I just received news on Peter Fritz had passed away.
Amy Fritz his daughter sent me this.
I just wanted to let the antique toy world that Peter Fritz passed away on July 16. Thank you for thinking of him all these years and for sharing your stories with me. I have not been the his apartment, but he lived surrounded by the antique toys he found so much joy from.
I have heard from Bob Muelro that Peter was 75. He had his birthday in May.
Peter Fritz Has Passed Away Photos
These are two photos of Peter Fritz that Bill Nevins sent me. They were taken by ED Bielcek. They are from a Marx meet held over 30 plus years ago. Ed had set up and a bunch of us had set up tables. The first photo shows Peter with his trademark cowboy hat. I think his beard got shorted over the years. The second photo shows Peter with two unidentified buyers. To Peter’s left are a Blue and Gray playset, a Gunsmoke and Rifleman playsets amongst others. Also to his left is an skyscraper playset. Peter and I got into a bidding war at an auction over one. He won the set, but I ended up getting one from party at the auction.
Peter Fritz Has Passed Away Some Memories
Peter like his alchol. I remember one time at a show in New Jersey he came up to me drunk as a skunk. He came right up to me and said if you have an Untouchables Playset it’s mine. I have a Beverly Hills doctor that one wants one. I looked at him and thought go away.
Another memory is the series fights he had with Barry Goodman. Laurie remembers Barry smashing Peter’s head against a glass table at OTSN.
This I mentioned in the comments. In 1992 Laurie and I were out for OTSN. A number of us went out to eat. I told Laurie to eat good as Peter was part of the group. From past experience I knew he would pull a trick of eating big then split the bill so it would cost him less. I had seen him do it in 1988. Peter tried another trick of going to the mens room while the money was being collected. I made sure he paid his share when he came back.
He was an interesting character.
I,am very sorry to hear of peters passing. I found Him to be a pretty cool guy.Rest in peace, nemosfan.
Never seen or know him.
Yet heard much about him
Very sorry x the lost.
May rest in peace.
Best.
I feel so sad. I would visit Peter around his birthday, summer time and around Christmas. We always talked about toys. I will miss Peter and may he Rest In Peace.
Hello Robert,
You may or may not remember me. My sister Amy and I were talking about my father after we received news of his passing. She had mentioned that there was a website where some past friends and associates of my father would discuss MARX toys and Peter’s influence on the hobby. After consulting the oracle of Google I found this site. Several of the names that post here seem familiar but yours was one I remember. I remember your fascination with early NY city street lights and your wonderful hand drawn holiday cards. I hope you are not too saddened by Peter’s passing. I hope you and your friends in the community continue to remember my father fondly. I will unfortunately remember Peter less fondly. In memorial I would suggest gathering some friends for dinner, ordering extravagantly, and then averaging the bill amongst the participants as a way to remember Peter since this was one of his more frequent commented on tricks during his heyday.
I wish you well.
Marshall Fritz
Marshall I was going to post something on that today. I had seen your father do that in 1988. In 1992 my wife Laurie and I were out for OTSN. A number of us went out to eat. I told Laurie to eat good as your father was part of the group I knew he would pull his trick. Your father tried another trick of going to the mens room while the money was being collected. I made sure he paid his share.
I saw your father on his birthday this year and we had a great. I was hoping to see your father this September. May your father Rest In Peace.
I saw your father on his birthday this year and we had a great. I was hoping to see your father this September. May your father Rest In Peace.
I’d heard his name often. A big guy in the hobby. Sorry to hear of his passing. I’d gotten notification a few hours ago, but did not check my email, so Paul – disregard my email.
Very sorry to learn of his death.
As with Erwin, I knew him only by reputation. But we have lost another of our brotherhood. My condolences to his family and those who knew him. We are all diminished.
I didn’t know you, but RIP, sorry to lose another fellow collector.
Peter could be a hard guy to like, but there’s no denying that he was a giant in this hobby. We’ll never see his like pass this way again.
