Newsletter - 2023-01-14

Primrose Confectionery Co. Ltd [trade : confectionery : UK] "Laurel & Hardy" (1968) 29/50 - PRI-240 : PRI-9

So we start this week with Laurel and Hardy. 

As to why we have Laurel and Hardy, well today in 1892 Harry Eugene Roach was born. He was made of tough stuff, he was born in New York, and travelled to California via Alaska, where he hunted for gold, worked in construction, and even skinned mules. He also gambled. On the way he stopped off to take part in a film he saw being made. In that film was a young man who would end up as Harold Lloyd, via "Lonesome Luke", and even "Winkle".  Mr Roach was but an extra, though he claimed he did stunt work too. Whatever he did, the whole experience was so thrilling, he went to Hollywood, and changed his name to Hal Roach.

He was perfect for the movies, and he did everything over what would turn out to be an eighty year career, acting, writing, directing and producing his films, many of them at his own Hal Roach Studios, which he opened in 1914, and giving the world many of its funniest stars including Harold Lloyd, Harry Langdon, and Laurel and Hardy, to name but a few.

The only fly in the ointment was his continued rivalry with Mack Sennett, who, oddly, was born this week as well. And we feature him later!  They even fought over a name, both claiming to be "The King of Comedy". But Mack Sennett was already more established, and doing well, and Hal Roach kept picking away, borrowing many of his ideas, and changing them, just slightly, dressing his stars in the same way, using similar names. Yet he also had great ideas of his own, a series called Our Gang, a group of wonderfully diverse children and a dog getting into all kinds of scrapes, and making an animal, namely Rex the Wonder Horse, the star of another series of films. 

Americans came into the First World War late, and i have not been able to find out what Hal Roach did. But in the Second World War he gave his studio and grounds to the effort, it was used for training, and he was also in the Signal Corps. He also moved seamlessly into television, and also was very shrewd, converting his most popular characters into tv characters, then licensing them for home movies, starting with film reels for projectors, and moving in to video. Some thought this was selling out, but in many ways this ensured their success would remain for many generations

He died on November the second 1992, aged 100. 

This card first appears in our British Trade Index part 2 issued in 1969, where it is described as having two printings 

• a) album clause "Be sure to send for..."

• b) album clause "For a super picture card album ...

By the time of our fourth original British Trade Index a further back has been discovered

• c) back without album clause.

This is our printing above. However then book also complicates things further by saying that you can find the wording "Printed in England" measuring either A) 19 m/m or B) 14 m/m

Our updated British Trade Index adds the date of issue (1968) the size 64 x 34 m/m, and the fact that it was a numbered set of fifty cards. Then it also adds another difference, the fact that the thickness of the board used to print the card on actually differs, being either  

• a) paper thin

• b) thin

• c) thick

It also tells us that the cards with the 14 m/m "Printed in England" were all on thick card, but does not explain which of the other printings were the paper thin, or the thin. 

John Player & Sons [tobacco : UK] "Military Head Dress" (March 1931) 34/50 - P644-228 : P72-110 : RB.17/124 : P/124

Today, January 15th, has been National Hat Day since 1983. And how you celebrate it is simply to wear a hat you own and love, or find out about a hat from history. 

Hats have several purposes, they keep you warm whilst working outdoors, and they can sometimes protect you from injury, in the case of military and sporting headgear. They also denote differences in religion or in status. And right up to the Second World War, ladies were supposed to keep their heads and their hair covered - something which persists in some countries and religions to this day. This is why many cards of beauties show them wearing hats. 

Our reference books add that this set was never an export issue, which seems odd for it is a very attractive and informative one which shows military helmets and headdress from 1768 to 1904, and includes dress wear as well as battle wear. Some of the many styles are busbies, bearskins, cocked hats, feather bonnets, forage caps, Grenadier`s caps, shakos, and even a Kilmarnock. They are all displayed on this classic white backdrop which makes them an excellent set to display in a military den. Our card is an Officers Full Dress helmet for the 5th Dragoon Guards, worn between 1855 and 1871 - this includes at the Crimean War, which lasted between 1853 and 1856, and also includes their participation in the Battle of Balaclava. 

Now there is one oddity to look out for - this is card 37, of a 15th The King`s Hussars Officers Full Dress Shako from 1834 - and it was discovered to have an error, or rather a different printing, on the ninth line of text, which sometimes says "not illustrated" and sometimes does not. This means nothing to me, so off to the sets to look! I have had a look and it seems to refer to the cap lines of gold cord. However I have looked at four cards and not one of them says "not illustrated" so it must be either a pretty rare error or it was perhaps found to be wrong information. I will investigate! 

