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93-401: The strip was created by King Features Syndicate in order to compete with the popular United Feature Syndicate comic strip Tarzan , by Hal Foster . Illustrator Alex Raymond and pulp magazine author Don Moore created the original strip as a topper to run above Raymond's Flash Gordon . Jungle Jim and Flash Gordon were launched simultaneously on January 7, 1934. The character

186-542: A Time Magazine article also proclaimed Louis Marx "the Toy King," and that year, the company had about $ 50 million in sales. Marx was the star article of the magazine with his picture displayed on the front cover. Marx was the initial inductee in the Toy Industry Hall of Fame , and his plaque proclaimed him "The Henry Ford of the toy industry." At its peak, Louis Marx and Company operated three manufacturing plants in

279-723: A Jungle Jim playset with character figures and generic jungle figures (hunters, natives, wild animals). King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio , consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips , newspaper columns , editorial cartoons , puzzles , and games to nearly 5,000 newspapers worldwide. King Features Syndicate also produces intellectual properties, develops new content and franchises (like The Cuphead Show! , which it produced with Netflix ), and licenses its classic characters and properties. King Features Syndicate

372-520: A T-bucket hot rod of the same large size and some foreign cars like a Jaguar SS100, which was later reissued. Marx made some 1/25 scale slot cars, like a Jaguar XKE remote control convertible. Into the 1970s, Marx jumped on several bandwagons, for example, plastic pull string funny cars of typical 1:25 scale model size, but this was not quick enough to save the company. Marx sometimes joined with European toy makers, putting their name on traditional European toys. For example, about 1968, Solido and Marx made

465-559: A deal to sell these French metal die cast models in the U.S. with the Marx name added to the box. The boxes were, for the most part, regular red Solido boxes with the Marx "x-in-o" logo and "by Marx" directly below the Solido script. Nowhere on the cars did the Marx name appear. During the 1960s Marx offered its Elegant Models, a collection of Matchbox-like 1930s to 1950s style race cars in red and yellow boxes. Also offered were airplanes, trucks, and, in

558-590: A few original toys by predicting the hits and manufacturing them less expensively than the competition. The yo-yo is an example: although Marx is sometimes wrongly credited with inventing the toy, the company was quick to market its own version. During the 1920s, about 100 million Marx yo-yos were sold. Unlike most companies, Marx's revenues grew during the Great Depression , with the establishment of production facilities in economically hard-hit industrial areas of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and England. By 1937,

651-782: A fictional, magical animal called Eugene the Jeep was added to Popeye, and trademarked. King Features remained a "powerhouse" syndicate throughout the 1950s and the 1960s. In 1965 it launched a children's comic and coloring page. In 1986, King Features acquired the Register and Tribune Syndicate for $ 4.3 million. Later that year, Hearst bought News America Syndicate (formerly Publishers-Hall). By this point, with both King Features and News America (renamed North America Syndicate ), Hearst led all syndication services with 316 features. In 2007, King Features donated its collection of comic-strip proof sheets (two sets of over 60 years' accumulation) to

744-420: A greater sophistication in toy offerings. The "Fix All" series was introduced, whose main attraction was larger plastic vehicles (about 14 inches long) that could be taken apart and put back together with included tools and equipment. A 1953 Pontiac convertible (erroneously identified on packaging as a sedan ), and a 1953 Mercury Monterey station wagon which featured an articulated drive-line. Everything from

837-541: A heart attack in December 1992 at his home in Norwalk . In 1978, cartoonist Bill Yates (1921–2001) took over as King Features' comics editor. He had previously edited Dell Publishing 's cartoon magazines ( 1000 Jokes , Ballyhoo , For Laughing Out Loud ) and Dell's paperback cartoon collections. Yates resigned from King Features at the end of 1988 to spend full-time on his cartooning, and he died March 26, 2001. In 1988, Yates

930-590: A long series of boxed "playsets" throughout the 1950s and 1960s based on television shows and historical events. These include "Roy Rogers Rodeo Ranch" and Western Town, "Walt Disney's Davy Crockett at the Alamo", "Gunsmoke", "Wagon Train", "The Rifleman Ranch", "The Lone Ranger Ranch", "Battle of the Blue and Grey", "The Revolutionary War" (including "Johnny Tremain"), "Tales of Wells Fargo", " The Untouchables ", "Robin Hood", "The Battle of

1023-476: A more inexpensive mechanized toy. It was available as a police car in grass green or a fire chief car in bright red. The clear windows of the original were replaced with a single, stamped metal piece with lithographed images of cartoonish policemen or firemen. The police version even had a shotgun protruding through the windshield. With batteries an oversize roof light lit up and the gun made a corny rat-a-tat sound. Not one of Marx's more successful toys, their Hudson

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1116-481: A physical facility, and it was closed permanently on June 30, 2016. The collection has only been shown on loan to other museums and through a "virtual museum" website, which was on sale since the start of the year 2021. In 2019, Jay Horowitz of American Classic Toys, and current rights holder of the Marx brands, entered into an exclusive license agreement with The Juna Group to represent the Marx brands in all categories outside of toys and playthings, worldwide. In 2021,

