Daktari Play Set (Marx)

Memory Bank: Marx's Prehistoric Playset

To this day, I cherish memories of an early birthday (I must have been four or five years old...) when I received this glorious "Prehistoric Play Set" sold and marketed by Louis Marx Co., Inc.

In particular, I have very distinct memories of opening up the huge playset box in our living room at my home at 7 Clinton Road in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, seeing the contents, and playing madly with the dinosaurs (and cave-men) for hours, even as my granny visited.

I seem to remember that my granny gave me the set, but my memory could be confused in that regard. As a child, I was absolutely obsessed with dinosaurs, so this was the perfect gift.

This huge prehistoric Marx playset (tagged as Style 3398 on the box -- whatever that means...) comes "complete with Cavemen * Animals * Mountains * Ferns * Trees."

There are probably about thirty-six dinosaurs or prehistoric creatures included in the set, plus a cave-person dwelling (reachable by ladder...) and plastic mountains (complete with a ridge and a small lake...). Populating the set are ten or so plastic cave-men molded in various action-oriented poses (some poised to throw rocks at the nearby dinosaurs, no doubt...)

Among the dinosaurs included (molded in green, grey and brown...) are the Allosaurus, the armored Ankylosaurus and Stegosaurus, a Dimetrodon, an Iguanadon, the duck-billed Trachodon, the horned Triceratops, and a Brontosaurus. There was a T-Rex, a Woolly Mammoth, and even a saber-toothed tiger too. Now, you may realize that these creatures didn't actually all exist in the same time period, but as a kid I didn't care much about the scientific accuracy of the toys.

Simply put, this was Skull Island, the Lost World, the Land of the Lost, Monster Island, and the Valley of the Dinosaurs all rolled into one great toy, and I spent many a day sending in "modern" plastic tanks and soldiers to battle these small plastic behemoths.

Somehow, I had managed to hold on to one squatting plastic caveman (!) from this set for over thirty five years, but in 2008, I acquired a complete playset on E-Bay. It was a gift for Joel on his third birthday, but these days, he lets me display it in my home office. My wife insists that was the (secret) plan all along.

She may be right. Even at my age, I love visiting this “lost world” toy.

At Flashbak: Marx Toys' Carry-All Action Playsets

This week at Flashbak, I remembered some great toys from the Marx Company, released in the late sixties.

Here’s a snippet and url for “Rugged Steel Worlds! Remembering the Carry-All Action Playsets by Marx:” (http://flashbak.com/rugged-steel-worlds-remembering-carry-action-playsets-marx-40212/)

"In the late 1960s, toymaker Marx introduced an incredible new concept in toys: giant fold-out “action playsets” made of “rugged steel,” or, rather tin-litho.

Specifically, Marx released these massive playsets that, when folded up, looked like suitcases and could be carried as such.  When unfolded, however, they each consisted of a whole play universe, and one you could carry over to your best buddy’s house, to boot.

Four sets were released in the Marx carry-all line. 

First, there was Fort Apache, which came complete with a fort, and opposing armies of cowboys and Indians. 

Then, there was the Fighting Knights sets, for children imagining a return to the world of King Arthur, with castle towers and spires included.

The third set was Boot Camp, for fans of the modern day army.

And the last set was my personal favorite: Cape Kennedy, later renamed the Johnny Apollo Moon Launch in 1970. 

This set came with gantries, rockets, astronauts, technicians with Geiger counters and other accoutrements appropriate to the space age.

I was too young to play with these sets on original release, circa 1968-1970, but they were a regular fixture on the flea market and garage sales circuit in the pre-Star Wars (1977) age.”

Continue reading at Flashbak!

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