Newsletter - 2021-10-03

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Eckstein-Halpaus [tobacco : O/S - Dresden, Germany]  "Die Nachkriegszeit 1918-1934" / The Inter-War Period (1935) 174/252 - E165-550

On the 2nd of October, 1869, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi – otherwise known as Mahatma Gandhi – was born in Porbandar in India. He died on January 30, 1948, at the age of 78. In 2007, this day was chosen in his honour by the United Nations to be The International Day of Non-Violence.

According to our friends at the trading card database, Gandhi appears on twenty-one cards from 1952 to 2015, and, as usual, varieties of the same set are counted as separate cards.

However, actually there is a much earlier card of Gandhi, and that is the one we show you here. It dates from 1935 and covers the “Indian Conference in London” which took place in September 1931 - or the second conference, anyway, which you can read about at the Open University 'Making Britain' website.

This card was actually issued in Germany, and covers the Post War Period (1918-1934); the title actually breaks down as Nach (after) Kriegs (war) Zeit (time), but there was an ulterior motive to the set as it traces the rise of Hitler and his political ideology, and was issued one year after he took office.

The cards fit in to a hardback album of almost a hundred pages, which could be bought for just one Reichsmark - and as well as being issued by Zigarettenfabriken Eckstein-Halpaus of Dresden, you can also find it by Waldorf Astoria of Munich and Stuttgart. In fact we featured their version in our newsletter for the 4th of January 2025, though you will need to scroll down to Monday the 6th of January to see it. 

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C. H. KNORR A.G. [trade : soups and seasonings : O/S - Neckar. Germany] "Siege, Rekorde, Sensationen" (1964) 2/?

Today sees a major sporting event return to the capital city, the Virgin Money London Marathon – which has been moved because of the pandemic.

The original Marathon is discussed as our Card of the Day for the 23rd of February 2025. The idea was remembered, and converted into a race for the first ever modern Olympic Games of 1896, and men have been running it ever since, though women were only given a chance to run the same length at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. That first Olympic marathon was actually of twenty-five miles, and it was won by a Greek water carrier called Spyridon Louis, with his countryman Charilaos Vasakilios coming home just eight minutes behind. However the Hungarian runner Gyula Kellner was only thirty-two seconds behind him in third place.

Marathons were also run in 1900 in Paris, won by Frenchman Michel Theato, and in 1904 in St. Louis, won by Thomas Hicks of the United States.

Our card shows the 1908 Olympic marathon, held at White City, and that was the first time that what would eventually become the standard distance of twenty-six miles, three hundred and eighty five yards was used - though it was not until the Paris Olympics of 1924 that it became the only distance ever to be used again. And what makes that even odder is that it was actually just the distance from the starting line at Windsor Castle to the Royal Box inside the White City Stadium, rather than any nod to the marathon run itself.

The 1908 Olympics were actually rather strange, not only because seventy five runners entered (reduced, thankfully, to a starting line up of fifty-five), but for the way it ended - and that is shown on this card, where we have Dorando Pietri, an Italian athlete, who had collapsed several times en route and then crossed the line at the end of the marathon, but only with assistance, before being disqualified for having been helped. Though it does say on card 1 of Quaker Oats` package issue "Great Moments in Sport" that he was "given a special gold cup by Queen Alexandra". 

That meant that the gold medal went to the American, John Joseph Hayes, who came home second, with a time of just under three hours. It is said that it was he who helped popularise the growth of marathons in cities, but this is incorrect, for the first city marathon was in Boston in 1897.

The first one in London, by the way, was in 1909 - that was called The Polytechnic Marathon, and it ran every year, using the standard Olympic distance but over a variety of courses. And it ran right until 1996. 

Before we leave this subject, we must mention two important cards, both part of American Tobacco’s “Champion Athlete and Prize Fighter Series”, issued with Mecca Cigarettes in 1910. Series two included two Marathon runners - Harry Jensen (of the Pastime Athletic Club .. the amateur “Marathon King” having completed in and won more long races than any other amateur Marathoner.” His fastest time, as recorded on the card, was in the Yonkers Marathon on November 27, 2 hours 46 minutes and 43 1-5 seconds” - and Fred Meadows who “was in the Canadian Olympic Team to England in 1908 and it was after this that he began to show his best form”.