I hope you are a peace now, Peter.
Godspeed.
I remember the brawl at Hackensack between Goodman and Peter.
I recall the elevator opening and Barry and Peter came face to face and the fun started.
That was a messy one.
It was messy for him. I came out of smelling like a rose.
That guy sounds like a wildman! I’m sure he’s in Toy Soldier Valhalla enjoying the biggest playsets imaginable right now. Never met him, but I’m grateful for all he did for our hobby.
Man I guess I missed the fun days.
Mostly what Peter did was drive the prices of playsets into the stratosphere.
I’m not sure how grateful I am for that.
I’ve never seen a brawl at a toy soldier show, maybe a disagreement, but never anything close to people coming to blows. I find that really surprising when you consider the number of crabby old men at a show.
Well ,i hope never happen ,but there some out there looking for,
The best bet is avoid as will be a big disgrace x hobby have one .Unfortunately is not way to stop differences and some may get very insane about small things ,but this hobby is so full of love and passion that deserve better i guess.
My thoughts..
best…
I am going to guess the brawl was due to the fact that Barry’s wife left him for Peter.
Yes it was over Susan leaving Barry for Peter. Peter and Barry had set up a partnership. Barry learned about plastic figures and playsets. Peter learned about Barbie dolls. Peter told me once that the wives out lived their husband and sold the collection so they could buy Barbie dolls.
Susan Barry’s wife left Barry for Peter. They later married and divorced. That lead to the disagreements at the shows.
That is 209 percent correct. But Peter did genuinely apologize to me years later. I was happily remarried.
Glad to hear that he apologized to you. Also that you are doing better.
Well, I’ve met a few cantankerous old farts, but for the most part they are a pretty good group at least at shows I’ve attended. Never been to the east coast shows so I don’t know how it is out there. I guess most of us are too old to be tussling anymore.
The battles between Goodman and Fritz were over Goodman’s wife.
It was personal, not anything to do with the hobby.
I’ll leave it at that.
Paul, is it just you and I who remember those “disputes”?
Nope, That Toy Guy was around in those days, and does remember quite a few fights at shows!
Like Ed, I’ve seen a few disagreements at toy soldier shows. And I’ve been aware of maybe a couple of the established dealers didn’t especially care for maybe one or two other established dealers. And I’ve heard one dealer describe another dealer (a show organizer) as “hard to get along with”.
But I’ve never seen or heard of anybody actually coming to blows. Usually, everybody seems to be in a good mood at these events.
And I’m usually experiencing a “high” as I arrive, before I then settle down to the satisfying feeling of exploring every room, examining every table, and cheerfully chit-chatting with the dealers and other collectors whom I haven’t seen for a few months.
Hearing about or seeing a fight break out would only add to the excitement. We’d be laughing and talking about it for years.
A good fist fight over whether or not a plastic figure’s weapon is historically correct might revive the hobby?!? Fights over women is another story. Remember the Clint Eastwood movie dialogue: “Were you ever married?” “Yup.” “What happened?” “Caught her cheating with my best friend.” “So what did you do?” “Well, I shot her.” “How about him?” “Well, he was my BEST friend.”
The fight alone would have been worth the price of admission!
All respect to Peter but it really was not much of a fight. Barry kicked Peter’s butt all over the place.
$100 to watch Mayweather vs. McGregor on pay-per-view.
Anything less would be a big bargain!
New toy soldier show protocol: if someone crowds you while you’re looking through a $1 garbage can for a chewed Johnny Ringo on the bottom, KNOCK HIM OUT!
Some of commented that OTSN has gotton just a tad slower these past few years. I imagine if a big dealer fight broke out Sunday morning on the show floor, the excitement might put a spark in the following year’s attendance.
If they staged a good Thursday room trading brawl, it will help this year! Maybe get Eber to smash someone over the head with a staple sealed Gunsmoke set.
