That man, Marx

While Charles and Ray Eames were delighting designers, tastemakers, and our parents, another titan of the mid-century modern period was Louis Marx.

As the designers of the era filled homes and offices with fabulous product, Marx was equally busy influencing the look of the bedroom floors of our nations children.

Marx was dubbed "the toy king", and he may be best known for his wonderful, and affordable, playsets that his company turned out by the tens of thousands from the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s

This stunning building is from his Cape Canaveral set of 1958. It wonderfully captures the zietgeist of the post-war race to the stars.

All hail the king...Louis Marx - my childhood hero.

Soldier on (to the moon)!

Mannie

In 1962 my father took my brother and I to Gettysburg.  Living in Michigan, and my parents being of very modest means, this was a major event, and one that I still marvel that my parents were able to pull off, financially.

The trip thrilled me, Gettysburg and the Civil War enthralled me, and I remain keenly interested in the American Civil War, and especially, Civil War toy soldiers.  This trip happened the same year that my parents gave me the Marx Giant Blue and Gray playset. 

That trip, and those little plastic soldiers, and my parents enthusiasm about nurturing my interest in history, led in a direct line to the career that I retired from, and the one that I found most worthy. My parents would have been so proud of me.

 I will always be grateful to them. 

Take your boys and girls to historic places...

you never know were the road will lead them.

Soldier on!

Retired Ranger Mannie

Class of 70

 Hi everyone,

Jubilo left a comment on my last post - "Where have you been?"...that's a fair question.

Just five months shy of turning seventy years old I have...

gone back to college.

After retiring, I took a year off to simply loaf around and have fun - including toy soldier fun.  Then, last winter, an idea started to crystalize, and that idea was to go back to school to get a degree in visual arts, you know - drawing, painting, sculpture, art history, etc.  So, this past August I enrolled at nearby Hagerstown Community College in the two-year visual arts program.  At the same time I got a student worker job in the Student Activities Office of HCC.

It has been all I hoped for and more.

I ended my first semester this weekend, and did very well in my classes.  My job is the perfect "old retired-guy job" that I was scouting around for.  I work three hours a day Tuesday through Friday.  My work schedule accommodates my class schedule.  The job is really fun and my boss is an absolute peach.  The office positively exudes "school spirit"...it's a real kick.

That's the student center right behind me, the building where I work.

This is the Kepler Visual and Performing Arts Center - where I take most of my classes.

This is one of the pieces that I have in the winter student art show.

One of my favorite duties is updating the fourteen bulletin boards on campus.  I actually do have OCD, and it shows in the way I keep the boards.

My daughter asked me if I'm making friends among the students; the fact is, that I'm making friends among the faculty and staff, which doesn't surprise me at all.

Right now, I'm planning on stretching this collegiate experience out as long as it stays fun, that's why I'm only going half-time...instead of getting an AA degree in two years, I'm shooting for four.

Between work and classes, I've been pretty busy - at the expense of playing with, or posting about, toy soldiers.  This blog will probably be pretty slim pickings until summer, when I won't be taking classes.  That being said, I am looking forward to getting back to toy soldiering, just as I'm looking forward to getting back to school after the holiday break.

I hope you'll continue to check in from time to time.

Gaudeamus igatur, and...

soldier on!

Mannie

"The whole shebang"

A common fixture in Civil War encampments, both Union and Confederate, was an awning made of poles and foliage called a "shebang" or "she-bang".  Easy to erect from materials nearby, the shebang offered cool respite from the hot sun.

So simple and straightforward is the concept and construction that it's still 

found on the battlefields of today

I decided to make a 55mm shebang for use with my soldiers.

First I needed a base to mount it upon.

I salvaged a sheet of thin plywood from an old file cabinet that I once had. At the band saw I cut a piece roughly 6"x6".

Then it was to the belt sander to bevel the edges.

This late October day was wonderfully, and unseasonably warm as I made my way out to the lilacs with a small pruner.  I harvested all of the sticks I'd need for the

uprights and crossmembers.

Four holes were drilled in the base to receive the upright poles.

Using hot glue the framework was assembled.

A thick layer of paint went on the base and a handful of sawdust was applied for texture.

Winslow Homer is my favorite Civil War artist, and here, in "Home Sweet Home" a shebang can be seen in the background.

With lichen applied as the boughs, the finished product finds the corporal of the guard reading the morning orders.

"The Sutler's Tent" by Winslow Homer

And that's the whole shebang.

Soldier on!

Mannie