1209-735: A point of telling audiences that King Features received more than 1,000 strip proposals annually, but chose only one each year. However, in Syd Hoff 's The Art of Cartooning (Stravon, 1973), Byck offered some tips regarding strip submissions, including the creation of central characters with warmth and charm and the avoidance of "themes that are too confining," as he explained: King Features Syndicate's content distribution division distributes more than 150 different comics, games, puzzles, and columns, in digital and print formats, to nearly 5,000 daily, Sunday, weekly and online newspapers and other publishers. Comic properties include Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Dennis

1302-592: A property of Alpha International, Inc. (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), which has been acquired by J. Lloyd International, Inc. also of Cedar Rapids. Mattel reintroduced Rock'em Sock'em Robots around 2000 (albeit at a smaller size than the original). Marx's toy soldiers and other plastic figures are in production today in Mexico, and in the US for the North American market and are mostly targeted at collectors, although they sometimes appear on

1395-534: A real mechanic!" As an example, the tow truck came with cast metal box and open wrenches, an adjustable end wrench, a two-piece jack, gas can, hammer, screwdriver, and fire extinguisher. The Jeep came with a star wrench, a screw jack and working lights. Since the 1950s, Marx had factories in different locations. Among these was a factory in Swansea, Wales, which made a variety of toys for the British market. Example of some of

1488-434: A seven-year span, he was promoted to associate editor and then, after Kennedy's death, to the position of comics editor on April 23, 2007. In November 2018, Tea Fougner was promoted to editorial director for comics after working as an editor at King Features for nine years. She is the first female-assigned and first genderqueer person to oversee comics editorial at King Features. When asked to speak in public, Byck made

1581-400: A split-level of 1958. Curiously, in the early 1960s a dollhouse with a bomb shelter was sold briefly. As the space race heated up, Marx playsets reflected the obsession with all things extraterrestrial such as "Rex Mars", "Moon Base", "Cape Canaveral", and "IGY International Geophysical Year", among other space themed sets. In a similar theme, Marx also capitalized on the robot craze, producing

1674-417: A strip based on Edgar Wallace 's Inspector Wade of Scotland Yard ): The last strips Hearst personally selected for syndication were Elliot Caplin & John Cullen Murphy 's Big Ben Bolt and Mort Walker 's Beetle Bailey ; Hearst died in 1951. In the 1940s, Ward Greene (1893–1956) was King Features' editor, having worked his way up through the ranks. He was a reporter and war correspondent for

1767-695: A tribute to essential workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic . In September 2020, King Features relaunched comic strip Mark Trail , originally launched in 1946, with cartoonist Jules Rivera, author of comic strip Love, Joolz, at the helm. Many King characters were adapted to animation, both theatrical and television cartoons. Strips from King Features were often reprinted by comic book publishers. In 1967, King Features made an effort to publish comic books of its own by establishing King Comics . This short-lived comic-book line showcased King's best-known characters in seven titles: The comics imprint existed for

1860-425: A variety of tin vehicles, from carts to dirigibles — the company would lithograph toy patterns on large sheets of tinplated steel. These would then be stamped, die-cut, folded, and assembled. Marx was long known for its car and truck toys, and the company would take small steps to renew the popularity of an old product. In the 1920s, an old truck toy that was falling behind in sales was loaded with plastic ice cubes and

1953-878: A virtual interactive comic with digital drawing company Mental Canvas on Comics Kingdom. As of January 2022, Comics Kingdom features comic strips and editorial cartoons which can be accessed and read online . This website also features some interactive puzzles . Comics are updated every day, plus a one-year archive is available. Older comics can be accessed by being a Comics Kingdom Royal (a paid member, subscribed to their premium subscription service). Comics Kingdom also features over 30 of comic strips in Spanish . King's A la Carte Online Comics offers syndication of specific strips aimed at "precisely defined audiences" of specialized websites. These are available in such categories as Animals, Environmental, Military, and Technology. Louis Marx and Company Louis Marx and Company

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2046-569: A wartime theme, with Jim fighting the Japanese , and it moved from its position as a topper strip to its own independent Sunday page . Syndicated by Hearst and sponsored by the Comic Weekly, The Adventures of Jungle Jim radio series premiered November 2, 1935. Matt Crowley had the title role for three years, until Gerald Mohr stepped in as Jungle Jim beginning April 24, 1938. Vicki Vola and Franc Hale portrayed Shanghai Lil, and Juano Hernandez

2139-437: A year before, such as Revell's Rat Fink by "Big Daddy" Ed Roth , or Hawk Models' " Weird-Oh's ", designed by Bill Campbell. Louis Marx and Company entered a five-year selling contract with Girard Model Works in 1929 and in 1932 contracted Woods/Girard to exclusively produce all his trains and toys. The trains were called Joy Line. These were small four inch tinplate cars with a small windup or electric engine. Marx acquired