I could see that being a big draw to the show. We’d get to pick up the pieces as they came out like a Pinata. Maybe each opponent had to bring a playset to use as a weapon. It would be advertised in advance and you pay to be on the fringe to pick up pieces. Then the money made on the bets! Make 50% go to some charity and the rest to the guys who bet correctly. Everybody signs a waiver for injury or damage to property, to include the ‘combatants’. Maybe this is what we need to revive the hobby! we’d have to weigh in those playsets to make sure nobody slid a lead weight or something in there.
This could be BIG!!!!!!!!!!!! I like the Piñata concept – could start some good side battles, especially over small, hard to find, always missing pieces like Capt. Gallant scimitars or Alaska hunting knives. Then, of course, are syndication rights for the DVD, court costs, etc..
I think I’s choose one of the long Western Town playsets as my weapon. You can do some damage with those long, heavy boxes.
It would be painful — but somehow perversely exciting — to watch all those playsets and other toy soldiers go flying. But that would be called “Putting the fun back in the hobby!”
“Exciting” so long as they weren’t MY playsets and MY toy soldiers.
No playsets or figures were hurt during these disagreements to my knowledge.
It could be a new way to open one of those MIB playsets that Craig Remington opens every year. Instead of opening it he could bash someone with it until the pieces come flying out. I can see the spectators picking the figures off the floor to sniff them now. We could use the Mike Kutnick Shop with a Cop raffle to decide who gets bashed. I like this idea.
Orrrr . . . if we could just catch the figure thieves, then we could bludgeon them with bags of China knock-offs (Marx is too good for them). The winner of Mike’s raffle gets the first swing.
Not if I catch them first, they get me very year.
They have always nailed me with vintage Marx , so far they have gotten a set of Rin Tin Tin character figures in powder blue, the tan 60mm cavalry kneeling firing the rifle and the 45mm Indian with the scalp in his hand. Those are what I know for sure in three different years. They get Minuteman every year too. I don’t display the good stuff anymore, they have to ask to see it.
Set up a ‘nanny cam’ at your table to see who is taking your things? Just a thought. Maybe put out a ‘bait’ figure out with a RF chip attached / embedded so you can scan the guy and catch him with the goods… high tech crime fighting!
You ought to get a locking display case for the expensive stuff.
Who says toy soldier collecting is a non-contact sport? We would probably obtain some new collectors if these parlor games are offered.
This is a REAL “War Game”.
Andy, I’m with you on the protocol. A couple years ago at the Texas Show I’d about had it with rude people going through the loose figures bins. I had a guy actually shove his head between me and some figures I was looking at – I commented on his dandruff and he gave me a funny look, “humpfed” and moved. My wife was really proud I was so controlled.
Then a few minutes later I was at another table and some female came over, edged me out and called her husband over. I looked over at the dealer, a friend, and said, “I guess I wasn’t standing here, was I? Do YOU see me?” Thankfully, I was done with my picking there, but I was still hot. That did it for me that day. I rounded up my wife and we set out for the Riverwalk. One of the things I like about San Antonio – there’s more than just the show. But I was steamed. Kind of mad at myself for not doing more while at the same time kind of proud I didn’t show out and ruin the show for others.
But if folks think it will increase attendance…
Amazing…
Didn’t this begin with a man’s passing?
Yeah, until you introduced the brawl between Barry and Peter. Good going!!
Yes this seem to get off topic. Peter was a multifaceted person. I only mention about his problem with Barry as it was part of his life. Peter was one of the first to realize how playsets were set up in their boxes. He realized certain parts were placed in the playset in a certain spot. Peter was able to recreate playsets using this knowledge. The only thing that hurt him was it got hard to get the exact parts so he had to go to like era parts.
Paul, I never had personal contact with Mr. Fritz, but I know he’s one of the legends of the Marx playset revival from the Gene Scala/John Bowers warehouse purchases. What do you remember about him in a positive manner? I think he published a catalogue type list and prices weren’t that bad compared to today? This was 1980s?
