The first time I saw the Marx dead horse was in my Civil War Playset I got for Christmas as a child. I remembered painting the figure with some of the red paint that came with the set to use in a Boy Scout display my Boy Scout Patrol did the next year. The Marx dead horse is notorious for the reins breaking. I got this one recently at a flea market. While Laurie was looking for costume jewelry to resell on EBay I was looking out for figures. This horse was in a bag with some Lido and MPC horses. After I bought the bag, the seller asked me how did you stand the horse up. I said the horse was design to lay on its side as it was a dead horse. I could see that the seller never had a Marx Civil War Set.
When BMC did their Battle of Little Big Horn Playset, they had to remove the dead horses they had done for the playset that they sold to Toys R US. Toys R Us felt that children would be upset with the dead horses. It was alright to have cavalry with arrows in the figures, but not dead horses. BMC later sold separate bags of the dead horses.
He’s not dead he’s sleeping,LOL.
Yeah a lazy horse. The world we live in sure has gotten stranger everyday. Makes me wonder if Marx had similar thoughts when they only depicted dead guys in two of the figure lines they ever did. Incidentally in both cases they were the “bad” guys.
I’m thinking the Marx dead WWII German was one of the dead guys. Which is the other? I’ve reviewed the various Marx playsets in my mind and can’t think of it.
The German is correct.
The other is the Untouchables, gangster.
They did quite a few wounded or getting shot, but those are the only two dead guys.
I guess dead guys are boring when you are a kid, but essential to most diorama’s. Except for maybe the warehouse, the skyscrapper and Sears.
I think it was Rusty Kern in one of his interviews with exMarx employees who was told that the horse was not made to be dead, but to be lying down to be used as cover for his rider (I think they mentioned using the prone Union shooter).
Kent
That is very interesting information. It brings up three questions
1. What issue of Playset Magazine did Rusty mention about the horse?
2. Can you check your list of the Marx molds and see how Marx listed the mold?
3. On the display boards did they put the laying union firing figure by the horse?
Marx listed PL-705 as Dead Horse
We have one of the questions answered.
I have seen it listed as Lying Down too. But MARX sheets I have say Dead Horses
Interesting on the sheets having dead horse. Frank where did you see listed as lying horse?
I believe same as Kent, in the pages of PM
Interesting about the dead/lying down horse. The only other single dead figure I think that Marx made is the dead tiger in the jungle sets.
Other figures with dead animals would be the:
Turkey guy from the Alamo/Ft. Apache sets
Pheasant guy from the Boonesborough set
Two figures carrying dead fish from the Arctic sets
Guy dragging a dead seal from the Arctic set
Caveman crouching with a dead rabbit
And possibly the Marx six inch figures of Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Mummy might qualify as “walking dead”.
A very interesting point on different dead animals Marx did. I am wondering if other companies had dead animals. I know off hand Elastolin had a 70mm dead lion being carried by two natives. I am sure there are other examples.