- September
20, 2002 - Atlantic City Press
- Boys and their toys
- Members of local GI Joe Collector's Club admit they are still
children at heart
By JOAN CORBETT For The Press
- MAYS LANDING - Guys and dolls - well, OK, "action figures"
- are what the GI Joe Collector's Club of South Jersey is all
about. Started in January, the group meets once a month and is
looking for new recruits.
- Carl Farrell, 46, founded the local chapter, which is supported
by the National GI Joe Collector's Club in Texas.
- Farrell was lucky enough to still have the GI Joes he'd had
as a kid, including his favorite - a GI Joe Marine from 1964.
He and his brother, Frank, now 42, had 10 or 15 figures between
them and lots of accessories.
- As an adult, he occasionally picked up GI Joe figures and
accessories at yard sales and just stuffed them in a box. Five
years ago, he opened the box and was amazed to see what he'd
accumulated.
- Along with numerous figures, he'd amassed a large assortment
of boots, helmets, weapons, scenery pieces, mess kits, tents
and clothing.
- That moment drove Farrell to collect and organize with a
passion. He began sorting everything by category, creating an
index system and organizing his accessories by placing them in
empty Christmas ornament boxes. He then photographed and recorded
information for each doll and compiled it in a massive binder.
Today he has more than 80 GI Joes, most of which are on display
in his home office.
- "All of us are serious collectors," Farrell said.
"We like to share information and even trade and swap things.
Our big goal is that we'd like to get the national convention
in Atlantic City in the next couple years."
- Club leader Scott Murray, 36, of Turnersville, says the group
is not exclusively for those who collect GI Joe.
- "It's a club for people who collect 1/6-scale figures,"
said Murray, who also collects figures by Cotswold, Ultimate
Soldier and Playing Mantis.
- "The more diverse the group is, the more interesting
it will be," he said, "and I'm hoping that will be
what makes the club last a long time."
- GI Joe actually owes his life to Barbie. Introduced by Mattel
in 1962, Barbie proved so popular with girls that it led toymakers
to search for something that would have that kind of appeal for
boys.
- In 1964, Hasbro produced GI Joe, which soon became its top-selling
toy. During the late 1960s, rising anti-war sentiment over Vietnam
resulted in lower sales. So GI Joe went from a military figure
to an adventure figure, doing battle with volcanoes, sharks and
fire, to name a few.
- Carl Farrell has a GI Joe Search & Rescue Firefighter
that came out last year prior to Sept. 11. He says that since
the tragedy, stores haven't been able to keep enough of them
on the shelves.
- Assistant club leader John DiMatteo Jr., of Brigantine, who
admits he is "36, going on 8," believes he understands
GI Joe's appeal to collectors like himself.
- "It's the kid inside me that doesn't die," he said.
- <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
- GI Joe diorama contest
- The GI Joe Collector's Club of South Jersey is sponsoring
a diorama contest. Deadline to enter is Oct. 5.
- Registration forms and rules are available from Beachcomber
Collectibles at the Shore Mall in Egg Harbor Township, where
the entries will be displayed, or from the club's Web site:
- http://mywebpages.comcast.net/sj.gijoe
- Fax 625-0907 or e-mail: sj.gijoe@att.net.
-
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- Saturday,
September 28, 2002 - Courier Post
Just don't call them dolls
CARLOS J. ORTIZ/Courier-Post
G.I. Joe club members Sean Murray (from left), his brother Scott
Murray and John DiMatteo hold original G.I. Joes from the 1960s.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By LYFORD M. MOORE
Courier-Post Staff
-
- It's OK to refer to Barbie as a doll, but not G.I. Joe. The
"D word" is anathema to most everyone associated with
Joe.
- "He's an action figure, not a doll," says Sean
Murray, 35, of Cherry Hill, who has been collecting G.I. Joes
since the early 1970s and now boasts more than 250 plus a roomful
of accessories. "There's a difference. Barbie has her own
little house and holds tea parties. Action figures like G. I.
Joe fight drugs, help the environment and rescue things like
tigers and pygmy gorillas."
- Created in 1964 by Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro Inc., G.
I. Joe has shed much of his government issue clothing. Though
his roots are with the infantry, he's now also a cowboy, a firefighter,
a cop, an astronaut - even a Navy SEAL.
- G.I. Joe's popularity has fluctuated like bears and bulls
on Wall Street. It peaked between 1964 and 1970, faded between
1977 and 1981 when manufacturing costs soared in concert with
petroleum prices and has been on the rebound since. Though the
company won't release sales figures, those close to the action
figure say the last five years have been particularly rewarding.
- "I know the sales numbers and they've been rising every
year since at least 1997," said Brian Savage, director of
the G.I. Joe Collectors' Club, a national organization ADVERTISEMENT
- CLICK TO ENLARGE
based in Fort Worth, Texas. "No one can say for sure how
many people collect G.I. Joes, but we estimate there are 8, 000
to 10,000 people who spend at least $100 a month on their collections."