Do note that this set was reprinted in 1999 by "The Card Collectors Society" 

The Topps Company Inc. [trade/commercial : O/S : U.S.A] "Garbage Pail Kids" (2013) card 135a.

Today is the first day of the London International Mime Festival - and it runs until the 5th of February.

Now mime may be seen as simply silent theatre, but it takes its name from the Greek word for an actor, or someone who conveys emotions with their whole body, not just, or maybe not at all, with simply words. For some reason it was especially popular in Europe, maybe because Europe has so many languages that words get in the way and need explanation. 

I have to say I do not like shock horror cards like this, but this actual one is not too gross or violent and I may never find another chance to display the set to those who could find it very interesting. Plus it also links in to something we used in our tribute to stickers, for the idea for these cards came from Art Spiegelman, who had previously designed Topps "Wacky Packages".

The idea behind them was supposed to be a parody on the cult plaything of the time, the Cabbage Patch Doll, but curiously these cards were first issued by Topps in 1985 and they led to the animated television series in 1987 - rather like the Mars Attacks cards led to the Tim Burton film. The American set came first, then they arrived here, though if you measure them they are a slightly different size, no idea why, but ours are smaller. as well as in Holland and neighbouring Countries. They never seemed to spread further into Europe than that. 

It must be noted that most of the series followed the practise of giving three cards free with a piece of gum that you paid for, so they are technically Cartophilic.  

Now what you might not know is that every card has a doppleganger, hence our card is 135a, and 135b shows Shadowy Stan - he looks very similar but the background looks darker. However there are probably several differences that my brain cannot spot as I am useless as that sort of thing! Do let us know if you see one!

Carole Lombard revelled in being one. Gloria Swanson always denied that she had ever been one, even after stills of her being one were discovered. And Mabel Normand is often thought to have been one, but actually in 1912 she had simply provided part of the spark that lit the inspiration for them.

What were they? Well let us start with Mabel Normand, who, in 1912, appeared in a film, "The Water Nymph", directed by Mikall Sinnott, who was born today in 1880, in California. Mikall, or by 1912 Mack Sennett, combined the aquatic costume of Mabel Normand and a very risque photo of the aftermath of an auto accident, and created a troupe called The Sennett Bathing Beauties. They first appear in 1915, and there were just three of them, Evelyn Lynn, Cecile or Cecily Evans, and Marie Prevost, the only one who went on to make a name for herself in motion pictures.

This card was issued in the early 1920s with Tobacco Products Corporation`s "Strollers Cigarettes", and they are known as Mack Sennett Movie Star cards, or Mack Sennett`s Bathing Beauties. And of course, Hal Roach also had bathing beauties, in very similar costume, but later, in the 1920s. What can I say! 

However these cards are actually part of a larger "movie star" series, hence the numbers on them being from 201 to 220. And you can find them in a larger size as well. 

John Player & Sons [tobacco : UK] "Miniatures" (June 1923) 5/25 - P644-230 : P72-111 : RB.17/127 : P/127

Today is the first day of the London Art Fair - and it continues until the 22nd. 

Art is well represented on cigarette cards, though much of it is sepia or black and white. This set is an excellent example of art on cards though, for it shows accurate reproductions of painted miniatures by some of the leading artists through time, and includes their frames. The cards were first printed in 1916, and there is a strong belief that some cards were inserted into packets. However it was a short lived issue. After the First World War, the cards left over were released as their new issue, but sadly there is no way to tell which of the cards were issued in the first release. 

Our original John Player Reference Book tells us that there are no colour varieties but there are proofs about, in red and/or yellow, with no wording and plain backs. There is no reference to these in the World Tobacco Issues Index, so either the supply dried up fast or they could not be tracked down in order to include them. 

We have chosen this lovely card, which shows a much earlier beauty, the Countess of Eglinton. Whilst the card tells us of Sir Joshua Reynolds,  it tells us nothing of the subject. Her name was Lady Jane Lindsey, and in the original picture she is full length and playing a harp. She was born in 1756 and she was the daughter of George, the twenty-first Earl of Crawford, as well as being the wife of the eleventh Earl of Eglinton, whose first name was Archibald. The picture was painted in 1777, and sadly, she died in 1778.

Or did she, for recent research suggests that this could either be a portrait of Lady Jean Lindsay, or Lady Joan Lindsay - or maybe even the twelfth Earl`s wife, Eleonora Hamilton.... You can read about that at Grand Ladies/Reynolds  - and we will see what we can find out in the future! 

Barratt & Co. Ltd. [trade : confectionery : UK] "History of the Air" (1959) 8/48 - BAR-480 : BAR-79

Now here is a curious fact from the archives, as today in 1915 East Anglia was attacked by zeppelins. And that made Great Yarmouth the first town in the British Isles to suffer an air raid, as well as having the first civilians to die in one. 

