Not just the last Saturday of August, but the last day of August. September is almost here, with its last flourish of fiery colours before winter comes and freezes them away. Actually these days we often have quite mild winters; I am living in the past a bit, and, even in my lifetime, all-winter snows were most infrequent. There is very interesting page on the Met Office website that has all kinds of records under the heading of snow at Christmas, and the one thing I was struck by was how far you had to go back to get the coldest and the warmest one.
I hope it stays warm for a bit, because nipper is a shadow of his former hairiness, he has been to the salon again. I always think it will make them lighter to remove their hair, but it does not, and definitely not in his case!
Anyway, this week a merry band of cards await you, and rather a lot of biographies, good job I started early. There are also quite a few European ones, which are always interesting to see, as they seem quite infrequent over in England, and only then when they are firmly fixed in their special albums. So to see them unstuck is a bit of a treat. So I hope you enjoy them too.
Time for a quick whetter of the whistle, and may we present.... a monster star, a kind benefactor, exciting adornments, a calm cowboy, metropolis memories, a rock legend, and a plea for donations.
Lets start with ....
Haus BERGMANN Zigarettenfabrik A-G [tobacco : O/S - Dresden, Germany] "Film-Photos" (1935) 130/200 - B317-350 : B60-11
Now I may have said "a monster star", but this referred to this man`s first Academy Award, for "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", in 1931. Which we talked a bit more about with our Card of the Day for the 16th of May, 2024.
Our man was born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel, in Racine, Wisconsin, today in 1897. He was twenty when America joined the First World War, and he found himself at war too, with an Artillery Regiment. When he was returned to America, he ended up in New York, and became a banker, but after a health scare he started hanging around movie studios, picking up a few parts as an extra, and changing his name to Fredric March, taking his new surname from his mother`s, for she had been born Cora Brown Marcher. In 1921 he was glimpsed, lightly, in four films, but then, for some reason, it all stopped.
He next turns up on Broadway, on stage, in 1926. This led him to the attention of Paramount Pictures, and they gave him a contract in late 1928. His first film was released in 1929, a comedy film, called "The Dummy", in which he played the leading man, Trumbull Meredith.
In the same year he made another five films, and in 1931 he was "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". This was a sensitive portrayal, and it led to many others in the same vein, gentle but tortured men, not in touch with their emotions, until too late. His second Academy Award was for "The Best Years of Their Lives", released in 1947, which tells the unvarnished truth of what life was really going to be like for many veterans, who returned from the war both externally and internally damaged. It is one of my favourite films.
He performed on every medium, stage, screen and television, and narrated spoken word records. He worked almost to the end of his life, and he died, aged seventy-seven, in Los Angeles in 1975.
Our set is described in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as :
FILM-PHOTOS. Md. 70 x 50 (120) and Lg. 91 x 60 (80). Black and white photos. Nd. (200) ... B60-11
In our updated volume, only the code is altered, the text remains identical.
It looks like these were only ever issued by this one company, which is odd, as Bergman was often one of the co-issuers of other sets, including another cinema one, "Farb-Filmbilder", which they shared with British American Tobacco.
Reading the back, above, it appears that these cards were split between three brands, Haus Bergmann Privat Extra (costing 6 pfennings a packet).Gildehof (5pf). and Haus Bergmann Klasse (4 pf).
Godfrey Phillips Ltd. [tobacco : UK] "School Badges" (1927) Un/25 - P521-364 : P50-79 : Ph/120 [RB.113/120 and RB.13/120] : Ha.543
Time now for our "kind benefactor", Edward Alleyn, who was born today in 1566, and who was one of the greatest of all the Elizabethan actors. However, as our card says, "By letters patent, dated 21 June, 1619, licence was granted to Edward Alleyn to found a College in Dulwich" In fact he thought of it as "The College of God’s Gift", it was only later that it became Dulwich College.
In its first incarnation, there were twelve scholars, all of whom were too poor to have been able to have proper education. I have not yet found out how he chose them, or whether they had to apply. It then changed, slightly, and took another twelve on top, these twenty-four having to have some link with the four parishes in which Edward Alleyn also had connections, these being Camberwell (the immediately local area to the school) Bishopsgate (where he was born), Cripplegate (where his Fortune Theatre was) and Southwark (where the bear pit that he owned was sited).
He had another connection with Dulwich too, because in 1605, he had actually bought the Manor of Dulwich from Sir Francis Calton, former Lord Mayor of London, who may have been knighted in 1605 but also lost his money in a very bad investment the same year, and only survived by selling that Manor of Dulwich to Edward Alleyn.
In 1857 the college was separated into two parts, an Upper, which was renamed to Dulwich College, and a Lower, which was given the name of Alleyn's School. Then in 1882 the two parts were further separated, because the Upper school moved to another premises. The new Alleyn`s School also moved, when it outgrew the original school site. That was left behind, and is now used as offices for the foundation.