2232-408: A year-and-a-half, with titles cover-dated from August 1966 to December 1967. When it ended, the books were picked up and continued by Gold Key Comics , Harvey Comics , and Charlton Comics . In 1967, Al Brodax, then the president of King Features, pitched The Beatles manager Brian Epstein on turning their hit song " Yellow Submarine " into an animated movie. The film was widely considered to be

2325-426: Is The Cuphead Show! for Netflix , an animated series based on the video game Cuphead by Studio MDHR, known for its use of fully hand-drawn characters and animations in the style of Fleischer Studios . The series had started development since July 2019, and was released on February 18, 2022. In June 2019, 20th Century Studios and The Walt Disney Company announced the production of an animated film based on

2418-491: Is a unit of Hearst Holdings, Inc., which combines the Hearst Corporation's cable-network partnerships, television programming and distribution activities, and syndication companies. King Features' affiliate syndicates are North America Syndicate and Cowles Syndicate. William Randolph Hearst 's newspapers began syndicating material in 1895 after receiving requests from other newspapers. The first official Hearst syndicate

2511-524: Is owned by The Juna Group, LLC. In 1972, Marx sold his company to the Quaker Oats Company for $ 54 million ($ 393 million in 2023 dollars) and retired at the age of 76. Quaker also owned the Fisher-Price brand, but struggled with Marx. Quaker had hoped Marx and Fisher-Price would have synergy, but the companies' sales patterns were too different. The company was also faulted for largely ignoring

2604-433: Is still used today to produce toys and trains. A company called Marx Trains, Inc. produced lithographed tin trains, both of original design and based on former Louis Marx patterns. Plastic O scale train cars and scenery using former Marx molds were previously produced by MDK and are now marketed under the " K-Line by Lionel" brand name. Model Power produces HO scale trains from old Marx molds. The Big Wheel rolls on, as

2697-620: The Atlanta Journal for four years (1913–17), moving to the New-York Tribune in 1917 and then returning to the Atlanta Journal as correspondent in France and Germany (1918–19). He joined King Features in 1920, became a writer and editor of the magazine section in 1925, advancing to executive editor and general manager. Vice president Bradley Kelly (1894–1969) was a comics editor during

2790-613: The Big Loo , "Your friend from the Moon", and the popular Rock'em Sock'em Robots action game. In 1963, Marx began making a series of beatnik style plastic figurines called the Nutty Mads , which included some almost psychedelic creations, such as Donald the Demon  — a half-duck, half-madman driving a miniature car. These were similar to the counterculture characters of other companies introduced about

2883-719: The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and the Michigan State University Comic Art Collection while retaining the collection in electronic form for reference purposes. In November 2015, King Features released a book, entitled "King of the Comics: One Hundred Years of King Features Syndicate" to commemorate its 100th anniversary . The book features a compilation of strips and the histories behind King Features strips. As of 2016, with 62 strips being syndicated, Hearst

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2976-510: The Zero . Some of their most popular sets were ''Navarone'' (based on the film ), '' Iwo Jima '', '' The Alamo '' (basing on the film ) and more sets based in movies and series, such as The Gallant Men , specially in John Wayne and the films he was in. Cast iron was unwieldy, heavy, and not well-suited to proper detail or model proportions and gradually it was replaced by pressed tin. Marx offered

3069-550: The 1930s, particularly in the latter part of the decade. Trucks were made, particularly Studebakers , in a variety of colors and formats, and often advertised in Sears catalogues. These included several different series like the truck hauling five tinplate "stake bed" trailers, a "dumping" garbage truck, many variations on larger truck "car carriers" hauling different vehicles, and a set of completely chromed trucks. Metal gas and fire station sets could also be purchased on which to play with

3162-497: The 1940s. Sylvan Byck (1904–1982) was head editor of the syndicate's comics features for several decades, from the 1950s until his retirement in 1978. A King Features employee for more than 40 years and comics editor for 33 years, Byck was 78 when he died July 8, 1982. Comic-strip artist John Celardo (1918–2012) began as a King comics editor in 1973. In 1973, Tom Pritchard (1928–1992) joined King Features, and became executive editor in 1990, overseeing daily editorial operations and

3255-699: The ABC comedy Fresh Off the Boat . Confronted by newspaper cutbacks, King Features has explored new venues, such as placing comic strips on mobile phones. In 2006, it launched DailyINK . On a web page and via email, the DailyINK service made available more than 90 vintage and current comic strips, puzzles, and editorial cartoons. The vintage strips included Bringing Up Father , Buz Sawyer , Flash Gordon , Krazy Kat , The Little King , The Phantom , and Rip Kirby . King Features editor-in-chief Jay Kennedy introduced