- He refused to share those sales numbers.
- Action figures come in two sizes: 12 inches and 3 3/4 inches
and more than 500 enthusiasts attended this year's three-day
G.I. Joe Collectors' Club Convention in Norfolk, Va., to study
the supply. Another 1,500 to 2,000 "locals" dropped
by for shorter stays.
- Nationwide, there are 23 branches of the national organization
and about 3,000 active members. A club was launched in South
Jersey in January and now is preparing for a G.I. Joe Diorama
Contest. The contest will be held Nov. 9 at Beachcomber Collectibles
in Egg Harbor Township and will feature a slew of Joe-related
prizes.
- The club meets on the second Sunday of each month, usually
in Mays Landing. At the last meeting, club members discussed
the diorama contest and broached the possibility of staging a
similar contest on the Internet. New members are welcome.
- In most cases, interest in G.I. Joe among adults can be traced
to one's childhood.
- "G.I. Joe is the kid in us that never grew up,"
explains John DiMatteo Jr., 36, of Brigantine, one of the South
Jersey club's seven members. "It's an extension of my childhood.
- "I have two stepdaughters, 9 and 12, and from time to
time I'll take out certain figures for them to play with. I love
doing that. It's an escape from the world for a couple of hours,
a way of relaxing and reminiscing how I used to play with them
as a kid. To this day, I collect G.I. Joes, but don't sell them.
Selling is not an option. G.I. Joe will be with me until I die."
- DiMatteo, who is employed by Brigantine's Public Works Department,
started his collection in 1970 and now has 104. He says the collection
is worth about $17,000 and it's fully insured. He used Vincent
Santelmo's The Complete Encyclopedia to G.I. Joe (Krause Publications,
2001) to determine value. The 592-page publication is considered
the bible of G.I. Joe memorabilia by collectors.
- Though the cost of G.I. Joe action figures in toy stores
ranges from $10 to $45 - sometimes less when the figures are
created exclusively for stores such as Wal-Mart, Sears, Target
and JC Penney - the cost for certain figures can carry into the
thousands of dollars.
- "There are some that are worth a lot of money, a whole
lot of money," says club leader Scott Murray (Sean's brother),
36, a graphic designer from Turnersville. "The talking ones,
your Hispanic, your African-American, your original nurse are
worth $2,000, $3,000, up to $5,000. There's one, and I'm not
sure which one it is, that's worth $7,000."
- Like his brother, Scott began collecting the popular action
figures in the early 1970s and now has 30 to 40. Unlike his brother,
he can't put a number on their value.
- "Some of them are vintage, original soldiers in original
boxes from 1964. In certain places, those could be valued as
high as $500. I paid $40 for mine. I got lucky. I found a very
good bargain."
- Sean Murray, an automobile parts adviser who keeps his ever-growing
collection in "one big room," says his wife, Tara,
32, is very understanding.
- "I'm in my mid-30s, married and my wife said, `If you
liked them as a kid, re-collect them if you like,'" he says.
"I keep them in that one room on shelves and in boxes. They're
probably worth about $30,000."
- Tara, a nanny, says "I don't mind that he collects this
stuff. It's fun for him and it brings back some of his childhood.
It's also something really nice for him and his brother to do
together. Of course, they're always getting teased about playing
with dolls."
- When it comes to her own collection - Irish china - Tara
stands on the opposite side of the street. Her loyalties aren't
masked.
- "G.I. Joes have their own room and my china has its
own nice cabinet," she laughs. "Never the twain shall
meet."
-
- G.I. Joe's history
- 1964 - G.I. Joe makes his debut as a `doll' for boys, taking
his name from the movie `The Story of G.I. Joe.'
- 1967 - The line is expanded to include talking figures.
- 1969 - Another expansion includes all categories of U.S.
armed forces and numerous foreign armed forces.
- 1975 - A bionic warrior, Atomic Man, is introduced.
- 1978 - Domestic marketing is discontinued due to an increase
in the cost of petroleum, a component in the manufacture of plastics.
- 1986 - Professional wrestler Sgt. Slaughter becomes the first
real-life person to become a member of the G.I. Joe corps.
- 1987 - The Defiant Space Shuttle Complex is introduced and
becomes the first G.I. Joe component to be sold in Europe.
- 1995 - A new line of 4 1/2-inch action figures is introduced.
- 1996 - Joe Extreme, a 6-inch figure, is launched.
- 1997 - G.I. Jane, a U.S. Army helicopter pilot, is introduced.
It becomes the first female since G.I. Nurse in 1967.
- 2001 - A special series of four Pearl Harbor figures is introduced
to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
-
- If you go
- The G.I. Joe Diorama Contest will be held from 10 a.m. to
2: 30 p.m. Nov. 9 at the Shore Mall, Black Horse Pike, Egg Harbor
Township. For more information or the show of membership in the
collectors' club, call (856) 218-1176.
-
- Reach Lyford M. Moore at (856) 486-2475 or lmoore@ courierpostonline.com
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