This set was first described in our original Godfrey Phillips reference book, (RB.13, first published in 1949) as :
120. 25. SCHOOL BADGES. Small cards, size 68 x 37 m/m. Unnumbered. Fronts lithographed in colour. Backs in blue, with descriptive text. Issued 1927. Similar series issued by Cavander.
There then follows a list of the cards in the set
We know that the Cavanders version was issued in 1928, and they are also unnumbered. In our original World Tobacco Issues Index it is recorded that the Cavanders version are found with the backs in (a) dark (b) light blue. However no size is listed for these cards.
In the same book, we find our set, described slightly differently, as :
SCHOOL BADGES. Sm. 67 x 36. Unnd, (25). See RB.13/120 and Ha.543 ... P50-79
However in our updated version there are a few changes. That text reads :
SCHOOL BADGES. Sm. 67 x 36, Unnd. (25). See RB.113/120 ... P521-364
The differences there revolve around the fact that there has been an updated Phillips reference book, which has the code of RB.113. Not sure why the handbook code has been deleted, but perhaps the new Godfrey Phillips reference book superseded it?
A. & B. C. Gum [trade : bubble gum : UK - Romford, Essex] "Crazy Disguises" (1970) 15/24 - AAB-180 : ABF-44
For some reason the very first day to be completed was the "exciting adornments". I may not have piercings myself, but I do like them, very much, on other people. What can I say!
This is a fun set, a combination of a card and a plaything, and sadly that led to many of them being taken out of circulation, or becoming damaged.
You can see one of the original wrappers online at The Cartophilic Info Exchange/CrazyDisguises - this is because the wrapper advertises the Football pennants which were currently being given away with Bazooka Bubble Gum. Now Bazooka was only 1d, and our gum was 6d. That is another reason, perhaps, why our set is quite scarce.
It is not in either of our original British Trade Indexes, it waits until the third, and then it is scantly described as just :
Crazy Disguises. 133 x 79. Nd. (24) ... ABF-44
It makes no mention of the fact that the cards are really cut-outs, around the edge of the earrings and the other disguises included, with another line around the interior of the top section so that you can insert your ear in the vacant hole.
The listing in our updated volume is slightly altered, to :
CRAZY DISGUISES. 1970. 133 x 97. Nd. (24) ... AAB-180
I have checked again and the two smaller sizes are definitely different in each book. If anyone would like to measure and confirm, please do...
There is also a checklist, at the PSA/CrazyDisguises, where it is revealed that these are not the only earrings in the selection, there are diamond ones too. Think I will stick with the skulls though, they are much more me.
And before anyone else comments, yes, that does look a bit like me shown modelling them on the reverse of the card - and it turns out "I" am on all the rest too. Sadly not me, though, so no royalties.
Berliner Morgenpost [trade : newspaper : Berlin, Germany] "Unsere Filmlieblinge" / "Our Film Favourites" (1952) 63/64
I said "a calm cowboy", but could have equally chosen "a dour detective", or a "great Gatsby", for Alan Ladd played all those roles, and more.
He was born Alan Walbridge Ladd today in 1913, the only child of a lady who had come to America from England, which is why that sounds such an English name. She married an American, also called Alan Ladd, but he died when our Alan Ladd was very young. The following year, their home was destroyed in a fire, blamed on young Alan playing with matches. His mum moved from Arkansas to Oklahoma, where she remarried, a painter, and then they all moved to California. This second husband is very important to our story, because as well as painting houses and interiors he sometimes worked on film sets, and that was where our Alan first got a taste for the movies.
Of course he then went off to college, did lots of sports, and ended up in the theatrical department. However it was only because of the sports that his paths again crossed with show business, as he was asked if he would be interested to appear in an aquatic show. In the audience actually was a talent scout, and through him Alan Ladd became contracted to Universal Pictures. It did not work out though, and he only made a couple of films, pretty much as an extra, before he was released. This was in the mid 1930s.
He went back to high school, and graduated the next year, finding work on a newspaper. He did briefly work at Warner Brothers, behind the scenes, but this did not work out either. However, he just had a hunch, as you do, that eventually it will all work out. He hired an acting coach, and appeared in several stage productions, and went to lots of auditions, until he found another job on radio. He enjoyed this, and he was popular with the listeners, and one night he was heard by an agent, Sue Carol, who he would end up marrying in 1942, though when they met he had not long been married to his high school sweetheart.
Alan Ladd`s heyday was the 1940s and 1950s, when film noir called for smart sophisticated men, who knew how to deliver lines, and cowboy films called for someone rugged who looked good on a horse. He was frequently the detective, and often paired with the very glamorous Veronica Lake. And he appeared in some of the most memorable films of the era - check out IMDB/Alan Ladd - and see how many you remember.
