Before there was Mariah Carey, there was Slade. And their biggest hit was "Merry Christmas Everybody", which was an instant number one, selling three hundred thousand copies on its first day of release. It is also fifty years old this Christmas. However it took until last year to receive a proper video, it was generally shown with just the band, performing on Top of the Pops in 1973. That video was animated but as of last month there is a brand new one, which you can see at the Gold Radio Website
It takes until our British Trade Index part IV for these to make their first appearance, and they are described as : "Pop Star Cameos. Circular. 62 m/m dia. (24). See Dc466."
Now Dc466 enlivens the tale a lot, for that reads :
Dc466. POP DISCS or POP STAR CAMEOS. Circular, 62 m/m dia. (24). Front per Fig.Dc466.B
Mister Softee. See MJZ-23. Back per Fig. Dc466.A
Tonibell. Set TNA-23. Back per Fig. Dc466.C
There then follows a list of all the people on the card which I hope to find elsewhere so that I can link to it rather than have to type it. And I have many thanks to The Trading Card Database/TonibellCam. Though not all the cards are illustrated.
This list, and the one in our Trade Index part IV, are both in alphabetical order, because the cards are unnumbered.
Looking at the backs they are identical in every way save the wording in the top black half circle, which either reads “Mister Softee” in slanted script, followed by “POP DISCS” in capital letters - or “tonibell” in upright block letters, followed by “POP STAR CAMEOS” in capital letters.
Further digging reveals that the Mister Softee version is listed in most dealers catalogues to have been issued first, in 1972. However I have found the Tonibell version in the “Cartophilic Notes and News” magazine for November/December 1972, as part of the “Some Recent Issues” section, which at that time was compiled by Clifford Duge. In here, they are described as :
Tonibell Ltd. (Ice cream). “Pop Star Cameos”. 24 to the series. I have not yet seen these cards but W. Titchmarsh reports that the cards are circular and unnumbered. Titled and described on the back and distributed from ice cream vans that tour the district.
Neither version appears in our updated British Trade Index, for that only covers cards issued up to 1970.