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Haus Bergmann Zigarettenfabrik [tobacco : O/S : Germany] "Bergmann`s Bunte Bilder - Buhne und Film" / Stage and Film (1932) book 1 picture 13 - B317-100.1.2 : B60.1.2

Today, the 4th October, in 1895 was the birthday of Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton.

His parents were vaudeville comedians who travelled around America with a group of other performers. One of these was Houdini, and reportedly it is he who we should thank for “Buster” Keaton, as he saw the small child falling down stairs and said the fall looked like it was a buster.

Houdini left the troupe but it continued for a few years. When it broke up Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle offered Buster Keaton a part in his new film “The Butcher Boy”. This was in 1917, and Buster Keaton was so grateful for the introduction into Hollywood that when scandal broke around Roscoe Arbuckle he stuck by him, gave him money when he ran short, found him jobs, and even offered to testify if required.

The same year Buster Keaton married Natalie Talmadge, as shown on this “Pictures Portrait Gallery” postcard. She was the youngest and least well known of the trio of Talmadge girls (Constance and Norma being the others) who were all popular actresses. Reportedly their parents were less than pleased with the marriage, thinking that he was only marrying into the great Talmadge family to ride their fame.

Despite this obstacle, the marriage was happy for a while, and they had two sons, but then things changed and she divorced him, rather acrimoniously in 1932, forbidding him to see the children or them to see him, dropping the Keaton from their double barrelled surname so they were only Talmadges, and also never hesitating in saying how bad a person he had been. There seems no firm idea of why this happened, sometimes it says that he was unfaithful, but what seems most telling is that after the two children she had decided not to have any more so had moved into separate quarters in the house. His career had going well, he had plenty of money, and he had been making two films a year, including many of the acrobatics that he had used on the vaudeville stage. One of these films, “The General” was about the American Civil War, and it featured a scene which was the most expensive sequence ever shot for motion pictures.

He married twice more, neither of whom were actresses. Then, in the 1940s, out of the blue, his children made contact, which pleased him very much, as did the fact that one became an actor, and took the name Buster Keaton Jr.

Buster Keaton Senior died on February 1, 1966. He was still making films to the end, his last one, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” being released after his death, and he still did many of his own “stunts” in that movie, though his health was failing fast and a double did do the most dangerous or awkward of them.

here is a warm and happy webpage for you to have a look at, and for cards, check out this list of cards. However, that does not includeWills Cinema Stars Tobacco Cards, 3rd Series, (June 1931) which actually titles the film as “Forward March”, when it is more usually known as “Doughboys”,  – read more about that at IMDB.

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Shell [trade : petrol stations : O/S : Australia] “Project Cards – Citizenship Series” (1965) card 53 – SH6-3.1

World, or International Teachers Day, has been held every 5 October since 1994. This year the theme is “Teachers at the heart of education recovery”, and it pays tribute to the fact that throughout our battles with Covid the schools have remained open for children of caregivers and emergency workers, as well as provided meals and amusement for those who needed them. In this they deserve much more praise than the government will ever give them, for the teachers and staff were just as vulnerable to the disease, and for a long while it was not really known whether children were able to incubate it or even pass it on.

The earliest card of a teacher can be seen at the website of New York's Metropolitan Museum. This is from Goodwin & Co`s "Occupations for Women", an untitled and unnumbered series of 50 cards, also issued as a series of 24 by Cope, Cameron & Cameron, and Frishmuth, and as another set of 50 by Wm. G. Hills and Co Cigarerra Mexicana. Another version exists, by American Eagle, but look closely at those and you will see the bounders just pasted their name over Goodwin cards!

Teachers in movies, especially early ones, were looked upon rather humorously. Will Hay spent many years playing the Headmaster of St. Michaels, a series which had been running via radio since 1922, and can be seen as so on card 26 of the second series of Wills "Radio Celebrities". However there was an even earlier headmaster, portrayed by Cyril Maude in 1921 in a British silent comedy feature called "The Headmaster" - and that was based on a 1913 play of the same name by Edward Knoblock and Wilfred Coleby. 

In addition you will find many schools shown on cigarette cards, really too many to name, but have a look through your collection and I am sure you will find one before too long. 

This card fulfils the brief exactly, for it is a true International Teacher, all the way from Australia. 

