Robot:Big Loo

In the 1960s, Louis Marx & Company dominated the toy industry in the United States. Perhaps to reflect the large market share it commanded, in 1963 the Marx company offered a really large battery-operated robot called Big Loo. Standing at 38 inches, Big Loo towered over the competition and offered more functions than any other toy on the market. Big Loo was pretty much a one-robot army or toy shop. It featured a sight scope with crosshairs, flashing red eyes, and hand-cranked voice box that uttered 10 different messages; a ball thrower in the left elbow, a dart launcher, and rocket launcher; a water-squirting navel, a compass, whistle, and bell; and a device for tapping out Morse code and a chart. Loo could bend over and pick up an object with a grabbing device in his right arm, his head rotated 360 degrees, and the wheels in his base allowed forward motion. According to former Marx employees, the company made and marketed about 5,000 Big Loos, making him, these days, a fairly rare vintage toy.