The last card was designed to suggest the role that Mr. Romero is most known for, and that was The Joker, in Batman – though he only played him from 1966 to 1968.
Now you may have well been thinking this was the standard Wills Home issue, but it is this curious one, issued overseas. And did you spot that on the top banner of the front, where it usually says "WILLS`S CIGARETTES" this one says "ENGLISH PERIOD COSTUMES"? This is also a much more flamboyant reverse than ours, with its stiff, straight framelines.
The word "Joker" will almost immediately suggest something else to you, which is playing cards. The curious thing is, though, that on most of these, and do go check, the so called "Joker" depicted is dressed as on our card, with the striped attire on his body, and the cap with bells on his head. Yet, as here on our card, we do not call this chap a "Joker" at all, we call him a "Jester". There are regional variances, for example, in Italy this card shows Harlequin of the Comedia Del`Arte.
Popular legend has this card starting during the American Civil War, as part of the game known as Euchre, and it is said by some that Joker is but a mispronounciation of Euchre. Another thought is that it comes from Germany, and a game called Juckerspiel, with the Jucker being anglicised to Joker, though it actually means the Jack. The earliest actual Joker card was made in England by Charles Goodall, though it was not used here for several years, all those first packs being exported to America.
Now this card is a variant of the W.D. & H.O. Wills set of "English Period Costumes" issued in this country in August 1929, However there are differences and variations, which are admirably described in our original Wills reference book part IV as :
195. ENGLISH PERIOD COSTUMES. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text (except C).
Small cards, size 67 x 35 m/m. Series of 50
A. Home issue, Wills` name and I.T.C. Clause at base of back. Issued 1929.
B. General Overseas Issue, Anonymous backs, series title front and back.
C. General Overseas issue. Plain backs, unnumbered. Anonymous issue, series title front only.
D. MEDIUM cards, size 70 x 55 m/m. Series of 25. Inscribed "Wills World Renowned Cigarettes". Two grades of board (a) white semi-glossy (b) cream, matt. Issued in Australia 1928
E. LARGE cards, size 79 x 62 m/m. Series of 25. Home issue 1927.
The subjects in A-C are entirely different to those in D-E.
Now though these are not listed in the main body of our British American Tobacco Reference, RB.21, they do appear in the front index, and several gaps to the above are filled. The text there tells us that our set, B., was issued in 1932 in South Africa, whilst set C., with the plain back, was issued in Malaya, I do not know why they were not given any text, or even a design? Does anyone else?
When the Wills part work books were reprinted into a single hard back volume, complete with tables of dates of issue from Wills` own World Magazines, we gained the month of issue for the home set, August 1929. However though there is a table of overseas dates, they are a bit sketchy, and neither of the exported versions appear.
By the time of our World Tobacco Issues Indexes, the sets have been parted. The Home issue now appears with the Wills listing, whilst the export ones appear elsewhere, in sections for anonymous sets with and without letterpress on the backs. Our set is quite early on under ZB, but the Malayan one is a way down further, as ZJ05-26 in the updated volume - and ZJ5-11 in the original.