Marx Zorro Garrison / Hacienda

Out of the night,
when the full moon is bright,
comes the horseman known as Zorro. 

This bold renegade
carves a Z with his blade,
a Z that stands for Zorro. 

Zorro, Zorro, the fox so cunning and free,
Zorro, Zorro, who makes the sign of the Z. 

Zorro, Zorro, Zorro, Zorro, Zorro.

Those were the words to the opening theme song from Walt Disney's very popular 'Zorro' series of 1958-59 starring Guy Williams as the masked hero from Old Los Angeles. This was one of my favorite shows growing up in the '50s, being a slight break from all the Western's I watched, yet still having a 'western' feel to it. The Louis Marx Co., ever one to jump at the chance to market the latest toy tie-in to a popular TV series, released their 'Zorro' playset in 1958. A complete set has a tin litho Garrison building (also referred to as a Hacienda) surrounded by a multi-segment tin-litho wall with gate and includes character figures for Zorro, Bernardo, and Sgt Garcia, and Zorro's horse Tornado.  A complete set in original box commands a premium in the collector market but bits and pieces can be found relatively easily and costing far less than the Pharaoh's treasure commanded by the complete set. So far I've only been able to acquire this building - but in reality I haven't tried hard to acquire the rest of the set - yet! This is another example of Marx's 'shoebox' style building and measures 12" (30.5cm) L x 4" (10.2cm) W x 6 1/4" (15.9cm) H.

For more information on the Disney TV series I suggest checking out Bill Cotter's excellent website:

http://www.billcotter.com/zorro/index.htm

Enjoy!