3348-719: The Archivist" posts exploring comic-strip history. The "Last 7" feature enables the reader to see a week's worth of comics on one page. On January 13, 2012, the DailyINK app was voted as the People's Champ in the Funny category in the 2011 Pixel Awards. Established in 2006, the Pixel Awards honor sites and apps displaying excellence in web design and development. Other nominees in the Funny category: JibJab Media Inc, Threaded, Snowball of Duty: White Opps and SoBe Staring Contest. In 2012, Jackys Diary

3441-462: The Charlton stories were Wood, Boyette, Steve Ditko , Roger Brand and Tom Palmer . In January 2015, Dynamite Entertainment announced a new series of Jungle Jim as part of their "King:Dynamite" series. This version of Jungle Jim is written by Paul Tobin and illustrated by Sandy Jarrell. Unlike the protagonists of Tarzan , Ka-Zar , Kaanga and other comics with jungle themes, Jim Bradley

3534-556: The Climbing Monkey. With subtle changes, Marx was able to turn these toys into hits, selling more than eight million of each within two years. Another success was the "Mouse Orchestra" with tinplate mice on piano, fiddle, snare, and one conducting. Marx listed six qualities he believed were needed for a successful toy: familiarity, surprise, skill, play value, comprehensibility and sturdiness. By 1922, both Louis and David Marx were millionaires. Initially, Marx reevaluated and produced

3627-471: The Colonial style. An instant sensation was the "Disney" house, featured in the 1949 Sears catalogue. The popularity of Marx dollhouses gained momentum, and up to 150,000 Marx dollhouses were produced in the 1950s. Two house sizes were available, with two different size furniture to match; the most popular in the 1/2" to 1' scale, and the larger 3/4" to 1' scale. An L-shaped ranch hit the market in 1953, followed by

3720-531: The Little Big Horn", "Arctic Explorer", "Ben Hur", "Fort Apache", "Zorro", "Battleground", "Tom Corbett Training Academy", "Prehistoric Times", and many others. Playsets included highly detailed plastic figures and accessories, many with some of the toy world's finest tin lithography. A Marx playset box was invariably bursting with contents, yet very few were ever priced above the average of $ 4–$ 7. Greatly expanded sets, such as "Giant Ben Hur" sold for $ 10 to $ 12 in

3813-472: The Magician , Office Hours , Quincy and Radio Patrol . On November 15, 2010, a subscription rate increase to $ 19.99 was announced, effective December 15, 2010, with applications available on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, plus a "new and improved" DailyINK in 2011. The redesign was by Blenderbox. Added features included original publication dates, a forum, and a blog, mostly promotional, but also with "Ask

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3906-1048: The Marx name is now largely forgotten except by toy collectors, several of the products that the company developed remain strong icons in popular culture, including Rock'em Sock'em Robots , introduced in 1964, and its best-selling sporty Big Wheel tricycle, one of the most popular toys of the 1970s. The Big Wheel, which was introduced in 1969, is enshrined in the National Toy Hall of Fame . Marx's toys included tinplate buildings, tin toys , toy soldiers , playsets, toy dinosaurs, mechanical toys, toy guns , action figures , dolls , dollhouses , toy cars and trucks, and HO-scale and O-scale trains. Marx also made several models of typewriters for children. Marx's less expensive toys were extremely common in dime stores, and its larger, costlier toys were staples for catalog and department store retailers such as Eaton's , Gamages , Sears , W.T. Grant , Montgomery Ward , J. C. Penney and Spiegel especially around Christmas. In pre-WWII America, it

3999-541: The Menace , The Family Circus , Curtis , Rhymes with Orange , Arctic Circle , Macanudo , and Zits . The division additionally offers services for smaller publishers and community papers, including pagination and colorization services through its sister company, RBMA. In March 2018, to mark International Women's Day , many King Features cartoonists included messages about female empowerment and other topics that resonated with them. In April 2020, Bianca Xunise became

4092-588: The Painted Ponies." King Features also represents David and Goliath, an apparel and accessories line popular with teenagers. King Features additionally licenses outdoor apparel brand PURENorway, Moomins , Icelandic lifestyle brand Tulipop , ringtone character Crazy Frog and South Korean animated character PUCCA . As a sales tool, the King Features design team created colorful strip sample folders resembling movie press kits. With rising paper costs and

4185-573: The Tricky Taxi seems to have had origins in a Heinrich Muller toy from Nuremberg in Germany. The 1935 G-Man pursuit car was possibly the largest vehicle Marx ever made at 14½ inches long. Even doll houses, gasoline stations, parking lots and street scenes were made in tin. That Marx was doing well even in the depression is shown by the date of introduction of their well-known motorcycle cop toy — 1933. A number of tinplate trucks, buses and vans were made in

4278-881: The United States: Erie, Pennsylvania , Girard, Pennsylvania , and Glen Dale, West Virginia . The Erie plant was the oldest and largest, while the Girard plant, acquired in 1934 with the purchase of Girard Model Works , produced toy trains, and the Glen Dale plant produced toy vehicles. Additionally, Marx operated numerous plants overseas, and in 1955 five percent of the toys Marx sold in the US were made in Japan. In 1952 Marx Company stationary listed operations in: Mexico, London England, Swansea Wales, Durbin South Africa, Sydney Australia, Toronto Canada, São Paulo Brazil and Paris France. By 1959,

