It's more likely that 'marbles' was coined as a slang term meaning 'wits/common sense', as a reference to the marbles that youngsters play with. An interesting theory, but no more than that there's no evidence to support the idea. The supposition is that the expression derives from the loss of the artworks by the Greeks, or their subsequent loss at sea when the ship that was transporting them sank. These are the collection of sculptures, some from the Parthenon Frieze, which were taken from Athens by Lord Elgin in 1806. It has been suggested that the 'losing one's mind' meaning derives from the Elgin Marbles. 'Marbles' also meant testicles and has been used that way since at least the mid 19th century. These mean 'to carry off the honours or prizes' and 'to withdraw from activity or game and cause it to cease' (like the UK variant 'take one's ball home'). From the 1920s onward two US expressions became established - 'to pick up the marbles' and 'to pick up one's marbles'. This latter meaning derives from the French word 'meubles', which means 'furniture'.
From the mid 19th century 'marbles' was also used to mean 'personal effects', 'goods', or more generally 'stuff'. Marbles are, of course, the little glass or metal balls that children use to play the eponymous game. That's worth investigation at least, so let's have a go. Perhaps 'marbles' meant 'mind' or 'wits' before 'lose one's marbles' was coined.
The point is that the person in question has, as in another earlier variant, 'a bit missing'. The expression has now been shortened to simply 'losing it'. It is American, but originated in the late 19th century, not the 1950s.
Bogart's performance was so affecting that many have supposed the film to be the source of the phrase. Queeg, restlessly jiggling a set of metal balls when under stress in court. In the 1954 film The Caine Mutiny Humphrey Bogart linked insanity with marbles when he showed his character, the demented Lt. To 'lose one's marbles' is to lose one's mind. What's the origin of the phrase 'Lose your marbles'?
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