Toyman (Winslow Schott)

Revision as of 17:40, 25 May 2008

A bespectacled, bulbous-nosed villain who "invents weird automatic toys ... to help him execute bizarre crimes" (S No. 60/3, Sep/Oct 1949: "Superman Fights the Super-Brain!"). He is "a crafty criminal with the face of a saint and an adding machine for a heart" (S No. 41/1. Jan/Feb 1947: "Playthings of Peril!"), a "cunning creator of crime-toys" (S No. 63/2, Mar/Apr 1950: "The Wind-up Toys of Peril!") who is "publicity-mad as well as money-mad" (Act No. 64, Sep 1943: "The Terrible Toyman!") and whose "tenderest spot --[is] his vanity" (S No. 63/2, Mar/Apr 1950: "The Wind-up Toys of Peril!"). Action Comics No. 64 describes him as

    a wily old man who has devoted his life to  
    the most intricate and amazing toys
    you've ever seen --and has learned so well
    to make them do his bidding that he [has
    become] a national menace! (Sep 1943:
    "The Terrible Toyman!")

The Toyman is “a kindly-seeming old man with bright, twinkling eyes” (Act No. 64, Sep 1943: “The Terrible Toyman!”), a “nimble brain” (S No. 63/2, Mar/Apr 1950: “The Wind-Up Toys of Peril!”), and shoulder-length hair which is sometimes blond (Act No. 64, Sep 1943: “The Terrible Toyman!”; S No. 32/3, Jan/Feb 1945: “Toys of Treachery!”) or red (S No.27/1, Mar/Apr 1944: “The Palace of Perilous Play!”), but is most often colored brown (S No. 44/1, Jan/Feb 1947: “Playthings of Peril!”; and others).

“In a cellar deep beneath the city streets, the Toyman has a secret workshop, tooled with the latest precision machinery. . . .“ (Act No. 64, Sep 1943: “The Terrible Toyman!”). It is here that this “whimsical villain” (S No. 32/3, Jan/Feb 1945: “Toys of Treachery!”), this bizarre “genius who never graduated from kindergarten” (S No. 47/1, Jul/Aug 1947: “The Toyman’s Castle!”), applies his “crafty genius” to transforming “objects of innocent amusement into fantastic tools of villainy” (S No. 27/1, Mar/Apr 1944: “The Palace of Perilous Play!”), “not for the amusement of children, but for the consternation of their fathers!” (Act No. 64, Sep 1943: “The Terrible Toy-man!”).

“As everyone knows,” notes Superman No. 63/2, “the incredible Toyman’s business is creating treacherous toys for cunning crimes ... grim playthings for plunder!” (Mar/Apr 1950: “The Wind-Up Toys of Peril!”).

The texts describe the Toyman as a “whimsically sinister rugged individualist of crime” (Act No. 85, Jun ‘45: “The Puzzle in Jade!”), as a “gleeful gadgeteer,” and as a “malevolent master of mechanical menace” (S No. 60/3, Sep/Oct 1949: “Superman Fights the Super-Brain!”).

In September 1943 a "queer old maker of toys" pepares to embark on a truly astonishing career in crime. "People have laughed," muses the villain aloud, "thinking me a harmless old eccentric! Little do they suspect that I have become the world's cleverest toymaker for reasons of my own! Riches and power shall be mine because of my ingenius [sic] toys! Then it will be my turn to laugh at the world! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

In the days that follow, the Toyman amd his henchmen commit two spectacular crimes, first robbing a bank by employing an army of ingenious toy soldiers to fire a barrage of sleeping gas into the bank building, then looting an armored truck of its cargo currency by using a toy armored truck, filled with high explosives, to blast the money-laden vehicle over the side of a bridge. Superman thwarts the Toyman's third robbery and apprehends his henchmen, but the villain escapes to his secret subterranean workshop and takes Lois Lane captive when she stumbles upon its location. He is about to annihilate her with his collection of radio-controlled dolls ("The only unpleasant thing about them," notes the Toyman dryly, "is that their fingers are sharpened to needle points and dipped in poison! The effect is swift, once your skin is pierced!"), when Superman arrives on the scene in the nick of time to apprehend the toyman and rescue Lois from his clutches.

"I'm sure the warden of State Prison will appreciate your peculiar talents, Toyman!" remarks Superman as he carries the villain away to prison.

"I'll stay there just long enough to think of a plan to destroy you," retorts the villain, "and then I'll be back! How the world will laugh when Superman is defeated by a toy! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" (Act No. 64: "The Terrible Toyman!").

Indeed, “even in prison, the Toyman’s uncanny skill wins him applause- .and the freedom of the workshop,” and in March-April 1944 he executes a dramatic escape by manufacturing a rocket-powered mechanical Superman and riding it to safety over the prison wall.

Sometime later, after disguising his true identity beneath a black wig, moustache, and Vandyke beard, the Toyman announces the opening of his $1 Palace of Play, an amusement parlor for the upper classes whose extravagant versions of traditional penny-arcade games cost $1 apiece to play. In addition to the profits he earns from his games, however, the Toyman also robs and swindles his patrons, such as by stealing their wallets and jewelry when they enter his parlor’s photographic booth to have their pictures taken.

When Lois Lane pays a visit to the Toyman’s lavish dollar arcade, the villain lures her to his private workshop and imprisons her in an airtight glass cylinder ringed with deathtraps in hopes of luring Superman to his doom, but Superman survives the barrage of “high-tension electric current” and other deadly booby traps, rescues Lois Lane from the cylinder, and takes the Toyman into custody (S No. 27/1: “The Palace of Perilous Play!”).