ERGONOMIC, ORGANIC AND ATOMIC: MORE MARX TOY SPACE RIFLES

 

The other day I speculated as to the identity of a toy space rifle with the organic hilt I saw on am old knitting pattern. I had thought it was most likely the Marx Space Cadet Atomic Rifle. However, this was an American toy and may not have been that common in the UK.

 

 

Guessing that there may have been a similar UK toy I consulted the oracle aka Alphadrome. Lo and behold, there was indeed a UK atomic space rifle made by Tudor Rose no less around 1953. It is the subject of much debate on the Alphadrome forum. It could be the toy I saw on the knitting pattern but without the sheet in front of me its impossible to say. The Tudor Rose space rifle is it would seem now a rare toy.

 

 

To add to their Space Cadet toy rifle [top pic] Marx also issued a similar Captain Space Solar Scout Atomic Ray Gun. Less sleek and somewhat unwieldy looking, it nevertheless retained the organic hilt characteristic of the design. But where did this unique design originate?

 

 

 

The answer to this was readily available online in the form of this gorgeous patent, which states its inventor as one Mahlon E. Hirsch. Mr. Hirsch designed the rifle for Louis Marx in 1953. He also designed a number of other toy guns.

 

 

 

 

 

I remembered that I'd seen organic and ergonomic space rifles before in popular culture. Project SWORD might have one or two in the pages of the annual and comics, but the ones I'm thinking of come from art and film.

 

 

Barbarella in her eponymous 1968 film sported a number of space weapons. The most organically-shaped was her Big Gun, which I find quite beautiful [it may not have actually made it on screen for some strange reason].

 

 

 

But probably my favourite rifle in this vein is one designed, modelled and painted by the late great artist Frank Kelly Freas for Plus X by Eric Frank Russel, Astounding Science Fiction 1956. I came across this years ago when I was a teenager and the proud owner of his book, Frank Kelly Freas, The Art of Science Fiction.

 

 

Before using the rifle in this wonderful painting and various black and white illustrations for the story of Plus X, Mr. Freas first modelled his design in what appears to be wood. This small picture of it appeared in the aforementioned art book.

 

 

Any further thoughts, pictures or stories about similar designed rifle toys and illustrations are welcomed readers.