The airships, not strictly Zeppelins, came from Hamburg in Germany, and the air raid was a bit of an accident, caused by bad weather and somehow going off course rather drastically, for their original target was the Humber estuary. In fact there were three of them but one got separated and ended up flying home. But somehow the pair ended up heading for Norfolk, in the middle of the evening, with one steering to Great Yarmouth and the other carrying on to Kings Lynn.

Great Yarmouth, being nearer, was reached first. The bombs were dropped, and a man called Samuel Smith, standing in the road, watching, was killed instantly. He was fifty-three years old, and he was a cobbler. A seventy-two year old lady called Martha Taylor was also killed, in her home, and the docks and post office were also damaged. 

The other airship approached Kings Lynn dropping bombs along the way. The fatalities here were twenty-six year old Alice Gazeley, and a teenager, Percy Goate, just fourteen, who was killed as he lay asleep in bed. Several people were also injured in this attack.

Intriguingly this incident was used for propaganda by us, for it was disclosed, completely wrongly, that the target was the Royal Family, who were at Sandringham. 

The events were featured on picture postcards, but apparently not on cigarette cards, and I have not found the airships, which were the L3 and L4, so have a look and see if you can spot them! 

A little known fact is that fifty other raids by airships took place during the First World War, killing 557, and injuring 1,358.

But the Great Yarmouth and Kings Lynn raid was the precursor to them all.

That makes it odd that our card never mentions it, especially as the text says it was used "during the 1914-1918 War to bomb London, but proved to be very vulnerable to bad weather, as well as offering an easy target to fighter aircraft."

This card comes from the first set of Barratt "History of the Air". and guess what, this is another convoluted tale. They first appear in our British Trade Index part 2, as follows

• 1. Set of 48. Back white or cream varnished. See D299 - which reveals that this set was also issued in an anonymous version, titled "History of Aviation" and measuring 67 x 35 m/m. However it was not by Barratt but by Kilty of South Africa

• 2. Set of 32. Back in English and French, using subjects selected from set 1. All that says is "issued abroad" which is very helpful! 

• 3. Set of 25. All this says is "See D202" - which reveals that it was also issued by several companies, namely Amalgamated Tobacco ("Mills" brand) also as "History of the Air", Halpins ("Willow Tea" brand) as "Aircraft of the World", and "Swettenham`s Co-Operative Institutions" Tea as "Aircraft of the World"

This information is slightly updated in our most modern British Trade Index, the dates are given, of 1959 for the first two printings and 1960 for the third. Also it gives the measurements, so we find out that the Kilty version was actually two m/m taller than the Barratt. 

Impel Marketing Inc [commercial : O/S : U.S.A.] "Star Trek 25th Anniversary" (1991) card 123/310

Today would have been the birthday of Jackson DeForest Kelley, shown here in his most famous role of Senior Surgeon and Lt.Commander Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy. And it was Captain James T Kirk who gave him the nickname "Bones". 

But sadly he died in 1999.

Strangely when growing up he had wanted and planned to be a doctor but it was too expensive to study, despite the fact that an uncle of his was a doctor and surely could have eased his path.

He was well known to Gene Roddenberry, who created Star Trek, and he would have liked him to play the doctor from the start, but the role in the pilot went to someone else and he did not appear until 1966. Some people say that he was waiting to see if it would be a hit, but I think that is probably untrue. He did also play other parts, mainly in westerns, And he was in six of the spin off Star Trek motion pictures

Star Trek is too young for cigarette cards, but it does appear on lots of trade cards and commercial trading cards. And the earliest sets were issued by Leaf in 1967 and by A & B C Gum in 1969.

The Leaf set is the most sought after, despite it being in black and white, and having major inaccuracies in the text, but it is very rare for it was only distributed in the Chicago area. However there are reprints, so be very careful to examine what you think you are buying.

The A & B.C. Gum set of fifty-five cards is also odd, because though it is called Star Trek, it is based on just one episode of the series. It also has errors in the text, starting with card one of Captain Roger Kirk. However the cards were colour, and had a "Space Fact" printed at the bottom of each card, which at that time was fuel to the fire of the young collectors dreams. They also had the bright blue borders which would be copied by later film tie in sets, though this caused the worst problem for current collectors as they peeled and flaked off with wear and tear, and the corners turned into grey board. . 

Our card is one of the original series cards, and has an odd number - but the set also includes cards from Star Trek : The Next Generation which had even numbers, and it was issued in two parts, however it was designed that the whole formed one set.