Marx "Prehistoric Times'

 Another nostalgic stroll down memory lane...

     My twin sister saw them first and excitedly pointed to the display window. "Ricky look! Look!" I did. My eyes got big and my mouth must have dropped open. Dinosaurs vacuum packed in plastic! Prehistoric monsters featured in either the front window of  J.J. Newberry's* or Woolworth's side-by-side department stores located on 'The Miracle Mile'** nearest 23rd Street. The year was 1960 sometime in the late fall. Night had already fallen, making the brightly lit windows displays all the more inviting. We, my twin sister, our two older sisters, and mom were headed south, walking along the west side of Mission with 23rd Street not too far away. Perhaps our mom was taking us to Sears on Mission and Army Streets, or to Kress, or the Mission Branch Public Library, I cannot say, but my twin and I brought everyone to an abrupt halt.

     "Ooh Mommie!" I must have cried. Hoping the combined enthusiasm of my twin and I would impress her to an urgency of some sort as my older sisters describe the various dinosaurs on display. Clearly our mother could see where our gaze had followed: from the Marx Toys' 'Prehistoric Monsters' subset, featuring eight dinosaurs to, the toy manufacturer's 'Prehistoric Times' complete play set of sixty pieces laid out across the base of the display case including terrain, plants, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, mammoths, sloths, cavemen, you name it.

    "Too expensive," Mother informed us, and with that we were on our way. My twin and I would have to settle for the window shopping experience and nothing more. 

 Marx Toys' 'Prehistoric Monsters' subset in its original package (a little worse for wear, tear, and shrinkage.)

 

 

 

 

 

     Not long after that night, our dad presented us with the subset of eight 'Prehistoric Monsters'. I don't it was Christmas Day, but before that. Oh joy, oh joy! There were only the eight molded creatures: the Triceratops, the Trachodon, the Stegosaurus, the Dimetrodon the Tyrannosaurus, the Allosaurus, the Ankylosaurus, and the Brontosaurus, but they were by far the most important.

Shown here, sans color, are the Marx Toys' eight, plastic 'Prehistoric Monsters' (terrain not included.)

 

  For decades they stayed in our possession until February 10, 1998, when as the remaining occupant of our family home, I had to move out upon its sale, and had to let go the final two monsters: the gray T-Rex, and the green sauropod.

Marx Toys 'Prehistoric Times' Complete Play Set (artwork from the box cover lid.)

-FIN-

 

*  J.J. Newberry Co., also titled the 5·10·25 Cent Store, was housed on the ground floor of the Mission Masonic Temple. F.W. Woolworth Co. was adjacent, occupying the actual northwest corner of Mission and 23rd Streets.

**'The Miracle Mile' was Mission Street from 16th Street to Army (now Cesar Chavez) Street.