Marx Playset 1964 (1 Viewer)

Scott

Major
Joined
Jan 26, 2008
Messages
6,057
I think my brother and I got this in 1961 or 2 for Christmas. I think $7.97 was week's profit back then for my folks.


1964_sears_cw_battle_set.jpg
 
I had the same set at about the same time.. maybe a year or two earlier.. good times...

Jim
 
When I was a kid, I drooled over Marx playsets in the Sears catalog. Seeing that ad brought back some good memories. I remember trading some 7th cavalry for Marx WWII soldiers with the newspaper boy. I couldn't believe how wonderful they looked. I also traded my 1/72 soldiers for more Marx stuff with a friend at school. Remember when you could buy firearms from the Sears catalog?
 
Ditto here. I had the Fort Apache set and D.Day for 2 consecutive Christmas. Those were the wonder years! My dad restricted my play on weekends because I lost sleep over it. I would play all day and wished the sun never set.
 
Thanks for posting that photo. Brought back all sorts of memories. Have to agree with Nevinsrip, greatest playset ever, (followed closely by Marx WW2 playset). Sure wish $7.97 would buy 200 soldiers today!:D -- lancer
 
That brings back memories! I got this for a Christmas gift and it really made my whole year. I first saw Marx figures in about 1959 when the kid down the block had a Battleground Playset (the one with tan and green Marines) and I would trade two for one to get some of his soldiers. I remember finding a bunch of Marx stuff when a new Kresge "dime store" opened up. Although I was "too old" to be buying toys I bought my own Battleground Playset, right after Marx had added Germans to the mix. I also bought an extra bag of figures for $0.98. Oh for those days again! I still think that Marx figures are hard to beat for molding quality and general detail.

Now a playset costs $275+++.

Gary B.
 
That brings back memories! I got this for a Christmas gift and it really made my whole year. I first saw Marx figures in about 1959 when the kid down the block had a Battleground Playset (the one with tan and green Marines) and I would trade two for one to get some of his soldiers. I remember finding a bunch of Marx stuff when a new Kresge "dime store" opened up. Although I was "too old" to be buying toys I bought my own Battleground Playset, right after Marx had added Germans to the mix. I also bought an extra bag of figures for $0.98. Oh for those days again! I still think that Marx figures are hard to beat for molding quality and general detail.

Now a playset costs $275+++.

Gary B.
Hey Gary, did you break your figures into platoons? I had three platoons by color. 1st Platoon was tan (my favorite), 2nd Platoon was a forest green and 3rd Platoon was a dark olive green that were from my first playset. Each numbered around 35 men, so I fought WW2 with an understrength company (King Co. to be specific), both ETO and PTO depending on what enemy my friends and I decided to defeat. We never lost.:D I miss those days down in the dirt. Somewhere in storage reside all my Marx armies with the dirt from 50 years ago still on them. Men and their toys, eh? -- Al
 
Since I was to old to play with toy soldiers, for a few years I talked my younger brother into asking for some Marx Playsets for Christmas!
I wore out the Sears Christmas catalog looking at the Davy Crockett at the Alamo set that I was soon to get.
Between playing with toy soldiers and collecting baseball cards what more could a kid want!
Gary
 
Here's a shot of the Marx Battleground playset I took about 2 weeks ago. It's displayed on a Battleboard, which I'm making now. Primarily aimed at playset collectors, ironically my first 2 boards (actually 1 board and 1 hill-terrain piece) is being made for metal collectors.

battleboard005_Battleground01.jpg


I have a shot with the Blue & Gray playset displayed on this same board - but I haven't finished cropping out the background (my basement)..

Enjoy! Marx is still great!

Jim
 
Here's the same board with the Marx Blue & Gray Playset displayed.. This set actually has extra figures and accessories included for the display.

battleboard005_Blue-and-Gray01.jpg


Blue & Gray Playset courtesy of Dwight "Ike" Schlottman.. previous Battleground playset courtesy of Ken Jackson. I think these are the next two vintage Marx playsets I'm going to work on acquiring/putting together.

Jim
 
Thanks for posting the images of the sets, Jim. They really are great sets. The ACW is especially nice. Had forgotten about the columned southern mansion. Just great memories. -- Al
 
Hey Gary, did you break your figures into platoons? I had three platoons by color. 1st Platoon was tan (my favorite), 2nd Platoon was a forest green and 3rd Platoon was a dark olive green that were from my first playset. Each numbered around 35 men, so I fought WW2 with an understrength company (King Co. to be specific), both ETO and PTO depending on what enemy my friends and I decided to defeat. We never lost.:D I miss those days down in the dirt. Somewhere in storage reside all my Marx armies with the dirt from 50 years ago still on them. Men and their toys, eh? -- Al

Lancer: my friends and I did the same thing as you describe. I remember I had 57 tan guys for years!!!! We would always invade islands, kill japs, and conquer the objective--whatever that was. Germans were "incorporated" into japanese troops, and the Marx GI's were ALWAYS marines. We never lost a beach-head-----JUST LIKE REAL....................Stryker
 
Lancer: my friends and I did the same thing as you describe. I remember I had 57 tan guys for years!!!! We would always invade islands, kill japs, and conquer the objective--whatever that was. Germans were "incorporated" into japanese troops, and the Marx GI's were ALWAYS marines. We never lost a beach-head-----JUST LIKE REAL....................Stryker
Hi Stryker. Spent many a day with my Marx Marines defeating the Sons of Nippon. I had a couple of bags of Japanese troops (no idea who made them) that were same size and very well done. Officers with samurai swords and infantry with Nambus and rifle, yet they always lost, wiped out in a final Banzai charge that resulted in hand-to-hand combat. These same Japanese also doubled as Chinese in Korea when my platoons ended up at Chosin. The Chinese always lost, too.:p:D -- Al
 
i remember my dad told he had some of these sets.
he has only told me about his old fort apache(which he nno longer has:mad:)
but i'm sure he had some of the other ones too.
but that was like 40 years ago.i doubt he remembers all the detailss.
but anyway, i wished i grew up during the 50's-60's time period.
bags of soldiers for 98 cents, huge playsets for under $10.
oh how i envy you guys.
 
I didn't care for the Japanese sculpts. Didn't look right. Airfix ones were great. I used to recreate the failed Banzai charge. Didn't the Iwo set have a pillbox? The French & British WWII were excellent. My ACW set had these beautiful redoubts...must have been a later set. Anyway it was all great fun.
 
i remember my dad told he had some of these sets.
he has only told me about his old fort apache(which he nno longer has:mad:)
but i'm sure he had some of the other ones too.
but that was like 40 years ago.i doubt he remembers all the detailss.
but anyway, i wished i grew up during the 50's-60's time period.
bags of soldiers for 98 cents, huge playsets for under $10.
oh how i envy you guys.

I grew up in the 50,s had the bags of .98 cent toy soldiers, the Fort Apaches, but when you are 63 years old, I,m afraid I envy YOU, gi546!
Gary
 
Jac28, my favorite guy was that one ready to throw his grenade with the tommy gun in his other hand in the center of your closeup photo. I can visualize the one I had: Dark blue with a slash across his helmet from some previous battle. He just had that look of a sargent.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top