Marx Monsters

[Monster Bob]

I suppose it is a reasonable thought that they did an initial run, say 10,000 (whatever) of each in the standard color, shipped the orders, got another order for 1,000 (whatever), went with what they had, and shipped. Like I said in the other thread, and this is going back 20-25 years anyway, the Marx guys used to call pumpkin a "promotional" color. Whatever that means.

[freddie poe]

lime green is not an original color..............

[freddie poe]

now that i look closer... my Phantom does look more to be the same color as the man from uncle figures. i will try to get a pix of my blue Popsicle wolfman up for viewing..............

[Hepcat]

Perhaps the more matte orange and blue figures were the ones packaged in the Movie Monsters bags.

I guess the answer to my own unfounded speculation is "No".

The milky orange figure also includes a price tag of 19 cents from some [i can only guess] long gone store called Neisner's.

[Hepcat]

lime green is not an original color..............

Check out this post that Zombiehorror made earlier in this thread:

The coolest Marx Monster item in the story is the 1964 Marx catalog listing for the Cinema Creatures which mentions 3 colors, none of which are the teal or orange we all know today.



Also take not of the 10"x24" window streamer in black and fluorescent color.  Anyone remember seeing one of these or more importantly know of one existing today?

Now going back to the Marx only came in teal and orange discussion, sometime last year I came upon a website; http://www.jeffs60s.com/ were he has this picture and the following comment posted;


"These Universal Monsters were my favorite plastic figures. They sold for ten cents apiece, but soon went up to a whopping nineteen cents. They came in bright, flourescent colors and I used to just stare at them for hours. I do mention these on my school page. I also tried painting them like models and ending up ruining them. So, off to Newberry's toy basement to buy another set."

So I wrote him asking about it, figuring he was getting Marx Monster confused with Nutty Mads in his fuzzy monster memories. And here was his reply;

"Hi Erin,

Thanks for your question, it's a good one. The colors that I can recall were a sort of neon. I had some figures that were orange and some that were a bright pink color. I always kept re-buying them, but I did get a hunchback that was blue one time, and also a green one. Right now on ebay, somebody is selling them one by one, and they're all green. The bright colors may have been a special issue for a time, but I can recall them vividly.

I did have a green set, and I've even had the teal ones. They also came in blues, and for a short period, I believe in the mid-90's, they were re-issued in gray. I loved Marx toys, they were the best. Thanks for stopping by!"

His memory would certainly match the description in Playset magazine of the other colors, then again maybe he read the article and just infused the info with his own Marx Monster memories?!?

Zombiehorror has also reported that he bought a Vile Green Marx Frankenstein that still had the original 19 cent price sticker on the bottom from a fellow who said he'd bought the figure in a store when he was a kid.

[horrorhunter]

Thanks for the heads up, I just had to pick this up.  But I'm more confused by this than anything else?!!?  First of all this wasn't much of a cover story, more like a cover blurb, a very short 2 page piece with more pictures than anything else and yet still worth it to me.  There is this confusing sentence in the article;

"Other colors have been found, including some of the wild fluorescent ones listed in the 1964 catalog were apparently not made."

What?!?!  The colors were found but not made, oh okay that makes perfect sense!??!  Did they mean to say, "....that were apparently made.".

Also they do say that Bill Lemon was the sculptor but didn't someone in this very thread say Bill himself said he did not sculpt these?  Anyone know just how reliable Playset Magazine's info is?!?

The coolest Marx Monster item in the story is the 1964 Marx catalog listing for the Cinema Creatures which mentions 3 colors, none of which are the teal or orange we all know today.



Also take not of the 10"x24" window streamer in black and fluorescent color.  Anyone remember seeing one of these or more importantly know of one existing today?

Now going back to the Marx only came in teal and orange discussion, sometime last year I came upon a website; http://www.jeffs60s.com/ were he has this picture and the following comment posted;


"These Universal Monsters were my favorite plastic figures. They sold for ten cents apiece, but soon went up to a whopping nineteen cents. They came in bright, flourescent colors and I used to just stare at them for hours. I do mention these on my school page. I also tried painting them like models and ending up ruining them. So, off to Newberry's toy basement to buy another set."

