Louis Marx facts for kids

Louis Marx (born August 11, 1896, died February 5, 1982) was an American businessman who made toys. His company, Louis Marx and Company, became the biggest toy company in the world during the 1950s. People said he had the smarts of a grown-up businessman but the fun ideas of a kid!

Louis Marx was known by many cool nicknames. These included "Toycoon," "the Henry Ford of the toy industry," and "the toy king of America."

About Louis Marx

Early Life and Career

Louis Marx was born in Brooklyn, New York. He finished high school when he was just 15 years old! He started his career working for Ferdinand Strauss, a company that made mechanical toys. By 1916, Marx was in charge of Strauss' factory in East Rutherford, New Jersey. However, he left the company after a disagreement about how to sell toys.

After this, Marx joined the United States Army. He served as a private and became a sergeant. He loved the Army, and this passion showed in his toy designs. Many of his military toys looked like real Army equipment. He even named his sons after generals he befriended!

After his time in the Army, Marx worked for Newton and Thompson. This company in Vermont made wood toys. Louis Marx helped them a lot by redesigning their toys. He made their sales ten times bigger!

Starting His Own Toy Company

In 1919, Louis Marx and his brother David started their own company. It was called Louis Marx and Company. At first, Louis Marx helped other companies sell their toys. Soon, he was able to buy equipment to make his own toys.

When the Ferdinand Strauss company faced money problems, Marx bought the special molds (called dies) for two of their toys. He used these molds to make his own toys, and they became huge sellers! Just three years after starting his company, Louis Marx was a millionaire at age 26.

In October 1937, a newspaper in London called him the "Toy King of the World." By 1938, Marx's company had 500 workers in its factory in Dudley, England. They also had 4,000 workers in their factories in America.

Making Toys for Everyone

Louis Marx used smart ways to make toys. He used mass production, which means making many toys quickly and cheaply. He also reused old designs as much as possible. For example, some of his toy train tools from the early 1930s were still used until 1972!

This helped him sell many different kinds of toys that were not expensive. All the toy trains made in the U.S. came from a factory in Girard, Pennsylvania. This factory made millions of toy trains from tin and plastic.

By 1951, the Marx company had 12 factories around the world. For most of the 1950s, it was the biggest toy maker in the world. A lot of their success came from selling toys through the Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog. They also sold many popular themed playsets.

After World War II, Louis Marx traveled around Europe. He helped countries figure out how toy manufacturing could help them rebuild. He used the people he met to start new factories in Europe and Japan. Louis Marx was even on the cover of Time magazine on December 12, 1955. His picture was shown bigger than an image of Santa Claus, with his toys all around him.

Family Life

Louis Marx married his first wife, Irene Saltzman (nicknamed René), on December 31, 1927. She passed away in 1944. On March 30, 1947, Marx married Idella Ruth Blackadder. She was a jewelry designer for his company.

Louis Marx had four children. His daughter, Patricia, born in 1938, became an author and activist. His oldest child, Barbara Marx Hubbard (1929–2019), was a New Age futurist. This means she thought a lot about the future and how humans could evolve. Barbara's daughter, Alexandra Morton, is a well-known marine biologist.

Louis Marx Junior, his son, is a venture capitalist and philanthropist. This means he invests in new businesses and gives money to good causes. He has supported arts, education, and medicine. One example is the Louis Marx Center for Children and Families in New York.

The mausoleum of Louis Marx in Woodlawn Cemetery

Later Years and Legacy

Louis Marx retired in 1972. He sold his company to Quaker Oats for $54 million. He was 76 years old and had been thinking about retiring for a while.

In his later years, Marx did not visit the factories much. He ran his toy empire from his office in New York City. He kept in touch with his factories around the world by phone, 24 hours a day. His last visit to a plant was in 1950.

Louis Marx passed away in a hospital in White Plains, New York, when he was 85. He is buried in a private mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York City.