The home page for this entire group is with our Card of the Day for the 19th of March, 2024. Our set comes under group 1, "Issues in Australia - Inscribed "Shell" without full name", and is listed as : 

• (a) Issues 1959-65. Nine sets numbered 1/540 except set SH6-3.1 which is numbered 1/60 instead of 421/480. Set SH6-2.2 was not actually issued, but remainders became available. Albums issued. 
  
  Project Cards. 76 x 51. Three sets of 60. ... SH6-3
  
  1. Titled "Citizenship Series". Nd. 1/60
  
  2. Titled "Meteorology Series" Nd. 261/420
  
  3. Titled "Transportation Series". Nd. 241/300

On the 6th of October 1914, Thor Heyerdahl, explorer, anthropologist, film maker, author, and sailor was born in Norway. He is mostly remembered for three voyages using craft made of indigenous materials in which he attempted to prove that early civilisations could have once been connected. Our card comes from Brooke Bond “Adventurers and Explorers” 40/50 – it shows the first of these, the Kon-Tiki expedition of and the reverse tells us that him and five companions built this raft of balsawood to an ancient South American design and sailed 4,300 miles from Peru to the Pacific island of Argatau, showing that the early Americans could have spread to Polynesia in the same way.

In 1970, he crossed the Atlantic in another ancient type of vessel, a papyrus boat made of reeds to an old Egyptian pattern. This was Ra I which broke up and sank after 2,000 miles, but Ra II with an international crew managed to make its way to the West Indies. Each of these were documented, and turned into films and books, and he also made a subsequent voyage on the Tigris. Though, as the Brooke Bond album says, he “proved that it was possible” to make these voyages, sadly his work never gained the full acceptance of official bodies. However he did inspire many future explorers, and impressed many land lubbers like me who wont even shower with the plug in because I might drown if I fall over. Read more about his life.

National Poetry Day. We are going to go off on a bit of a tangent this year and talk about a different kind of poetry, for such can be funny, not just thoughtful and introspective. There are two very similar sets of cigarette cards that spring readily to mind, and these have a humorous cartoon on one side plus a Limerick style verse on the other. In fact it is one of the few sets that it is entirely up to the owner as to which side is visible first in their album. The first set is S111-580 [tobacco : UK], it is called “Saronicks” and it was issued in small and medium size by Nicholas Sarony & Co. in June 1929 – view a checklist.

The other set is D800-600 [tobacco : UK], this is simply called “Limericks” and that was issued by Major Drapkin, only in standard size, but also in June 1929. However apart from the fact that it was printed on and could be collected as different colour card (white or cream), there is a very curious thing about this set, and that is that is EXACTLY the same set as above.

The strangest thing is that by 1912 Major Drapkin was already advertising themselves as the proprietors of Sarony. Major Drapkin was bought out by Godfrey Phillips in 1931, and curiously after that date both companies were still listed as being “under agreement and operating with Godfrey Phillips”. Then by 1946 both Major Drapkin & Co. and Nicholas Sarony & Co. were listed as being controlled by the United Kingdom Tobacco Company, along with Marcovitch & Co. (who exhibited at the Wembley Exhibition and gave away free postcards showing the stand) and B. Muratti, Sons & Co.

The London Cigarette Card Company catalogue from July 1955 lists the Nicholas Sarony “Saronicks”, whether medium or standard size, for sale at 1/2d a card and 1/6d a set, whilst the Major Drapkin “Limericks”, whichever colour of card, for sale at 2d a card and 10/- a set. From that we can tell that more of the Sarony were available from stock, but not for certain whether they were more popular with the smoking public.

Can you imagine that it was all the way back on 8th October 1971 that John Lennon released one of the most memorable singles of all time, “Imagine”? Now for anyone who does not know, he was not just a successful solo singer and political activist, he was also a Beatle – this popular group originated in Liverpool, and were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, as well as, briefly, Stuart Sutcliffe  and Pete Best. This means that you can see him on the cards issued to celebrate the group and the best place to see those online is http://www.mybeatles.net/cards.html. This site lets you click and browse five complete Beatles sets, including some with facsimile autographs.

However if you have a lot of time on your hands then look at the Trading Card Database, which has 463 cards just of John Lennon! These start with a fascinating and long lasting Canadian manufacturer of candies and sweets.