4371-600: The Woods company in 1934, although his brand appears on floor trains, trolleys, Joy Line and the M10000 sets, years before the acquisition. This was the beginning of Marx trains. In 1934 Marx produced its first newly designed model train set, the streamlined Union Pacific M-10000. The streamlined Marx Commodore Vanderbilt was issued in 1935 with new 6 inch tinplate cars. The ever popular Marx Canadian Pacific 3000 appeared in 1936 in Canada, while

4464-435: The articulated Marx Mercury was introduced to America. The success of Marx "027" train line forced other manufacturers to follow suit in size and fashion. Marx continued to make tinplate train sets until 1972. Plastic sets began in 1952 and only plastic sets were made after 1973, until the end of the company in 1975. Even though Marx trains never held the prestige of Lionel's trains, they were able to outsell them for most of

4557-435: The cast of Netflix 's Queer Eye giving Popeye a makeover. In November 2019, Comics Kingdom launched a YouTube channel featuring classic cartoons from King Features archives. Before launching the channel, in December 2018, King Features launched a series of animated Popeye shorts to its primary YouTube channel, in celebration of the character's 90th "birthday." In July 2020, comic strip Rhymes with Orange launched

4650-451: The comic strip Flash Gordon . Taiki Waititi was attached to direct and John Davis was announced as the producer. On May 11, 2020, it was announced that a Popeye movie is in development at King Features Syndicate with Genndy Tartakovsky coming back to the project. In November 2020, a Hagar the Horrible animated series was announced, written by Eric Zibroski, who wrote and produced

4743-576: The company entitled King News . William Randolph Hearst paid close attention to the comic strips, even in the last years of his life, as is evident in these 1945–46 correspondence excerpts, originally in Editor & Publisher (December 1946), about the creation of Dick's Adventures in Dreamland — a strip that made its debut on Sunday, January 12, 1947; written by former Daily News reporter Max Trell and illustrated by Neil O'Keefe (who also drew for King Features

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4836-577: The company had a new hit. The Honeymoon Express, a wind-up train on track with a plane circling above, later became the Mickey Mouse Express and then the Subway Express. Popeye pushing a barrel of spinach eventually became the 1940 Tidy Tim Street Cleaner and Charlie McCarthy in his "Benzine Buggy". Some of the most popular vehicles were Crazy Cars like the Funny Flivver of 1926 — another was

4929-738: The company had more than $ 3.2 million in assets ($ 42.6 million in 2005 dollars), with debt of just over $ 500,000. He was declared "Toy King of the World" in October 1937 in a London newspaper. By 1938, Marx employed 500 workers in the Dudley factory and 4000 in the American factories. Marx was the largest toy manufacturer in the world by the 1950s. Fortune Magazine in January 1946 had declared him "Toy King" suggesting at least $ 20 million in sales for 1941, but again in 1955,

5022-416: The demand for American toys was a billion dollars a year. Marx enjoyed his wealth at his 20.5-acre estate in the wealthy suburb of Scarsdale, north of New York City. The estate featured a 25-room Georgian mansion, a barn and stables for horses he raised and other amenities. The estate was sold to a developer after his death in 1982, to make way for some 29 homes. Among the most enduring Marx creations were

5115-574: The development of political cartoons, syndicated columns, and editorial services for King Features and North America Syndicate. Born in Bronxville, New York , Pritchard arrived at King Features after work as a reporter at The Record-Journal ( Meriden, Connecticut ), as feature writer with The Hartford Times , as editor-publisher of Connecticut's weekly Wethersfield Post , and as executive editor of The Manchester Journal Inquirer in Connecticut. He died of

5208-456: The downsizing of newspapers, the comic-strip arena became increasingly competitive, and by 2002, King salespeople were making in-person pitches to 1,550 daily newspapers across America. King was then receiving more than 6,000 strip submissions each year, yet it accepted only two or three annually. Interviewed in 2002 by Catherine Donaldson-Evans of Fox News , Kennedy commented: One of the first original animation projects of King Features Animation

5301-470: The early 1960s. This pricing formula adhered to the Marx policy of "more for less" and made the entire series attainable to most customers for many years. Original sets are highly prized by baby boomer collectors to this day. Marx produced dollhouses from the 1920s into the 1970s. In the late 1940s Marx began to produce metal lithographed dollhouses with plastic furniture (at the same time it began producing service stations). These dollhouse were variations of

5394-469: The eloping "Joy Riders". One earlier and much sought after tin toy was an open Amos 'n Andy Ford Model T four door, as well as another Model T with driver apparently on a European jaunt and hauling a trunk at the rear with the names of various European cities on it. This model was produced in a variety of liveries. Lithographed tin tanks, airplanes, police motorcycles, tractors, trains, luxury liners, and rocket ships were all produced in bright colors. One toy,