So I wrote him asking about it, figuring he was getting Marx Monster confused with Nutty Mads in his fuzzy monster memories. And here was his reply;

"Hi Erin,

Thanks for your question, it's a good one. The colors that I can recall were a sort of neon. I had some figures that were orange and some that were a bright pink color. I always kept re-buying them, but I did get a hunchback that was blue one time, and also a green one. Right now on ebay, somebody is selling them one by one, and they're all green. The bright colors may have been a special issue for a time, but I can recall them vividly.

I did have a green set, and I've even had the teal ones. They also came in blues, and for a short period, I believe in the mid-90's, they were re-issued in gray. I loved Marx toys, they were the best. Thanks for stopping by!"

His memory would certainly match the description in Playset magazine of the other colors, then again maybe he read the article and just infused the info with his own Marx Monster memories?!?

"Bilious Rose, Vile Green, and Creepy Yellow" are the original colors I'm really wondering about with the MarxMons. Monster Bob, you present good evidence about the different shades and types of orange and blue being original '60s issue. You have me believing and I'm drinkin' the Kool-Aid. Freddie, I believe you, too, about the weird types of original blues. You guys are Monster Scholars and know your stuff. But how about those Rose, Green, and Yellows, mentioned above. Does anyone have evidence, or even a clear memory, of those? Those are the cryptoid-like critters I'm really wondering about.

[Hepcat]

i will try to get a pix of my blue Popsicle wolfman up for viewing..............

That would be great! Particularly if you could put it beside a regular turquoise/teal figure for comparison's sake.

[Monster Bob]

I guess the answer to my own unfounded speculation is "No".

Another pumpkin orange, by gully.

Neisner's has been out of business for 25 years or more, at least the one I knew of. That's obviously a real tag. I used to go to Neisner's as a little kid in Florida. Very similar to a Woolworth's.

[freddie poe]

i see what the catologue says but i never seen those  monsters in bins back in the 1960's ..... i saw blues & oranges and some variations of both colors..unlike nutty mads which came in a variety of putrid colors.............

[Monster Bob]

i see what the catologue says but i never seen those  monsters in bins back in the 1960's ..... i saw blues & oranges and some variations of both colors..unlike nutty mads which came in a variety of putrid colors.............

Pretty sure Sears (or another catalog retailer) advertised the figures in those colors, which was probably a "catalog exclusive", not uncommon in those days. Not sure what catalog the pictured text is from, but Sears may have just reprinted that same text.

It is not that strange to me that uncommon Marx colors are very obscure.

In another thread, I brought up the fact that Fritos had hand-painted MPC Monster figures in their Fritos multi packs (I have a complete set- they are extremely nicely done and VERY hard to find), though the "put together" sets you usually see at shows and ebay (and claim are to be Fritos, with a repro box insert paper) are the common "Weird Monsters" that are everywhere.  I believe it was Gary Knox said he remembered getting the MPCs unpainted in Fritos, so that is from his memory. I cannot vouch for that. I know the ones I had from Fritos were the hand-painted ones. I got them from Rock's Grocery and Meats, in Illinois, circa mid-1960s.

[freddie poe]

i am by no means claiming to be an axepert about anything. i go by my personal experiences. short story: my dad owned a bar room in dowtown worcester ma. he bought it in 1959.  a bar room in those days was no place for a young boy. my dad would give me fifty cents or a dollar and  send me to the movies or to WT Grants, Woolworths, JJ Newberrys and such other stores to kill time. i became a monster kid buying the Marx wind-up Frankie, then the Aurora Frankie followed by Marx monsters and the like. i crusied these stores on a regular basis for years. despite being a former boxer and having some memory issues, i do seem to remember the past much better than the present. i can see those wire bins filled with marx monsters like it was today, i never seen any marx monsters in any color but blues & oranges despite what any catologue proposed.

[Monster Bob]

Oh, that was definately the way they were sold 90% of the time- the common orange and blue, and in dump bins at the "five and dimes". Your memory is most certainly correct. But it is hard to dispute- and explain- the weird and different colors, especially when they have a vintage price tag affixed. It would be foolish for either of us to argue the evidence...Marx made a hellofalotta toys, and luckily for us, many of them still exist for us to find and collect.   


It's these damn Mexican knock-offs that have caused the problems. 

[Scatter]

Just sitting back, marveling at the knowledge being imparted.

[freddie poe]

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[freddie poe]