Arts and Entertainment Brooklyn Boro

Brooklyn photographer captures toy soldiers fighting history’s battles

November 21, 2017 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle
A classic charge by medieval knights somewhere in France. Eagle photos by Mario Belluomo
A classic charge by medieval knights somewhere in France. Eagle photos by Mario Belluomo
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In a house on Staten Island, the battles of World War I and World War II, the American West, the Middle Ages and the Middle East still rage — in realistic dioramas made of antique toy soldiers set up inside large display cases.

In one display, explosions propel unfortunate German WWI infantry soldiers high into the air as their companions crawl under barbed wire and cannons target their enemy.

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In another, a pitched battle breaks out between medieval armies of armored French knights mounted on horses. The scene is so realistic one can almost hear the stomping of horses and the clanging of swords.

In another display, Arab soldiers parade on the grounds of a desert fort made of wood.

These displays, and more, were created by Mario Belluomo, who has worked as a court officer in Brooklyn for 40 years. Belluomo has also been a photographer since he was 17, and has covered news stories for the Brooklyn Eagle since 1994.

Belluomo owns several thousand soldiers from all over the world and several forts from the 1930s. The best figures are in the display cases, set up as scenes.

Now he is sharing some remarkable, never-before-seen photos of his collection. The realistic visual effects are achieved by Belluomo crawling right inside the display cases to take photos at eye level.

How the Collection Began

“My love of toy soldiers goes back to my early childhood as a young boy born in Sicily shortly after World War II,” Belluomo told the Eagle. “The talk was always about the war and there were still ruins in my town, so as little boys it was the custom to play with sticks and rocks with cooking pots on our heads and be at make-believe war.”

Upon coming to the United States, Belluomo became fascinated with the abundance of toys and bins filled with thousands of different toy soldiers at 5-and-10 stores.

“Quickly, my little room in Bensonhurst was filled with every kind of toy solider and my new-found American friends would just give them to me because they all had so much,” he said.

Belluomo discovered antique toy soldiers as an adult in 1975.

“I passed an antique store and in the window were beautiful, perfectly painted lead toy soldiers … made in America in the 1930s. They looked so handsome and their poses were so unique — each one doing some military task with a great look of determination on their painted expressions,” Belluomo said.

The burly Brooklynite who owned the shop wanted $5 each, however.

“So off I went, and day after day I looked in the window just to admire them. I always feared that one day they would be gone. After several weeks as they began to fade, the guy comes out and says with his deep Brooklynese, ‘Yo, you still want them, tell you what. Three bucks apiece and you can have them all.” And that’s how it all began, Belluomo said.

Over the years, Belluomo’s travels took him to flea markets and toy shows, and his collection grew. First, it was lead-made English troops known as Britains, dating from the turn of the century. In Italy he came across toy soldiers made in Germany between the world wars by a famous company called Elastolin. “They were made of a sawdust composition, and each one was hand-painted. The battle field layouts were the best,” he said.

German-made cowboy and Indian sets from the 1930s are much in demand now, Belluomo said.

“Their colors and details are unbelievably complete, with painted tee pees and Indian blankets.”

As a professional photographer, Belluomo says he wanted to experience what the line of sight would be from the figure’s perspective.

“So I got down and dirty and literally crawled into the display cases to get as realistic a photo I could get. The results were breathtaking,” he said.

“It has taken me 50 years to see what my little armies have seen. As a kid I always would have loved to be standing next to my little comrades in arms and I finally got the chance.” He added, “It’s never too late to be a kid again.” 


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