Dive Right In

Time traveling back to the early days of TV today kids as we take look at Milton Berle, or more specifically, at an obscure Bowman novelty associated with him.

Berle got his start in vaudeville at a very young age and progressed through nightclubs and some forgettable movies in the early 1930's before parlaying a regular slot on the Rudy Vallee radio show into his own program in 1947.  A year later he got his break in televison on Texaco Star Theatre, where was named the permanent host in the fall of 1948, earning the well-deserved sobriquet Mr. Televison.  By 1952 he was the biggest TV star in the land and Bowman capitalized:

Uncle Miltie had artwork (fairly good in execution but occasionally crude in depiction) and a short joke printed on the inside of the wrapper. Some jokes are not politically correct, which is no surprise as that's how things were back then and for several decades thereafter.

Jeff Allender's wonderful House of Checklists, lists 34 jokes (click through to his site for details) but I've found seven more, as noted below.  The set is obscure and examples are very hard to impossible to track down. I think the pack shown is one of only two known to exist and it would have sold for a penny at the time of issue.

Berle's show was on NBC and Bowman had a relationship with the broadcaster of course, issuing sets in 1952 and '53 showcasing the stars of the network.  Haelan Laboratories Inc. on the wrapper means Uncle Miltie could not have been issued prior to May of 1952 (the name change occurred on April 28) and I suspect it came out in the fall that year as the 1952-53 season kicked off.

The interior wrapper was where the action was, although the obverse design's pretty eye catching.  I can't actually find any issued examples to show but some original artwork was sold by Hake's about three years ago that certainly gives one the tenor of the set. First some paste-ups:

Told ya it could be politically incorrect!  Here is an original art piece from the same lot:

None of these are detailed over at the House of Checklists, so there's at least 41 different if all the pasteups became issued pieces (there is a pasteup of the diving board joke as well). I would think that's pretty close to a final number; Bazooka would often have 42 comics in a series and despite being a competitor's product it would not surprise me if that is the proper count for Uncle Miltie.

A Likely Story

When I first set out on this series I didn't think it would take four full posts to cover all of the potential Tatoo subjects and I was right!  Friend o'the Archive Lonnie Cummins has sent me enough information on these sets (and some others) since my first two posts back in late September and early October that a review of prior images looks to be in order and an eventual fifth post will surely follow at some distant point.  This serves as a reminder that my more current posts on a topic are more correct and precise as this blog is often a sounding board for the anechoic nebula rotating in my brain and my musings get refined when more information comes in  But I digress......

I mapped out all of the possible original Tatoo subjects that got sucked into 1981's 24 Tattoo set last time out and ended up with a list of 80 possibilities when I started drafting this week's entry; thanks to Lonnie's sleuthing a handful now appear to have been included in some of the four Popeye Tattoo sets issued by Topps from 1958-66 but having said that, I can't rule out their origins in the original 1948-53 issues of Tatoo.  So this is even bigger than the mess I expected it to be by this point.

There could easily be a couple more or a few less than 80 as a handful do appear to be from 1968's 21 Tattoos (the first Topps larger sized issue in this vein) but from what I've seen of that1968 set, it mostly had its own designs.  A couple of designs I thought might be associated with Monster Tatoo from 1962 could be mixed in, or vice-versa.  It's really hard to tell with a number of these.

Some of my unknown subjects in the last post are probably from 21 Tattoos, again with possible exceptions either way as I've seen only three or four of the 16 sheets from '68.

I won't excise them from the 24 Tattoo sheets to show here (boy it's been a schlep-and-a-half already just eyeballing all of those subjects) and you can track the coordinates from the post last week.  However, since my dad was Navy veteran, I'll just show their emblem as an example of a likely original subject, with a "flip" showing the "applied" version:

Here are the 80 likely additional subjects.