Sadly, because of the era in which most of his films were made, he appears on few cards, the Trading Card Database/Alan Ladd lists 134, but during his lifetime, and he died in 1964, aged only fifty, there were few - with the only ones that were freely available in the British Isles being Carreras Turf "Film Stars" (1947) and "Famous Film Stars" (1949), along with Dinkie Grips "Paramount Pictures Series 8", on some of which he is shown with Veronica Lake, and the Watford Biscuits version of the De Beaukaeler anonymous Film Star cards (1954). Most of his card appearances were on European cards, and he is pretty well portrayed on the many series of what we call Dutch Gum cards, which ran through the 1960s and into the 1970s. Recently, though, he is being appreciated all over again, and there are quite a few modern and commercial issues, many of which use old pictures.
To our card, the word "Leiblinge" means loved one, so I have gone for favourites. And there is a checklist of all the cards at Moviecard.com/BM
Berliner Morgenpost was a morning paper in Berlin. It was an offshoot of Berliner Abendpost, which was founded in 1887 by a Leopold Ullstein, born in 1826. Our paper was founded by his sons, of which he had five, starting in his mid-thirties, and when he died in 1899 they took over the entire empire, which by then covered lots of newspapers, magazines, books, and technical publications, plus a movie studio and a zoo.
It is known that the original German company was taken over in the mid 1930s, because the Ullsteins were Jewish. The two youngest sons died in the mid 1930s, I do not know how, and will leave it there, whilst the oldest emigrated in 1938, I have not yet found out where he went to, but he sadly died in 1943, though in those years he did publish a biography of his father and the company. One of the middle sons also emigrated, all the way to America, and started another branch of the Ullstein empire out there, but he died in 1945. As for the other middle son, Rudolf, he lived until 1964.
Alan Ladd first appeared in a motion picture in 1932, unbilled.
Aurelia Zigarettenfabrik G.m.b.H [tobacco : O/s - Dresden, Germany] "Unter dem Olympia Banner" (1932) 248/350 - A900-900.b : A90-9.b
Now for the "metropolis memories". that being Los Angeles, which was founded today in 1781, by settlers from what we call Mexico, but they called New Spain, who travelled up from their homeland and established a settlement which is more or less within the current boundaries of the modern city.
Of course they were not the first to live there, for in prehistoric times we know that a race of people were in that area; we have proof that they fished the sea and grew crops on the land. They were replaced by other settlers, who, by the sound of it, came from Central America, and could well have been survivors of the Aztecs, for they believed in many of the same gods, drank hallucinogenics to see visions, and also worshipped the sun. They multiplied, and occupied a vast area of modern day California, and it also seems that they invited some of the former settlers to share their land, and frequently intermarried.
Life went on, until the Europeans rocked up in the sixteenth century. They returned later and started to colonise the area for themselves in 1769. By 1781, Los Angeles was a town, and it had a Governor, of Spanish origin, whose first job seems to have been to impose military rule, and a whole lot of laws, most of which sought to reduce the power of the people already there, and to change their religion from worshipping gods and suns to following him. He also set in motion a huge town planning department, who built several cities.
Mexico's independence from Spain came on September 28, 1821, which saw much rejoicing. However in May 1846, war broke out - this would become known as the Mexican-American wars, which America won, though California remained part of Mexico until the United States took it over formally in 1849.
Los Angeles grew, steadily, especially after the discovery of oil in 1892, which brought a whole new labour force to the area. It is still being extracted to this day. And more people came along once it was found that the all year round sunshine would be perfect for making movies in. The City of Hollywood was founded in 1903. And in 1932, it hosted the Summer Olympics, which brings us neatly to our card.
This turns out to be a complex set, issued in several versions. It is first recorded in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as :
UNTER DEM OLYMPIA-BANNER (Under the Olympic Flags). Md. 62 x 53. Embossed. Nd. (350) See X24/1.B ... A90-9
(a) "Sultan and Araber" back, without Album offer. Nos. 1/100.
(b) "Sultan and Araber back", with Album offer "porto 30 pfg," Nos. 1/250
(c) "Sultan and Araber" back, with Album offer "porto 40 pfg". Nos. 1/350
(d) "Sultan Nr. 6 and Sultan Nr. 8" back, with Album offer mentioning Band I only. Nos. 1/350
(e) "Sultan Nr. 6 and Sultan No. 8" back with Album offer mentioning Bands 1 and 2. Nos. 201-350
This text is more or less the same in our updated version, but there is a different card code, and there has been an addition to the listing of section (c), as that now reads "(c) "Sultan and Araber" back, with Album offer "porto 40 pfg". Nos. 1/350. Also known with "Provebild" rubber stamped in red". I am not quite sure what that means, but it is possible that it was a card which had been redeemed for something, and returned?
