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NEWS RELEASE

"What Goes Around Comes Around!"

The Official Marx Toy Museum in Moundsville, WV, through a joint effort with Fun House Toy Co. (FHTC) of Warrendale, PA, announces the purchase of a rare collection of production and one-of-a-kind reference materials originating at the former Louis Marx & Co. factory in Glen Dale, WV.

This significant collection consists primarily of items used in the manufacture and marketing of Marx toys over four decades -- from the 1930's through closure of the company in 1979.  Glenn Ridenour of FHTC and Francis Turner of the Marx Toy Museum secured and transported NINE (9) TONS (!!!) of material that was once housed in the Glen Dale "Model Room," which served as one of the research and development facilities of the world-famous toy company.

The items are a large part of the legendary "Scala Find" (reported in PFPC #76), and were moved in the early 1980's from the factory to New Castle, PA, then as far away as California and Texas!  The items have been held privately for nearly 20 years by an anonymous collector.  This previous owner points to the past efforts and contributions made by Mr. Turner and Mr. Ridenour with regard to preservation of the Marx Toys legacy in his decision to sell the articles en mass.  After a long journey the collection now rests mere miles from the Glen Dale plant!

Specific items in the collection:
•  Hundreds of original glass photo negative plates used in the steel lithography printing process
•  Original figure models hand-sculpted by artists that were used to create production injection molds; included are the figure sculpts for The Untouchables, Gunsmoke characters, and the Jungle Jim play set, along with nearly every "American Heroes" military statuette
•  Original pencil drawings for package artwork and accessories, including images for a Walt Disney "Sleeping Beauty" Castle, and "Car 54, Where Are You" police car from two play sets that never got beyond the planning stage at Marx
•  Several hand-made prototype play sets, like the "Monster Mansion" Haunted Castle and a fully-painted "Super Circus" demonstrator
•  Over a thousand mechanical drawings from the Marx-Glen Dale engineering dept.
•  Thousands of internal company documents, ranging from production reports to inter-office memos dictated by Louis Marx himself!  Included are hundreds of promotional photographs and packaging images of play sets, toy vehicles, toy weapons, ride-ons and games

In just a few short days the 'treasure trove' has already provided a number of breakthrough discoveries.  After carefully cataloging the contents, Turner and Ridenour plan to make the information available to collectors and company researchers.  Select pieces from the collection will also be offered for sale to the public, directly, and through the eBay.com online auction service (eBay Seller name: "marx-fun").
 

For more information, please contact:
Glenn Ridenour; Fun House Toy Co., 724-935-1392 (EST)
Francis Turner; The Official Marx Toy Museum, 304-845-6022 (EST)

On the Net:
The Official Marx Toy Museum of Glen Dale, WV: http://www.marxtoymuseum.com
Fun House Toy Company: http://funhousetoy.com

Check back for future updates!

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Designed by Jason Turner

Originally Designed August 1, 2001

Last Updated: April 25th, 2009