ACE OF HEARTS

AERIAL BOMB

ALIEN WAVING

ALLIGATOR

AMERICAN INDIAN BRAVE WITH FEATHERS

ANCHOR

ARROW GAG

ARTISTS PALETTE

BANJO

BANJO WITH MUSICAL NOTES

BASEBALL HITTER LEGS CROSSED

BASEBALL HITTER LEGS OPEN

BISON

BOY WITH APPLE AND ARROW

BUFFALO BILL

CLOWN

CLOWN STANDING

CLOWN WITH BOWTIE

COCHISE

COMPASS

COWBOY WITH SIX SHOOTERS

DEVIL COSTUME

DIVER

DOLLAR BILL

ELEPHANT

EXECUTIONER

EXPLORER WITH BUSHY MUSTACHE

EYE

FIRE EATER

FLORIDA CONF. BATTLE FLAG

GENIE

GREAT DANE

GYPSY MAN

HANDLE WITH CARE

HEART WITH DAGGER

HOURGLASS

ICE CREAM CONE

JET PLANE

JOLLY ROGER

KEY

LIBERTY BELL

LIGHTNING BOLT

LION ROARING

LIPS

MATADOR

MEDAL FOR BRAVERY

MEDAL OF HONOR

MERMAID

MUSICAL NOTES

OPEN COCKPIT RACE CAR

PANTHER

PORPOISE WITH COMPASS

RATTLESNAKE

ROCKET LAUNCH

ROCKET ON INCLINED LAUNCHER

ROCKET WITH CLOUDS

RUNNER

SAILOR WITH SPYGLASS

SAINT BERNARD

SEAHORSE NO SPIKES

SILVER STAR

SITTING BULL

SMILING FISH

SNAKE LADY

SPACESHIP

SPACESHIP FLOTILLA

STRONGMAN MUSCULAR

STRONGMAN THIN

SUBMARINE

TECUMSEH

TEST PILOT YELLOW HELMET

TRAIN

TRAINED SEAL

TWO HEARTS WITH RIBBON

US NAVY EMBLEM

WHITE HAIRED MAN WITH HAT

WOLF

WOMAN

WORM IN APPLE

WRISTWATCH

I previously counted and (hopefully) confirmed 136 Tatoo subjects and associated artworks so this haul brings us to a potential 216-ish but that count remains fungible.  That fits the Topps Vault numbering scheme but I suspect more lurk out there and that the Vault has art from the other sets mixed into their numbering.  

I could easily see the Aces of Diamonds and Clubs, possibly George Washington, Abe Lincoln, U.S. Grant, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and Annie Oakley being available, plus several more generic subjects like cowboys and athletes.  Probably some American Flags would be in there too and it would not surprise me if more Confederate State flags popped up. Maybe there actually are 250 different across the "100" and "150" issues!  Eisenhower (as "Ike") does appear in at least one later set and I'm also going to have to unravel the Davy Crockett Tatoo subjects, although I am reasonably sure those stand on their own.

As mentioned previously, we'll never get to a true count but we can keep adding to the Tatoo checklist--and others--, so stay tuned!

Sheets Getting Real

After a bit of a pause to gather more information, the deciphering of the aboriginal Topps Tatoo issues continues today, with a look well past the 1948-53 sets in order to determine what a checklist might look like. First, let's look at the full list of tatoo/tattoo issues that Topps came out with in order to determine a potential universe of subjects (self-contained gum tab wrappers unless indicated):