Now this later volume also does not mention X24/1.B, simply because that code led to the handbook for the original World Tobacco Issues Index, which was at first a separate volume and then reprinted with the Index at a later date. That adds some exciting information though, namely :
X24/1. OLYMPIC FLAGS. Medium size, 62 x 53 m/m. Numbered series of 350.
A. Adria. Titled "Unter dem Banner den Friedens"
B. Aurelia. Titled "Under dem Olympic Banner". Various backs, see World Index, set A90-9.
If we return to the front of the World Tobacco Issues Index and look at Adria, we find they issued two sets, one called "Allerlei Lustige Tiergeschicten" (Medley of Humorous Animals)" a set of two hundred cards mixed into small and large sizes, plus our set described as : "Unter dem Banner des Friedens (Under the Flags of Peace). Md. 62 x 53. Embossed. Nd. (350). See X24-1.A"
Both were issued in 1936, and both out of Dresden. In addition I am suspecting another link, for our cards were issued by Ernst Karl Muller, and the Adria cards by A. Muller. But I am waiting for further information.
Donruss [trade ; bubble gum : O/S - USA] "Rock Stars" (1979) 45/66
And so to our rock legend, Freddie Mercury. He was born in Zanzibar, today in 1946, and called Farrokh Bulsara. He was sent away to boarding school in India whilst still quite young, and returned home only when he left school. Unfortunately events in his home country were getting bad, and he had not been there very long when his family decided to come to England.
He was eighteen when he arrived here, and moved to Feltham in Middlesex, and it must have been a huge shock for him. However he was outgoing, and had always loved music, and in the late 1960s he started to graduate towards places where musicians were. He met up with Brian May, a guitarist looking for a front man, and then drummer Roger Taylor came along to join them. Freddie Mercury could play the piano, but also had an excellent singing voice, with a range of four octaves, and could perform in many genres, plus he was an amazing lyricist. He could easily have been an opera singer, though some may say he was, especially with such songs as "Bohemian Rhapsody".
His life was full of pleasure, and he never hid his feelings or his light. However it was too short, for he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987, and died in November 1991, aged just forty-five.
This set has a checklist at the Trading Card Database/DonrussRock.
We know that the cards came with a stick of bubble gum, and that the packets advertise the four bands which make up the set, Queen, Kiss, The Babys, and the Village People, who you may not be surprised to hear that I liked a lot!
Kiss, with Gene Simmons, had already been featured on a Donruss set, in 1978.
The odd one out there seems to be The Babys, who were a British rock group. They had, however, reached number thirteen on the American Billboard Chart, the equivalent of our Top Twenty. They only lasted, originally, for about five years, disbanding in 1981.However since 2013 they have toured again. I am not sure why they appear here, except that a couple of American musicians joined them in the Autumn of 1978 - and both are shown on these cards, Jonathan Cain, who replaced Michael Corby (who does not appear on these cards) and Ricky Phillips, who was just added. This new band make up also picked up a gig in late 1978 as the openers for Alice Cooper (I liked him too!)
Cohen, Weenen [tobacco : UK] "Fiscal Phrases" (1902) Un/40 - C633-180b : C102-15b : H.93
This card, "Food Supply", chooses to illustrate that term with a waiter, supplying food to those who wait at the table, hungrily, though often they do not really know what hungry means. However many people, still today, know all too well.
So, lastly, to that plea for donations, because today is National Foodbank Day. Maybe one day will not need such things, and children may look back and read of them and think wow how bad a state were you guys in then, like we do when we read of Dickensian times; but right now, more`s the pity, we do.
Now there are many ways you can do something to help this cause, and some are easy, and some take a little more effort. The simplest way is to find out if your local supermarket sells food bags, that you can pay for one at the till with your own shopping and they will then donate that bag to someone who needs it. Alternatively, ask at the main counter if they have a food bank donation point, and go and look what is most needed that week, it varies, and then as you walk round the store you can pick up a tin and pay for it and then as you pass the donation point you place the tin gently in. If you really want to make a difference though, find out where your local foodbank is, and go along and meet the people there they are always looking for volunteers, to work behind the scenes sorting food or to help with the people who come along and are often nervous or do not think they ought to be there, until a kind word sets them at ease.
This set was one of the "Sweet Crop" issues, that eventually replaced the earliest issues which had begun in 1897 - though between 1899 and 1902 they ran concurrently.
This set is described in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as :
FISCAL PHRASES. Sm. 62 x 38. Black and green. Front (a) with (b) without "Copyright Regt". "Over 500" back. Unnd. (40). See H.93 ... C102-15
We used the "Copyright" version already, as our Card of the Day on the 22nd of February 2022, so you can check the two for yourself. It is quite hard to see if you do not know it is there. And yes, you can get a whole set in each printing.
In our updated version, there is the same text, save a new, longer code, and one alteration - for the original text should have read "Copyright Regd." for registered, not "Regt." for Regiment.