5487-413: The feature; those papers make local sales, while King handles national sales. During the 30-day period in which strips are made available on the newspaper sites, readers can post comments on local community forums. In January 2019, to commemorate Popeye 's 90th birthday, multiple King Features cartoonists drew their own versions of the comic and published those strips on Comics Kingdom. One comic included

5580-579: The first animated film for adult audiences, despite its G-rating in United States. In addition to extensive merchandising and licensing of such iconic characters as Betty Boop , Felix the Cat , and Popeye , King Features has diversified to handle popular animation and TV characters (from " Kukla, Fran and Ollie " and " Howdy Doody " to " Mr. Bill " and " Mr. Magoo "), plus publicly displayed, life-sized art sculptures — " CowParade ", "Guitarmania" and "The Trail of

5673-585: The first black woman to join the team of female creators behind King Features strip Six Chix . Six Chix was first syndicated by King Features in May 2019, after King Features saw strip creator Maritsa Patrinos' work online. In June 2020, King Features started syndicating webcomic Rae the Doe . In the same month, cartoonists from King Features, along with artists from Kirkman's, Andrews McMeel Syndication and National Cartoonists Society , hid symbols in their Sunday strips as

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5766-517: The general consumer market. In 2001, a longtime collector of Marx toys, Francis Turner, established the Marx Toy Museum in Moundsville, West Virginia, near the old Glen Dale plant, to display toys from his collection and inform visitors about the history and output of the company and its founder. However, over its decade and a half of operation, the museum's income could not sustain maintenance of

5859-471: The last Marx plant closed in West Virginia. The Marx brand disappeared and Dunbee-Combex-Marx filed for bankruptcy . The Marx assets were liquidated by Chemical Bank in the early 1980s, with the trademarks and most toy molds purchased by Jay Horowitz of American Plastic Equipment, who later transferred all rights to American Plastic Equipment's subsidiary, American Classic Toys. Some popular Marx tooling

5952-429: The last eight issues (#13–20) were written by Gaylord Du Bois . King Features Syndicate published a single issue of Jungle Jim in 1967. This was designated #5 and was a reprint of Dell's issue #5 with a new cover by Wally Wood . Charlton Comics then picked up Dell's numbering for another seven issues (#22–28) in 1969–70 with stories scripted by Wood, Pat Boyette , Bhob Stewart , Joe Gill and others. Artists on

6045-533: The late fifties. While Lionel's top mid-fifties toy sales were some $ 32 million, the Marx's 1955 toy sales were $ 50 million. When it comes to quality and quantity, Louis Marx and Company is considered "the most important producer of inexpensive American toy trains". Marx is well known by collectors and some kids for making good quality toy soldiers. These sets were often known as ''Battleground'', offering Germans and Americans. Though there also were Pacific sets, which had Japanese soldiers and combat planes, such as

6138-522: The pistons to the crankshaft to the rear axle gears were visible through clear plastic, and wood-trim decals for the sides finished off this marvelous model. A very large 1953 Chrysler convertible, a 1953 Jaguar XK120 roadster, a WWII-era Willys Jeep, a Dodge-ish utility truck, a tow truck, a tractor, a larger scale motorcycle, a helicopter, and a couple of airplanes were all part of the Fix All series. The cars' boxes boasted features like "Over 50 parts" and "For

6231-531: The plastic cars made there were Motorway Station Wagons (which looked like late 1950s U.S. Fords), a remote control 1950 Pontiac, and a Ford Zephyr wagon police car. The Marx factory was in the same industrial estate as the Corgi Toys factory. In 1948, the Hudson Motor Car Company made a detailed in-house promotional model of its "step down" 4-door Commodore for exclusive use by their dealers. The model

6324-454: The same series, metal animals boxed in a similar style. Some of the vehicles from this era were marketed under the Linemar or Collectoy names. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Marx tried to compete not only with Matchbox, but with Mattel Hot Wheels, making small cars with thin axle, low-friction wheels. These were marketed, not too successfully, under a few different names. One of the most common

6417-514: The service early in 2006, commenting: Comics are consistently ranked among the most popular sections by newspaper readers. However, because of space, newspapers are not able to offer as vast a selection as many readers would like, and therefore millions of comic lovers are often not exposed to some of the most creative strips. In creating DailyINK, we wanted to ensure that fans had a destination where they could experience our complete lineup of award-winning comic artists and writers. DailyINK really sets

6510-496: The slogan "One of the many Marx toys, have you all of them?" The Marx logo was the letters "MAR" in a circle with a large X through it, resembling a railroad crossing sign. As the X sometimes goes unseen, Marx toys were, and are still today, often misidentified as "Mar" toys. Reputedly, because of this name confusion, the Italian diecast toy company Martoys , after two years of production, changed its name to Bburago in 1976. Although