• 1948 Tatoo
• 1949 Tatoo
• 1953 Tatoo
• 1955 Davy Crockett Tatoo
• 1957 Popeye Tattoo
• 1958 Popeye "New Series" Tattoo
• 1959 Woody Woodpecker Tatoo
• 1960 Popeye Mystery Color Tattoo
• 1960 Magic Tatoo
• 1960 Baseball Tattoo 
• 1961 Superman Tattoo
• 1962 Monster Tatoo (of relevance)
• 1963 Astroboy Tattoo
• 1963 Walt Disney Character Tattoo
• 1964 Baseball Photo Tattoo
• 1965 Tom & Jerry Tattoo
• 1966 Mighty Mouse And His Pals Tattoo
• 1966 Popeye Tattoo (commodity code confirms date for this and subsequent issues)
• 1967 Comic Book Tattoo
• 1967 Dr. Doolittle Tattoo
• 1968 21 Tattoos (folded sheet/accordion hybrid)
• 1969 Archie Tattoo (accordion style)
• 1970 Bugs Bunny Tattoo (accordion style)
• 1971 Baseball Tattoo (accordion style)
• 1971 TV Cartoon Tattoos (accordion style)
• 1973 Wacky Packages Tattoo
• 1975 Bugs Bunny Road Runner Tattoos (stick gum wrapper)
• 1975 Monster Tattoo
• 1981 24 Tattoos (folded sheet/accordion hybrid)

Take some of those dates with a little salt but that's pretty much a continuous run from 1948 through 1975 (in fact it's an average of exactly one set per year) that looks to have finally ended only when it was not possible to sell such a product for two cents (such pricing starting with Wacky Packages Tattoo) or a nickel (accordion and hybrid styles) anymore.  Topps went to a 25 cent package for the much bigger 24 Tattoos in 1981 and then issued many more tattoo sets thereafter with the higher price points apparently finding a sweet spot that solved the 1970's post oil crisis profit problem. Anyhoo....

One thing that is not clear to me is the origin of the dating of the 1953 Tatoo set. The 1948 set is documented in Topps sales and advertising literature and the 1949 set is as well (to a degree).  But I've never found anything to date the 1953's and it may be as simple as one of the early hobby publications reported on these and I just haven't stumbled across the reference.  I also think it's possible that there was something of a continuous run of these little novelties from 1948-54 or so, than is described in hobby literature then and now. Why wouldn't you keep a cheaply produced novelty like Tatoo in production during the baby boom?

A generic, unlicensed Davy Crockett Tatoo came around in 1955 and then Popeye caught up with the cartoons that had been packaged up for TV in the fall of 1956 some time in '57. This began an impressive run of tattoos featuring everybody's Spinach guzzling sailor, with Topps issuing three distinct sets under a licensing deal with King Features Syndicate (KFS). Then new, made-for-TV Popeye cartoons debuted in 1960 and Topps moved on as a new licensing deal was probably needed because of the newly created cartoons. They certainly went all in on licensed comic and animation themed tattoos once they tasted the profits Popeye generated.

They did revisit Popeye in 1966 with a new (or possibly reissued) tattoo set in the wake of a 1965 re-syndication that was by all accounts, a massive televison success.  When it comes to tattoo issues though, the Baseball issues of 1960 and 1964 reign supreme with collectors, as does 1962's Monster Tatoo, although the latter does not seem to have been all that popular when issued. What Monster Tattoo has going for it is fabulous Jack Davis artwork-artwork so good it joined a host of old Tatoo images in 1981's 24 Tattoos. The 1968 21 Tattoos issue also reused a bunch but also had new designs.  So far, I've checked only two of the sixteen 21 Tatoos sheets but the designs match up with the original Tatoo subjects

24 Tattoos cost a quarter per pack, for which you got a sheet of 24 tattoos. With 12 sheets that made 288 impressions and almost all of them were culled from either Tatoo or the Monster Tatoo sets. I think this is why some of the Topps Vault numbering on original art extends into the 200's. I'm going to feature all 12 sheets here, so be warned!