These backs have not aged well, they are light to start with and the cards all seem to have browned with age, or the ink has sunk into the card making it quite light. Or perhaps the board used was the problem? Anyway after much tinkering, this shall suffice!
This week's Cards of the Day...
As we prepare to say farewell to another Summer, with all its adventures and glories, and head towards Autumn, our “Theme of the Week” is going to have a last trip to the seaside, for National Beach Day, which is celebrated in America on August 30th every year. This year marks the tenth year of the event, which makes it an even better theme for us. However I have not yet found out why this particular day was chosen, yet.
Now though this is an American event, there is no reason why we cannot take advantage too, wherever we are reading. If we have a local beach, why not take a trip and celebrate its beauty. And, don`t forget, the day has a serious purpose too, for it is to raise awareness of littering and pollution. This all starts with us, in the hope that our actions will spread outwards, by vowing not to leaving any mark that we were there, except for our footprints - no signs of fire, food, or litter, and especially not plastic, that can go in the sea or be eaten by local wildlife, or end up tangling them. Check your local papers for events, especially litter-picking, you will be given everything you need to take part, and it is great exercise, in the open air, with like minded friends.
If you live nowhere near a beach, why not look online at beaches you remember from your past - or just put "beautiful beach" in any search engine and see what you can find. Or check your computer system for beach wallpapers. Even find an inland litter pick, if you were excited by the thoughts above, or help to clear a stream or local waterway, many of whom, however small and trickling, eventually wend their way down to that mighty sea..
Saturday, 24th August 2024
This card has nothing to do with the maker, or the player`s first name or surname; it is here because of the fact that Arbroath plays their home games at Gayfield Stadium, and that is the closest stadium in Europe to the sea - just five yards at high tide.
And we are delighted to show this very card, because we mentioned it as an alternative of the English No.17 in the listing for our Card of the Day on the 30th of September 2023 - which shows the English number 17, Mr. Tony Currie of Sheffield United.
Our man was born in Farnham, Surrey, on the 2nd of July 1939. However when he was quite young he relocated to Edinburgh, his parents being Scottish. He started out with Heart of Midlothian, in 1956, but was then bought by Newcastle United in 1963, who traded him five years later to Nottingham Forest. In 1969 he was back in Scotland, with Hibernian, then, quickly to Celtic, and on to Aberdeen in 1972. In the same year he found his way to Arbroath, where he remained for the rest of his career, until he retired in 1978, though he was very much a part-time player, and also ran a newsagents in Edinburgh, which he classed as his home town, though he supported Hearts of Midlothian all his life. And in 2016 he was proud to see himself inducted into their hall of fame.
Despite the fact that he was a very popular player in Scotland, the rules at that time were strict and birthplace was all that mattered, and so he had to play for England when it came to International matches. He did play with the Under-23 team, but was never picked to join the adult squad.
However one of his sons, Gordon Marshall Junior, who, like his dad, was a goalie, did end up playing for the Scotland International team. He also had another footballing son, who played for English sides, and a daughter, who is a basketball ace.
This set is rather elusive, it is in part III of our original British Trade Index but it is hard to find without the code, above. The problem is that the page before ends short and so you think that is the end of the footballers. However it does continue on the very top of the next page, where our set is catalogued in a group with the English series as :
Football Series - 1974-75 (A). 81 x 56. Back in style of Fig ABF-52 ... ABF-52
1. English issue. Back in red and black. Nd. (132)
2. Scottish issue. Back in green and black. Nd. (132)
In our updated British Trade Index this is expanded, and reads :
FOOTBALLERS (A). 1974/75. 81 x 56. Nd. (264). Yellow front border. Back "rub coin over space for answer". ...AAB-405
1. English issue. Nd. (132), checklist at No.13. Red back border
2. Scottish issue. Nd. (132), checklist at No.69. Green back border
Sunday, 25th August 2024
So what makes a beach? First up, I personally think, is sand, so this card is here because it shows the SAND Martin.
Unfortunately this name has nothing to do with beach sand, and the card tells us that "it chooses for its nesting place the vertical surface of a bank, sand pit, or railway cutting."
This card ties another loose end, because this set was issued several times, and we have at last been able to link it to the main listing, which is the Churchman printing.
For once there is not that large of a description in our original Lambert & Butler reference book, RB.9, published in 1948 but it adds to the intrigue. It reads :
25. 50. BIRDS & EGGS. Fronts lithographed, photo-screen plus hand drawn colours. Backs in green, with descriptions. 1906 and 1917
Now in a case like that, where two dates are mentioned, it means that the original set, in that case issued in 1906, was reprinted again using the original artwork and without any changes, making it impossible to tell the two apart. Very often such reprinting was caused by a desire to get back to normal issuing after the First World War, without having the time or the resources to design a whole new set from scratch, but 1917 is too early for such to be true in this case.
