Mercury (toy manufacturer) Marklin, the company was started in 1932, by Attilio Clemente and Antonio Cravero, but its first toy was a gun produced about 1939 (Batazzi et al 1974; Force 1992, 5; History of Mercury 2013; Ralston 2009, 62). The company first began making toy cars just after World War II, so is one of the earliest diecast model makers preceding Corgi and many others and it was the earliest producer in Italy (Richardson 1999, 134). In Italy there was little competition for Mercury through most of the 1950s (Force 1992, 5). Early cars were more Tootsietoy-like with simple cast bodies, wheels
Barbara Toy and Charles also wrote "The Man in Grey", a play adaptation of the novel of the same name by Lady Eleanor Smith, and "Random Harvest", based on the book of the same name by James Hilton. Toy took over the management of Worthing Repertory Company at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing, a position she held until she resigned to go off on her first overland journey in late 1950. Toy also co-authored a film screenplay with Norman Lee, an adaptation of W. W. Jacobs' 1902 horror story "The Monkey's Paw", the film of which was released in 1948. Toy had