I'll need a matrix reference system to go through all of this and it's a little tricky as there are some tattoos that are half the size of the others and several that repeat across the sheets (I'll sort those out in a recap at the end).  For Sheet #1, it would look like this and it's worth noting all sheets have the same array:

	A	B	C	D
1		Top		Top
		Bottom		Bottom
2		Top	Top
		Bottom	Bottom
3		Top	Top
		Bottom	Bottom
4		Top	Top
		Bottom	Bottom

So on Sheet #1, below, 1A would be the monster in the upper left corner, whereas 1B Top is Uncle Sam. Each master sheet has 8 large tattoos and 16 small ones. I'll take each sheet one-by-one and try to determine:

• Repeat Tatoo subjects
• Likely Repeat Tatoo subjects (based upon their design) highlighted in green
• Known Art subjects (without confirmed Tatoo) including Benjamin's illos.
• Repeat Monster Tatoo subjects
• Unknown subjects

I'd say the top three categories are all at least potentially "original" Tatoo-worthy; the first obviously is, with subjects from the second and third categories remaining to be confirmed as originals. Off we go with the first sheet:

SHEET 1

9 Repeat Tatoo Subjects: 1B Top, 1C, 1D Bottom, 2A, 2C Top, 2D, 4A, 4B Bottom, 4D
8 Likely Repeats: 2B Top, 2C Bottom, 3A, 3B Top, 3B Bottom, 3C Bottom, 4C Top, 4C Bottom
1 Known Art Subject: 2B Bottom
6 Repeat Monster Tatoo subjects: 1A, 1B Bottom, 1D Top, 3C Top, 3D, 4B Top

You will see immediately on Sheet 2 that subjects within this set repeat as well (the Flying Saucer is in slot 4 D bottom above and 2A below).

SHEET 2

4 Repeat Tatoo Subjects: 1A, 2A, 2D, 4B Top
11 Likely Repeats: 1B Top, 1D Top, 2B Top, 2C Bottom, 3A, 3B Bottom, 3C Top, 3C Bottom, 4A, 4B Bottom, 4D
1 Known Art Subject: 1C
7 Repeat Monster Tatoo subjects: 1B Bottom, 2B Bottom, 2C Top, 3B Top, 3D, 4C Top, 4C Bottom
1 Unknown: 1D Bottom

NB: 2B (Strongman) seems to be taken from the display box/canister art for Tatoo, while 4D (Porpoise with Compass) seems to match a very badly abused and washed out Tatoo I've seen on eBay.

SHEET 3

4 Repeat Tatoo Subjects: 2A, 2C Bottom, 2D (seen but not scanned on Tatoo), 3C Bottom
12 Likely Repeats: 1B Top, 1B Bottom, 1C, 1D Top, 1D Bottom, 2B Top, 2B Bottom, 3B Bottom, 4A, 4B Top, 4C Bottom, 4D
1 Known Art Subjects: 3A
7 Repeat Monster Tatoo subjects: A1, 2C Top, 3B Top, 3C Top, 3D, 4B Bottom, 4C Top

SHEET 4

7 Repeat Tatoo Subjects: 1A, 1D Top, 2A, 3A (just missing tethers here), 3D, 4B Top, 4C Bottom
6 Likely Repeats:  2C Top, 2C Bottom, 3B Bottom, 4A, 4B Bottom, 4C Top
10 Repeat Monster Tatoo subjects: 1B Top, 1C, 1D Bottom, 2B Top, 2B Bottom, 2D, 3B Top, 3C Top, 3C Bottom, 4D
1 Unknown: 1B

SHEET 5

4 Repeat Tatoo Subjects: 1B Bottom, 2A, 3A, 4A
11 Likely Repeats: 1C, 1D Top, 1D Bottom,  2C Top, 2C Bottom, 2D, 3B Top, 3B Bottom, 3D (seen but not scanned on Tatoo), 4B Top, 4D
9 Repeat Monster Tatoo subjects: 1A, 1B Top, 2B Top, 2B Bottom, 3C Top, 3C Bottom, 4B Bottom, 4C Top, 4C Bottom

SHEET 6

3
 Repeat Tatoo Subjects: 1A , 1D Top, 3B Top
12 Likely Repeats: 1B Top, 1B Bottom, 2A, 2B Top, 2B Bottom, 2C Top, 3A, 3C Top, 3C Bottom, 3D. 4B Top, 4C Top
1 Known Art Subject: 4A
8 Repeat Monster Tatoo subjects: 1C, 1D Bottom, 2C Bottom, 2D, 3B Bottom, 4B Bottom, 4C Bottom, 4D

