When I was a kid my favorite toys were cap guns (and they still are). But my second favorite things were Marx playsets like these. I had Walt Disney's Official Davy Crockett at the Alamo set (of course), and the Zorro set, and the Roy Rogers ranch. I also had non-Western sets like The Civil War, and WWII, and one with knights vs Vikings. At some point, of course, my mother either threw them in the trash or hauled them to a thrift store. I've since managed to reclaim a few bits and pieces, but short of winning the lottery I'll never own the complete sets again.
So, for guys like me, Jay Horowitz wrote this cool book, which was published in 1992. Along with the great photos, it has a history of the Marx company, profiles of the men who made the toys, info on how these sets were manufactured, and lists of what each set (and each variation on each set) included. There's way more in this book than even I'd ever want to know.
The heyday for this stuff was between 1955 and 1965, but the company was still making some of them, on a more limited basis, up until 1978. Complete sets like these, with the original boxes, command astronomical prices.
The official Fess Parker figure is visible just to the left of the top of the gate,
in front of the hitching rack.
in front of the hitching rack.
The two rarest pieces of this set are the plastic cave (far right, in the full set photo), and the fragile plastic stairs and balcony on the commandante's office.
Yep, that's Rip, Rusty and Rin Tin Tin guarding the gate.
That's Roy standing with a raised pistol next to the gate. I'm surprised we don't see Dale or Pat Brady in this set. They appear in others.
This is one of the rarer sets. It was issued only once, in 1959. The Lucas McCain figure is especially hard to come by.
This set came with two Ranger figures, seen here flanking Tonto. How can he be the Lone Ranger when there's two of him?
If you have any of this stuff cluttering up your attic, you're invited to donate it to the Lewis Museum. I'll display it with a plaque proudly bearing your name.