6603-557: The standard for comics online. By offering all of our current favorites updated daily, along with access to our archives of beloved characters as well as political humor and games, we have designed DailyINK.com as a destination fans will want to visit every day for something new. With 11,000 subscribers by June 2010, more vintage strips were added to DailyINK, including Barney Google , Beetle Bailey , Big Ben Bolt , Brick Bradford , The Heart of Juliet Jones , Jackys Diary , The Katzenjammer Kids , Little Iodine , Mandrake

6696-495: The trend towards electronic toys in the early 1970s. In late 1975, Quaker closed the plants in Erie and Girard, and in early 1976, Quaker sold its struggling Marx division to the British conglomerate Dunbee-Combex-Marx, who had bought the former Marx UK subsidiary in 1967. Like many toy makers, Dunbee-Combex-Marx struggled with high interest rates and an economic slowdown. It collapsed. By 1979, most US operations were ceased, and by 1980,

6789-462: The vehicles more fully. "Lumar Lines" was another name used for a line of floor operated tin toys, trucks, vehicles, trains beginning in the early 1930s, in the United States and England. Lumar Lines passenger and freight floor trains were produced from 1939 through 1941. Production continued after WWII with the "Friendship" train that honored the real train that had sent supplies from the United States to England in 1947. The "standard gauge" floor train

6882-470: The years, professional Hudson experts have upgraded Marx versions to look somewhat like the original promotional – these usually bring from $ 600 to $ 800. Marx also made Studebaker and Packard vehicles especially through the 1930s and 1940s. They often appeared with the Studebaker badge logo in a very promotional way, though evidence of Marx as a promotional provider is uncertain. One of Marx's later Studebakers

6975-525: Was "Mini Marx Blazers" with "Super Speed Wheels". The cars were made in a slightly smaller scale than Hot Wheels, often 1:66 to about 1:70. Proportions of these cars were simple, but accurate, though details were somewhat lacking. Some cars, however, included such niceties as a driver behind the wheel. While some of the earlier toys had a simpler Tootsietoy style single casting, newer cars were colored in bright chrome paints with decals and fast axle wheels. Tires were plain black with thin whitewalls. Linemar toys

7068-472: Was a distributor with no manufacturing capacity. All product production would have to be contracted out for the first few years. Marx raised money as a middleman, studying available products, finding ways to make them durable but less expensive, and then closing sales. Enough funding was raised to purchase tooling from previous employer Strauss for two obsolete tin toys – the Alabama Coon Jigger and Zippo

7161-864: Was a tin Buick-like wood-bodied station wagon. These were often of various larger sizes, ranging from 10 to 20 inches long. Some vehicles were difficult to identify as Marx; one had to look for the small "X-in-O" logo, usually on the lower rear of the vehicle. Often there were no markings on the base. More and more, however, plastic models appeared in a variety of sizes, three series of which are significant. The first series, in 1950, included inexpensive 4-inch replicas of early 1950s cars, both foreign and domestic, like Talbot, Volkswagen, Jaguar, Studebaker, Ford, Chevrolet, GMC Van and others. They were supplied as accessories for Marx' large tinplate gas station or rail station toys. These were molded of polystyrene and came with die-cast metal wheel-and-axle combinations. The second series

7254-399: Was an American toy manufacturer in business from 1919 to 1980. They made many types of toys including tin toys , toy soldiers , toy guns , action figures , dolls , toy cars and model trains. Some of their notable toys are Rock'em Sock'em Robots , Big Wheel tricycles, Disney branded dollhouses and playsets based on TV shows like Gunsmoke . Its products were often imprinted with

7347-485: Was an Avanti with a dented fender that could be replaced with a 'repaired' one, which was odd, as the real Avanti had a fiberglass body – and would not dent. A 1948 Packard Fire Chief's car was one that looked, in theme, much like the step-down Hudson. Into the 1960s and 1970s, Marx still made some cars, though increasingly these were made in Japan and Hong Kong. Especially impressive were two-foot long "Big Bruiser" tow trucks with Ford C-Series cabs and "Big Job" dump trucks,

7440-712: Was based in Southeastern Asia rather than Africa , and he was a hunter rather than a wild man in a loincloth. Other characters included the large, strong native Kolu (who served his white comrade Jim in a manner somewhat similar to the character of Lothar in Mandrake the Magician ). The femme fatale Lille DeVrille was added to the cast two years after the strip's debut. The comic's early years generally featured stories revolving around pirates , slave traders and other common jungle antagonists . As World War II approached, Jungle Jim , like many American comics , developed

7533-611: Was called Newspaper Feature Service, Inc. , established in 1913. In 1914, Hearst and his manager Moses Koenigsberg consolidated all of Hearst's syndication enterprises under one banner (although Newspaper Feature Service was still in operation into at least the 1930s). Koenigsberg gave it his own name (the German word König means king ) when he launched King Features Syndicate on November 16, 1915. Production escalated in 1916 with King Features buying and selling its own staff-created feature material. A trade publication — Circulation —

