The King Figure

For those who visit The Official Marx Toy Museum, one of the former Marx employees that you will learn about is Mr. Floyd "Joe" Chamberlain.  Mr. Chamberlain was born and raised in Glen Dale, West Virginia, graduated from John Marshall High School in 1939, and began working for Louis Marx & Co. in 1941.  Joe Chamberlain served his country in the U.S. Army from 1941 to 1945 and resumed his work at the Marx Factory in 1948 with a two year apprenticeship in design and development, followed by an apprenticeship in model making in 1952.  From 1963 to 1965, Joe left the Marx company to work for the Wheeling Steel Corporation.  Joe Chamberlain retired in 1974 with over 25 years of service to the design and creation of Marx Toys.

Joe's ability to draw and his creative imagination allowed for his placement in the Marx model room.  Joe's many talents included toy design, drawing, painting, and sculpting.  He was respected throughout the Marx Company for his ability to bring things to life and was considered one of the top artists at the Marx factory. 

For many years, Joe Chamberlain dedicated his life to the creative process of toy production...
children of the past anticipated his ideas, collectors of today devote hours to the fruit of his talent...

One of  Floyd "Joe" Chamberlain's creations is the King figure.  The King figure comes complete with a separate crown which could be glued on prior to molding, if desired.  The figure on the left is sculpted from an acetate "dental" material and stands about 2.5" tall.  You can see the mark of the Chamberlain "c" on the chest of the King.  The original sculpture was then used to produce an "intermediate" mold as show below.  The figure on the right is an "intermediate" piece produced using the "rubber-like" mold.  As you can see, this "intermediate piece" was molded using the King's crown.  This figure was then boxed to be stored or to be sent to New York for approval.  Included in the box was a drawing of the figure and information regarding production.  To our knowledge, Chamberlain's King sculpture never actually made it to production.