The reprinting is sadly not mentioned in either of our World Tobacco Issues Indexes; the set is simply listed as :
BIRDS & EGGS. Sm. Nd. (50). See H.60
That H.60 reference leads us to the handbook, where it is revealed that the set has other issuers and is available in different formats. And you can look at that listing on our main page for this set.
Monday, 26th August 2024
Here we have the second sort of beach, as represented by boxer Harry STONE.
We may not call it a stone beach, but the truth is that pebbles and shingle are just a development of stone, after it has been tumbled and dissected by the force of the roaring tides.
Here we have Harry Stone, who was born Harry Seifstein in New York on March the 4th 1893.
Despite his American birthplace he found himself competing in Australia, where his springy demeanor led to his nickname of "Hop Harry" - and indeed he is in the Australian Boxing Hall of Fame, though this is unsurprising when you learn that he held both the lightweight and welterweight title, of Australia, for some years.
He started out as a newspaper boy, though he spoke no English. He was proud of his Jewish heritage, and when he started to box he would wear a prayer shawl into the ring on his head and shoulders, which endeared him greatly to the audience, especially in his early matches, which seem primarily to be against other Jewish boxers.
The early days of his career are discussed on the American Tobacco Company`s "Champion Athlete and Prize Fighter Series" (1910-1911) - of which the most important name is Abe Attell, whose impressive record includes being World Featherweight Champion from 1906 to 1912. Mr. Attell is mentioned on our card too.
In November 1913, our man travelled to Australia for the first time, to fight Matt Wells, the first Jewish Lightweight Champion of Great Britain, and the holder of the Lonsdale Belt. Our man won, despite what are referred to as unsportsmanlike tactics from his opponent. He stayed in Australia for a while and then came to England to fight Ed Beattie and Jerry Delaney, both of these matches taking part in 1914, just before the outbreak of the First World War.
Our card obviously originates from that English tour, as does his appearance on Cope Bros "Boxers" - both these sets were issued in 1915, and curiously both quote his birth date as March the 4th 1889, not 1893, nor the 1888 which is quoted on the American Tobacco Set. These wrong dates presumably must have been used in his publicity material. The Copes card is quite useful, for it gives his vital statistics "Height 5-ft. 7 in. Weight 9-st. 9 to 10-st", which again vary from the American Tobacco card, that gives "Height 5 feet 2 inches; weight 133 lbs". The Cope card also narrows down the dates of his Australian trip, by saying "Went to Australia, April, 1913, where he won 8 of 10 contests, including 2 victories over Johnny Summers and 1 over Matt Wells."
When the First World War broke out, he returned to America, and stayed there until 1916, when he was asked back to Australia to fight "Kid" Mc Coy. He won the match, but he was also reminded of how much he liked Australia, and he stayed there for the rest of his life, only returning to America briefly at the end of the 1920s, via a match in the Philippines. When he returned to Australia, he fought just a few more matches, then announced his retirement, to get married. He had two sons, one of whom was also a keen boxer, and a gymnasium. He died , in Sydney, on December the 12th, 1950.
There can be quite a bit of confusion, maybe even chaos, involved with collecting this set. The fronts are lithographed in colour and the backs are in green with descriptive text. However, all of that equally applies to another boxing set issued by Ogdens, called "Boxing" - and issued less than a year earlier. Once you see the cards though, there is no doubt, because that set showed pictures of unnamed people fighting, not portraits of famous pugilists themselves. And it was only of twenty-five cards. However that "Boxing" set with the people fighting was issued several times by other makers - Churchman (December 1922), W. Williams of Chester (1923), W.T. Davies of Chester (1924), and Franklyn, Davey & Co (also 1924).
And there is another Ogdens set out there in the card world which has almost identical fronts to our cards - that was issued under the title of "Pugilists and Wrestlers", even earlier, in 1908/9, but it has blue backs, so as long as you check both sides you should be o.k.
Our set first appears in our original Ogden`s reference book, RB.15, published in 1949, as :
39. BOXERS. Fronts lithographed in colour. Backs in green, with descriptive text. Home issue, 1915.
In our World Tobacco Issues Indexes it is catalogued as simply :
BOXERS. Sm. Nd. (50)
Tuesday, 27th August 2024
Often described as "At the Beach", the actual title is "au bord de la mer" - or "at The Sea Shore", and it is a set of six cards. However, the cards are actually all of named beaches, ours being Boulogne S/Mer - or Boulogne on Sea (sur Mer). The complete set comprises :
- Boulogne S/Mer
- Cabourg
- Dieppe
- Etretat
- Trouville
- Villers S/Mer
If you look closely at the whole series, you will discover that some of the children appear on more than one card. This is one of those cards which you could look at repeatedly, and always find something new. It is also a great evocation of what it was like to go to the beach, and have a jolly good adventure.