7626-546: Was common for Kresge's and Woolworth's to place yearly orders with Marx for at least $ 1 million each. Founded in August 1919 in New York City by Louis Marx and his brother David, the company's basic aim was to "give the customer more toy for less money," and stressed that "quality is not negotiable" – two values that made the company highly successful. Initially, after working for Ferdinand Strauss , Marx, born in 1894,

7719-464: Was considered the second-largest comics service, second only to Uclick (now known as Andrews McMeel Syndication ). In December 2017, King Features appointed CJ Kettler as president of the company. Kettler previously was CEO of Sunbow Entertainment and the executive producer of the Netflix series Carmen Sandiego . In 1941, King Features manager Moses Koenigsberg wrote an autobiographical history of

7812-404: Was dropped from DailyINK, and the Archivist explained: "Unfortunately, we no longer have the rights to publish the strip." In December 2013, Daily INK was relaunched as part of King Feature's Comics Kingdom . In November 2008, King Features introduced Comics Kingdom, a digital platform that newspapers can embed on their sites. Comics Kingdom splits advertising revenue with newspapers carrying

7905-478: Was exceptionally well done, and came in four authentic two-tone color combos, but sadly, was never available on the retail market. Some sources erroneously insist this model was made by Marx, but in fact, it was Hudson's own production effort, manufactured, produced and assembled in Hudson's main factory. Soon after, Marx fabricated an injection mold of Hudson's more precise model and marketed this simplified version as

7998-420: Was first marketed in 1933 under the "Girard Model Works" moniker. Louis Marx and Company was an early player in the plastic toy field. After World War II Marx introduced more vehicles, taking advantage of molding techniques with various plastics. Pressed tin and steel remained in the form of Buicks, Nashes, or other semi-futuristic sedans, race cars, and trucks that didn't replicate any actual vehicles. One car

8091-415: Was identical, except for updating the cars to 1954 models. The third series, released in 1959, included updated models of 1959 cars, only these were molded in polyethylene and had polyethylene wheels/axles, and were supplied with an updated 1959 gas station. The Marx 1959 gas station cars were downsized and simplified versions of AMT and Jo-Han flywheel models. In the early 1950s, one Marx product line showed

8184-621: Was large and unwieldy, being aimed at pre-teens. After newer, more modern American cars appeared, the Marx Hudson quickly became obsolete, resulting in an oversupply on retail toy shelves. By the mid-1960s they were still easy to find across America and one could usually be bought for about a dollar – a nice discount from the original $ 4.95 list price. A well-preserved Marx police or fire chief Hudson with original box will still bring from $ 50 to $ 100 in today's market, depending on condition. An authentic Hudson promotional still brings around $ 2,000. Over

8277-666: Was named after Alex's brother Jim Raymond . During World War II, artist Raymond enlisted as a Marine . Successors included John Mayo (creator of Future Eye ) and Paul Norris (creator of DC Comics ' Aquaman ). Don Moore continued to script through the succession of artists. The strip, which never ran as a daily , came to an end in 1954. From 1937 to 1947, the comic strip was reprinted in Ace Comics , published by David McKay . From 1949 to 1951, there were 11 original Jungle Jim comic books produced by Standard Comics . Dell Comics published 20 issues of Jungle Jim from 1953 to 1959;

8370-473: Was published by King Features between 1916 and 1933. In January 1929, the world-famous Popeye character was introduced in King Features' Thimble Theater comic strip. King Features had a series of hits during the 1930s with the launch of Blondie (1930–present), Flash Gordon (1934–2003 Note: Relaunched again in October 2023 by Dan Schkade as a daily and Sunday strip), Mandrake the Magician (1934–2013), and The Phantom (1936–present). In March 1936,

8463-584: Was replaced by Jay Kennedy — author of The Official Underground & Newave Comix Price Guide (Norton Boatner, 1982). Kennedy was King Features' lead editor until March 15, 2007, when he drowned in a riptide while vacationing in Costa Rica. Brendan Burford, who attended the School of Visual Arts , was employed for a year as an editorial assistant at DC Comics before joining King Features as an editorial assistant in January 2000. Working closely with Jay Kennedy over

8556-516: Was the Hindu servant Kolu. Each episode ran 15 minutes. Several episodes were based directly on the comic strip, such as The Ghost of the Java Sea . Gene Stafford scripted for producer Jay Clark. Glenn Riggs was the announcer, among others. In the opening episode, "The Bat Woman," Jungle Jim meets Miss Chalmers, and Jacques LaBarr gets into a barroom fight with Jim. In 1957, Louis Marx and Company marketed

8649-419: Was the trade name under which Marx toys were manufactured in Japan, then sold in the United States and other countries. The reason to make Linemar toys in Japan was to keep costs down. Under the Linemar name, Marx produced The Flintstones and other licensed toy vehicles. The Linemar line also included airplanes that were produced in the colors of KLM , Pan Am and other airlines. The trademark for Linemar toys

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