MARX AFRICAN AND JUNGLE IDENTICATION GUIDE
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MARX AFRICA; CAPTAIN GALLANT AND JUNGLE FIGURES AND ACCESSORIES
CAPTAIN GALLANT ITEMS
David Schafer's rare set of green French Foreign Legion.
Marx's Captain Gallant playset came with a nice set of 60mm French Foreign Legion figures. The mold (PL-743) had 16 cavities making 16 figures in 11 poses. The first two figures in the top row are character figures marked under their respective bases; Captain Gallant and Cuffy. Then there were; three men marching, two standing shooting rifle, two mounted with sword, two walking with pistol and one each of the other five poses (Prone shooting, parade rest, running with rifle, rifle salute and pointing while holding binoculars). The playset had them in blue as did the small red polka dot box Marx sold them as an individual group. The were made in silver for the headercard bagged sets.
White hard plastic French Foreign and Arab figures exist as well. We are unsure if the above hard plastic French Foreign Legions figures were factory or collector painted.
Marx made a nice set of ten Arab figures in seven poses for the Captain Gallant playset. These figures were apparently not sold any other way which is too bad as they are nice figures. They were usually made in redbrown and silver, but a chocolate brown was also used. There were one each of; mounted with sword, mounted with rifle, shooting rifle, & kneeling with rifle and two each of; holding knife, holding sword and walking with rifle at waist in each set. Playsets usually had a color mix. Arabs in picture courtesy Mike Handley.
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Camel in rubber like vinyl with factory applied base. Playsets usually got soft plastic camels
The new (circa 2015) copies made in Mexico are a bit smaller than the original figures. The copies are also made in a stiffer plastic than the originals.
Marx made an excellent set of accessories for their Captain Gallant Legionnaire fort. Thirty two hard plastic pieces in a wide variety of useful items. We do not think this set of accessories was available any other way.
The accessories for the playset and were broken into two groups by color as seen below for the playset.
These accessories were run in two colors and divided into two groups as seen above. Playsets would get one group in tan and the other in dark brown, Photo courtesy David Schafer.
JUNGLE HUNTERS AND NATIVES
In the mid 1960s Marx made quite a few miniature playsets. The figures were about one inch tall, hard plastic and factory painted. The above picture shows three MIB sets.
Picture courtesy Christopher Wallentine.
Jungle set photos courtesy Jim Mcgough.
PL-807 had 12 cavities. The early 1957 sets had the woman hunter and missionary (missionary in photo courtesy Mike Handley). These two poses were replaced at some point and by 1967 the Daktari playsets contained the "Paula" character figure and the seated man. The Jungle Jim and Kulu figures were marked under the base for the 1957 Jungle Jim playset but the names were then removed. The doctor from the early set is featured as the "Daktari" character figure but we doubt if this figure or the Paula figure ever had their names under the base. Early figures are made of flat cream while later figures are in a waxy cream. Recasts have been made in creams, tans and maroon red stiff plastic (the "lost' hunter above as an example). Reissues being made in Mexico are in a stiffer plastic than originals. The mold had three hunters standing shooting and two holding a separate rifle and one each of the others including the dead tiger.
NATIVES
Original 1950s/60s issue
The African natives were made in mold PL-808. Listed as having 17 cavities with Tamba the chimp or PL-808A with the Tamba cavity shut off. The mold had one each of; the man in top hat and cigar, witch doctor, native guard with rifle and kneeling as if playing separate drum. There were two each of the other six poses. The later 1967 Daktari playset grouping eliminated the man in the top hat perhaps from good taste as it was a poor pose ( or this could have been a mistake and the Tamba figure should have been shut off in the mold). Figures can be found in dark and light brown as well as redbrown. Reissues have been made in a stiff brown, silver and other colors.
LARGE ACCESSORIES
Original 1950s/60s accessories
Marx records show that PL-837 Jungle accessories had 34 cavities. Marx would run the mold in red and gray hard plastic and then split the pieces into two groups that we have labeled A & B. We could not color match the two groups with the accessories on hand (thanks to Mike Handley for sharing his). Please note each group has the tall and short drums.
JUNGLE ANIMALS
The first group of 54mm "jungle animals" was made for the circus playsets about 1951/2. Those found in the circus playsets will be made of rubber like vinyl, but by the time of the first jungle playsets in 1956/7 Marx had switched to polyethylene soft plastic. The 1956 header card bagged set and early boxed jungle playsets will have this group. Often the mold would be run in two colors and the animals separated into two sub groups for placement in the retail packaging. It is possible that on paper two different groups were made than those shown above but the ones above are the commonly seen groups. Please note we did not have color matched A&B groups for photography in any of the three mold variations seen above and below.
Realizing that four of the animals were not from the jungle, Marx pulled those (buffalo, 2 polar bears & camel) from the mold and replaced them with four new poses; running elephant, gorilla, lion cub lying down and adult male lion in 1957. This may have been a phase in operation and some sets may not have gotten all four new poses. As with the first mold this one also was broken into two sub groups for retail sale at times. The most commonly seen sub groupings are shown above.
The 1957 header card bagged set also included the above six smaller 60mm jungle animals that had been made about 1951 with limited distribution. Now made in later polyethylene soft plastic these are usually seen in tan.
In 1967 for the Daktari playsets the mold was altered for a final time with the removal of the adult lion and gorilla who were replaced by the two Daktari animal characters; Judy the Chimpanzee and Clarance the Cross-eyed Lion. Some sets get all ten animals in a waxy peach-tan. While other sets had the animals broken into two sub groups in two different colors as seen above.
One Daktari set had factory painted animals of which we do not have a picture.
Daktari Jungle trading post, tin litho has rear bar.
Jungle Headquarters tin flag.
Daktari tin flag NO HP pole & base.
- Jungle jeep in tan HP.
Monkeys
Marx made two styles of Jungle huts for their playsets. One was round with two walls and a conical top and the other rectangular that sat on four stilts and had a ladder.
FENCE
Three piece mountain terrain setup from Daktari playset.
Reissue MARX Wilderness Stockade, gate with 2 doors, 4 walls with ledges, 6 walls no ledges, HP as seen above, brown, This is the small stockade that came with some Marx Jungle playsets and the small Boonesbourgh playset.