Beneath the picture and the frame is a very faint line of text, which is often unreadable on the cards - however it says "LITHOGRAPHIE ARTISTIQUE J. MINOT a CIE. EDITEURS, 5 RUE BERANGER - PARIS". Minot moved about a bit, and was only at No.5 rue Béranger until about 1900, moving to No. 34 rue des Martyrs in 1901, and to No.47 rue Lacordaire some time in 1910.
The first thing that we need to clear up is that actually the "Au" in the title is French for "at", and it is used to advertise that these things are "at" a place called Bon Marche, which in itself means "Good Market" or "Good Store". It was founded in 1838, as a department store (though there were only four departments), by two brothers, Paul and Justin Videau, and it sold what used to charmingly be called "Novelties and Notions" - haberdashery, materials. and household requirements.
This was all changed when a man called Aristide Boucicault entered on to the scene; he had worked in a nearby shop selling ladies fashions, starting as a salesman and working his way to the top. When that closed he walked over to Bon Marche and talked his way into becoming a partner. This turned out to be a very good thing for the business, because he revolutionised it, and selling in general, with special advertising and marketing campaigns, window displays, and also buying bulk and end of line stock cheaply, then selling it off at just a little more than he had paid in seasonal sales. He also offered to refund or exchange goods that did not fit, or were unsuitable in any way. It seems like he pretty much took over, and the Videau brothers must have thought so too, for they sold him the entire store in 1851.
The original store was now much too small, so a new building was designed and opened in 1869, then that was expanded in the early 1870s. Sadly he died in December 1877, but it turned out that he had a wife, and she took the business over, proving herself equally skilled at attracting customers from far and wide, and also employing even more female staff, so much so that they eventually outnumbered the male sales staff. She seems to have been quite a character, having met him in the mid 1830s, and moving more or less straight in with him, despite his family`s objections. They even had a son, but he died young. They were eventually married in 1848, which could possibly have been the year his unforgiving parents died.
Sadly his wife died in the year that the largest store yet opened (1887). Because she had no children she left most of the money they had amassed to charity, specifically to build a hospital, specialising in tuberculosis, perhaps the cause of her son`s early death. It opened in 1897, and carried the family name.
Wednesday, 28th August 2024
Eight years on from yesterday`s card, but centuries away in style. We do not even know what is going on at that far away beach, for our card, and many of the others, concentrate more on the scenery - perhaps preferring their "Seaside Resorts" to be safely at a distance.
In fact when this set was made, there were decades to go before workers were awarded one week of paid holiday every year - and only then for those workers whose minimum wages were pre-set. This had to wait until 1938, and the "Holidays With Pay Act".
This set first appears in our original reference book to the cards of W.D. & H.O. Wills, which was issued in 1942. That volume simply listed the sets, in alphabetical order, and did not assign them reference numbers. That was only corrected in part II, where it repeats all the listings, briefly, and says, of ours, "10. SEASIDE RESORTS - see pages 23-24"
The original listing on those pages reads as follows :
. SEASIDE RESORTS.
. A series of fifty. Size 2-5/8 ins x 1-3/8". Numbered
. Printed by E. S. & A. Robinson, Ltd.
. Issue date, 1899Fronts printed in full colour, with frame lines. Title of set on fronts, together with number. Views titled.
Backs engraved design, printed in blue green, with six different types of advertisements : -"Westward Ho!" A fine cut full flavoured smoking mixture for the pipe.
"Capstan" Navy Cut. Supplied in three grades of strength, MILD (yellow label), MEDIUM (blue label), and FULL (chocolate label)
The "Three Castles". There is no sweeter tobacco comes from Virginia and no better brand than the "Three Castles" - Thackeray, "The Virginians."
Wills` "Best Bird`s Eye". The original Bristol Bird`s Eye of highest quality for pipe or cigarette.
"Traveller". A bright straight cut flaked tobacco sweetened, manufactured in Bond.
"Gold Flake". A fine blend of mild and cool smoking tobaccos.
It is possible to collect series of cards with individual advertisements. To give an example, Card No.9 is known with all six types, and the compiler has noted the following ;_
Card 1. Westward Ho! Capstan Navy Cut. Three Castles
Card 2. Westward Ho! Capstan Navy Cut. Three Castles. Wills` Bird`s Eye. Traveller.
Card 4. Westward Ho! Capstan Navy Cut. Three Castles. Wills` Bird`s Eye. Traveller. Gold Flake
Card 5. Ditto, ditto.
Card 6. Ditto, ditto.etc., etc., etc
Now the odd thing about this first Wills booklet is that it does not state who that compiler is. We know that it was Eric Gurd, just not why he did not take the credit, especially as reference books one and two both list him as the editor - even though booklet one was a combination of a listing of Faulkner issues that had appeared in The London Cigarette Card Company's magazine "Cigarette Card News", and a follow up which appeared in our magazine "The Bulletin" (December 1941 - Vol.2 No. XXIX), which also added the biography of the firm.
