marx quality wasn't as high as original Marx quality, but it was better than the Mexican repops cranked out since.

Interesting detail!

[Hepcat]

Here's the complete list of the Nutty Mads that Marx released:

Series 1

Roddy the Hot Rod (racer)
Manny the Reckless Mariner
Waldo the Weightlifter
Rocco the Champ (boxer)
Dippy the Deep Diver (scuba diver)
Donald the Demon (racer)

Series 2

All-Heart Hogan (policeman)
Bull Pen Boo Boo (baseball pitcher)
Chief Lost Teepee (Native American)
End Zone (football player)
Suburban Sidney (tricyclist)
The Thinker (Rodin sculpture parody)

Series 3:

Smokey Sam (firefighter)
U.S. Male (mail carrier)
Gutterball Annie (bowler)
Hippo Crit (physician)
Mudder (homemaker)
Now! Children (school teacher)

Weird-Ohs

Drag Hag (racer)
Daddy the Swingin' Suburbanite (racer)
Endsville Eddie (racer)
Freddy Flameout (test pilot)
Davey the Psycho Cyclist (outlaw biker)
Digger (racer)

[Monolith]

Here's a hard to find toy made by Palmer in the 1960's...

Finky Skrewy Skwert (Palmer Plastics 1960's) by donald deveau, on Flickr

[Monolith]

I have two of these. Here's the other one...

Skrewy Skwert (Palmer 1960's) by donald deveau, on Flickr

[Hepcat]

Cool! I never knew about the Skrewy Skwerts.



Did you have any of the Skrewy Skwerts as a kid? How long have you had these? Where did you find them? Were they expensive?

Palmer certainly ripped off the Nutty Mad face concept though. Have you been able to ID either of your Skrewy Swerts as being molded from a certain specific Nutty Mad?

[Monolith]

Cool! I never knew about the Skrewy Skwerts.



Did you have any of the Skrewy Skwerts as a kid? How long have you had these? Where did you find them? Were they expensive?

Palmer certainly ripped off the Nutty Mad face concept though. Have you been able to ID either of your Skrewy Swerts as being molded from a certain specific Nutty Mad?



I didn't have any Skrewy Skwerts as a kid. I had some Nutty Mads, though. I've had these two a couple of years. I got them both at the same flea market from two different sellers on two different days a few months apart. Which is pretty unusual because they're so hard to find. I got them for a great price. I've seen a couple of them on E-bay over the past few years, but they were over a hundred dollars each. If they were molded from a specific Nutty Mad I'm not sure which one it was.

[Monolith]

Here's the back of one of my Skrewy Skwerts, so you can see the instructions...

Skrewy Skwert Back (Palmer Plastics 1960's) by donald deveau, on Flickr