I will put something together tomorrow. He did help start the hobby and turned up many amazing things.
Sounds like any Irish wake, lol.
the man is gone as we say in nyc let him rest in peace.
Yeah, until you introduced the brawl between Barry and Peter. Good going!!
No Andy, I did not. Paul mentioned the OTSN brawl first and I just commented that there was another one at Hackenscak.
Get your facts straight before commenting.
bill nevins says:
July 26, 2017 at 12:02 PM
I remember the brawl at Hackensack between Goodman and Peter.
I recall the elevator opening and Barry and Peter came face to face and the fun started.
That was a messy one.
Paul commented on 7/27/17. YOU need to get YOUR facts straight.
Reply
“Another memory is the series fights he had with Barry Goodman. Laurie remembers Barry smashing Peter’s head against a glass table at OTSN.”
Read the original post Andy. This is in it. It would be tough for me to comment before the original post was put up.
I’ll accept your apology
Wherever is could we just every body PLEASE stop and focus in respect his memory for some time now and let him..
R.I .P
Please!!!!
See Admins follow up post.
Especially, Andy.
As his daughter , I want to reassure you all that I have loved all the posts, brawl and all. It is my fathers story and believe me the story is a tame one. My father loved toys, booze, women, to tell a great story and savor a great meal. As far as the brawl goes and dad would just be quick to point out that he ended up with the girl and that’s all that mattered.
Amy, I’ve said much in a post on another thread. Remember your dad and the stories, tell the ones you see fit – and smile. He isn’t truly dead until he is forgotten.
After reading this thread, I think Peter Fritz has joined my pantheon of personal heroes… Any guy who can steal another man’s wife while wearing an old cowboy hat and a ZZ Top beard has to be some kind of superman.
I am thoroughly enjoying this story and the banter. …and I thought militaria and firearms collectors were rowdy! Haha! Keep it coming. Russ A.
Never met the man but we spoke on the phone often when i was a teenage collector and I still have a couple of pieces from him. The stories even reached me, he was something of a legend.
I recently referenced him, there was a Hot Wheels show in my neighborhood and I attended despite not being a collector. My wife said to me “why did you bother?” and my response was “Peter Fritz once told me he had an amazing Captain Action find at a train show, you never know unless you check it out”
So sorry to hear of Peter’s passing. I had heard that he was not doing well some time ago. He enlightened me on several Marx topics and I didn’t mind paying his prices on items I wanted because I knew I was getting the real deal in great condition. He was quite the character and very memorable.
As for the brawl that happened when the elevator doors opened, that happened at the Trevose, PA Toy Show. I was in line with my wares by the elevator (as were many others) when the doors opened and…well, you know. I suppose it could have happened elsewhere as well.
It also happy in Chicago at OTSN. We will remember him for fun times.
To set the record completely straight, the brawl happened 3 times. First in Atlantic City at the extravaganza. I outmanavered him on a play set deal and he got really mad and ran into my booth and stole a wagon Train play set. I asked for it back 3 times and went to grab it out of his hands. He purposely tore the box and I hit him with one punch, launching him into a glass jewelry case 7 feet away. He went airborne with the set in hand knocking him out. Fight number to was at the old toy soldier show, dubbed the one punch thriller in Chicago by Tom Terry in PFPC magazine. He threatened my parents with disclosure of personal facts relating to my sister. I found him, he said some crazy to me, chased him around a glass table and knocked him outagain. The last so called fight occurred at the Trevose hotel in PA when I came down the elevator, and he was drunk and said stuff to me as he was ready for me and threw hot coffee towards my face which missed and landed on a poor lady coming out of the elevator. I had enough and punched the crap out of him. True as his daughter said he ended up with the girl but it propelled me as to a top toy dealer in the business, thanks to my work ethic and him giving me all his knowledge, and at the same time, he torpedoed himself and destroyed his business with my ex wife’s unwilling help. And that my friends is the true story. He made his peace and apologized long ago, but he was an extremely unethical person.