By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index, the listing is, understandably, smaller, and reads :
SEASIDE RESORTS. Sm. Nd. (50), Blue-grey back, engraved design. ... W62-44
A. "Capstan" Navy Cut D. "Traveller"
B. "Gold Flake" E. Wills` "Best Bird`s Eye"
C. The "Three Castles" F. "Westward Ho!"
It is catalogued exactly the same in the updated version, save the code, which is now W675-062
Thursday, 29th August 2024
Here we have more children, on the beach, but slightly later than the other cards. However it fits the first decade of the twentieth century theme that I seem to have followed. I am not saying that life was simpler then, but there would have been less plastic on the beach after the day trippers, and residents, were safe in bed, and I liek to think that they were more careful about not dropping rubbish - though they were way less kind to their feathered and furred friends than most of us are today. You cannot have it all I suppose.
This is a charming set, but I chose this card because it shows the children using their own imagination - they do not have a carriage, and probably could not afford a donkey ride, but they have found the basket chair and turned it over, and have made their toys into the most glorious steeds of all time. And they are having as much, if not more fun than the children who can afford all these things and are probably bored with them.
You can see all the cards in this series at WikimediaCommons/LSP - and to make them larger just click the image, They do not come up wonderfully large, but it is enough to save me making a checklist for you.
It also comes in Belgian ("Sur la Plage" as well), Dutch ("Aan Het Strand"), German ("Am Strand"), and Italian ("Sulla Spiaggia"). The Dutch one seems to be scarcest, not sure why.
Friday, 30th August 2024
So I imagine this card may have confused some of our readers into thinking we had the same set twice, though, in a quick change, we have not used the same card, we have gone, this time for Cabourg.
In fact, closer examination shows that where our Card of the Day for the 27th of August said "Au Bon Marche" in the top left hand corner, this one says Chocolat Poulain. Though, do note, the location of that name does vary from card to card, depending on where the sky is.
I was sent this as a scan by a reader, who told me that both these companies issued the same set of six cards. Not just that, but several other companies issued them too and they all credit Minot as the printer, so it appears that he was the one who did the deal and sold them off as many times as he could.
So far he has discovered all these - but wonders if there are any more? They are listed in alphabetical order from the front of the card :
- A. Pygmalion - novelties - [Minot address 5 Rue Beranger]
- Au Bon Marche - department store - [Minot address 5 Rue Beranger]
- Chocolat de la Compagnie Francaise - chocolate - [Minot address 5 Rue Beranger]
- Chocolat Debauve et Gallais - chocolate - [just J. Minot, Paris]
- Chocolat Poulain - chocolate - [Minot address 5 Rue Beranger]
- C. Legendre - lingerie - [Minot address 5 Rue Beranger]
- Dentifrices Laroze - chemist - [Minot address 5 Rue Beranger]
- Societe Generale des Cirages Francais - perfume and polish - [just J. Minot, Paris]
plus this one, which has no front caption, only an advert on the reverse :
- T.H. Lahaye - wines [Minot address 5 Rue Beranger]
He says that the Au Bon Marche set is by far the most plentiful, probably because they had more customers than the others. Next up is Chocolat Poulain, again because it was more well known than the others.
The lingerie, chemist, and perfume ones are hardest to find.
He also suspects that the lingerie one was also issued by Bichard, because, if you look at the back, the first line of the advert says "Ancienne Maison Bichard" - which means formerly the House of Bichard.
Well I have once more run out of time and so must stop the presses - until I find out any new information, of course....
This was an interesting newsletter, and it was good to feature Fredric March who we merely touched in our tribute to the Academy Awards.
I also much enjoyed going to the beach, though I did originally intend to have a card from each decade, but I was supplied by readers with several from the early years, and they were great, thank you very much - also this gives us a chance to continue the story of the beach next year, at this same time, taking it through the inter war years.
Over the weekend I will continue work on the card of the day index, it is coming along very well, and we have just been working on the card for the 5th of November 2021. That means that I do not have many months to go before I reach the first card of the day, which was inserted on the 31st of July 2021. - and it looks like that card has never been featured before, so it will just be entered in the index and then I will have the fun of figuring out what to do next. I think it might be time to cross check them with the reference books, for when I started the cards of the day I had very few books - so thought it might be fun to buy some. The magazine collection also seems to have started then too. But one day I hope to get around to uploading those too.
Now don`t forget if you know of a theme which has an anniversary in September, do tell us at webmaster@card-world.co.uk - we also have the regular updating of several events to tackle, Halloween, Guy Fawkes Night, and Christmas. None of these are that far away now!
Thanks for tuning in, thanks to everyone who contributed of their cards and their ideas, and thanks for being there, even if I know not who you are
And now let us try to get some sleep!
any new cards I add to replace duplicates are featured in the main banner on our front page, until a new one takes their place