Cadum is a brand of French soap which was first created in 1907 by an American, Michael Winburn, as a result of buying a balm which was sold to him with the possibility of relieving a severe outbreak of eczema. And it worked, so much so that he contacted a pharmacist, Louis Nathan, perhaps even the pharmacist who sold him the ointment, that fact is not known, and they went into partnership.
Their first factory was set up in Courbevoie, on Rue de Sabliere making the balm, an ointment, and a toothpaste. They branded the products as "Cadum", because they all contained an extract of a plant called the Cade Juniper. The soap appeared in 1912, and by 1930 it had added shampoo, cold cream, shaving cream, and talcum powder. And after the Second World War they launched a brand of laundry detergent called `PEC`. That was about the time they issued these cards, which are now quite hard to find. In fact most of them today are much shorter, because they have been trimmed, removing the Mickey Mouse stamp which appears on the right hand side of our card, but on the left hand side of some others - and which, when removed and submitted, entitled you to a free copy of "Mickey`s Journal" magazine. Now cards 1 - 12, which we think comprised the first series, did not have this offer, they just say that in each pack of Cadum Soap there is a design by Walt Disney. But they also say it is a series of twenty four cards, so perhaps there were twenty four in the first series and ours is only card 12 of the second series. So some time I`ll start making a list...
We know that Walt Disney`s "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" had its French Premiere in Paris on May the 6th. 1938. This run was halted by the outbreak of the Second World War and it only started to be shown again at the end of 1944. But is was also re-released several times, most famously in 1951 and 1962. We suspect that these cards were issued in 1951, because in 1952 Cadum was involved in a merger and became part of Palmolive, during which it changed its name to Cadum Palmolive - and in 1964 the name Cadum disappeared, albeit temporarily, because as of today you can again get Cadum products, which are ethically clean and have been praised by Greenpeace - though, since 2012, the brand has been owned by L`Oreal.