Now oddly this set of 96 cards starts with number 501, of Carole Lombard, which must mean there is at least one set previous to it. However, and quite coincidentally, that first card, 501, also mentions our film "Love Before Breakfast", which was released in March 1936.
This was not Cesar Romero`s first film, that was "The Shadow Laughs" in 1933. In between that and our film there were twelve others, including his second role, which was in "The Thin Man", with William Powell, Myrna Loy, and, of course, Asta.
Though he laughed about it, Cesar Romero was too often the "Latin Lover". He danced his way through several musicals, and even shared the screen with Shirley Temple, starting in 1937 with "Wee Willie Winkie", This was the first of three films in which they appeared together, and in close succession, for this was released in June, and the second, "Ali Baba Goes to Town" in October. The final film, "The LIttle Princess" was released in February 1939.
Shortly before that he had picked up the role of The Cisco Kid, which had just been vacated by Warner Baxter. The film, "The Cisco Kid and The Lady", was released in December 1939, and was the fifth in the series, and it may have had rather a thin plot, but the audience liked the change of faces, and Cesar Romero would go on to make six more of them, until his last in 1941, when production was halted by World War Two. He joined up, and served in the U.S. Coast Guard. The series did return towards the end of the war, but not with Cesar Romero, it was instead split between leading men Duncan Renaldo and Gilbert Roland until 1950.
In 1951, whilst continuing to make movies, including the still popular original "Oceans Eleven", he moved seamlessly to television, starting with what we would today call guest appearances. Several of those were anthologies of small sketches blending familiar names and newcomers, whilst others were brief entries in long running serials, like "77 Sunset Strip", "Dr. Kildare", "Burke`s Law", "The Man From U.N.C.L.E" and "Rawhide".
And then he agreed to take on a part that would change his life for ever. More about that tomorrow!
Now we do not know who issued these cards, but they are a mixture of portraits and film stills. Some people are convinced it is three sets, the first, being cards 501-524, which are all actresses, then the second, cards 525-564 which are all actors, and the third, cards 565-596, being stills, or shots directly from movies. However this is incorrect, as within this last group there are more portraits, of actresses (cards 581-588). Other people then counter by saying this makes five sets, actresses, actors, stills, actresses, and stills again. The problem with both these theories is that the number of each set would vary quite widely.
Anyway, as always, we are open to hearing theories on the issuer, or how the set(s) were made up, and all will be investigated !
We must thank Jefferson Burdick for the code, R.134. He lists this set under "Candy and Gum Cards" but does not supply an issuer, simply listing it as
R.134 - Series of 96 (501-596) Movie Stars and Scenes, colours.
He values them at just three cents each, which means they were either very plentiful, or that he did not like them very much. Sadly we do not know which.