SHEET 7

3 Repeat Tatoo Subjects: 2B Top, 2C Bottom, 3C Bottom
13 Likely Repeats: 1A, 1B Bottom, 1C, 1D Top, 2A, 2B Bottom, 3A, 3B Top, 3C Top, 3D, 4A, 4B Top, 4C Bottom, 4D
7 Repeat Monster Tatoo subjects: 1B Top, 2C Top, 2D, 3A Top, 4B Bottom, 4C Top, 4D
1 Unknown: 1D Bottom

SHEET 8

9 Repeat Tatoo Subjects: 1C, 1D Bottom, 2B Bottom, 2C Bottom, 3B Top, 3B Bottom, 3C Top, 3C Bottom, 3D
7 Likely Repeats: 1B Bottom, 2A, 2B Top, 2C Top, 2D, 4B Bottom, 4C Bottom
8 Repeat Monster Tatoo subjects: 1A, 1B Top, 1D Top, 3A, 4A, 4B Top, 4C Top, 4D

SHEET 9

13 Likely Repeats: 1B Top, 1C, 1D Top, 2A, 2B Top, 2C Bottom, 3A, 3B Top, 3C Top, 3D, 4B Top, 4B Bottom, 4D
10 Repeat Monster Tatoo subjects: 1A, 1 B Bottom, 2B Bottom, 2C Top, 2D, 3B Bottom, 3C Bottom, 4A (repeats, same as 2C Top), 4C Top, 4C Bottom
1 Unknown: 1D Bottom

SHEET 10

10 Repeat Tatoo Subjects: 1A, 1C, 1D Bottom, 2A, 2B Top (without clouds here), 3B Top (without musical notes here), 3B Bottom, 3B Top, 3D, 4C Top

6 Likely Repeats: 1B Top, 2C Bottom, 2D, 3C Bottom, 4B Bottom, 4D
1 Known Art Subject: 2C Top
6 Repeat Monster Tatoo subjects: 1B Bottom, 1D Top, 2B Bottom, 4A, 4B Top, 4C Bottom
1 Unknown: 3A

SHEET 11

10 Repeat Tatoo Subjects: 1B Top, 1D Top, 2A, 2B Top (without "motion lines" here), 3A, 3B Top, 3C Bottom, 3D, 4A, 4B Top
6 Likely Repeats: 1A, 2B Bottom, 2C Top, 2D, 3B Bottom, 4C Top
1 Known Art Subject: 2B Top,
7 Repeat Monster Tatoo subjects: 1C, 1D Bottom, 2C Bottom, 3C Top, 4B Bottom, 4C Bottom, 4D

SHEET 12

5 Repeat Tatoo Subjects: 2A, 2C Bottom (without "motion lines" here), 3C Top, 4A (mirrored here), 4 C Bottom (without background here)
10 Likely Repeats: 1A, 1B Bottom, 1C, 1D Top, 1D Bottom, 2C Top, 3A, 3D, 4B Top, 4D
8 Repeat Monster Tatoo subjects: 1B Top, 2B Top, 2B Bottom, 2D, 2B Bottom, 2C Bottom, 4B Bottom, 4C Top
1 Unknown: 3B Top (could be a Monster Tatoo)

Whew!

Now for the fun part.  The "likely subjects" that were in the original Tatoo issues are pretty numerous.  I could be off on a couple I have assigned to Monster Tatoo (all noted here in what I believe is a set of 96 but there are hardly any scans at that site) and the chance any subject I have identified as "unknown" could be in either Tatoo, Monster Tatoo or just culled from something more obscure (Sputnik for example could be from 21 Tattoos), is high. One or two gun or cowboy-themed subjects could be from the extremely obscure Davy Crockett Tatoos but after they issued that rare set the Topps tattoo issues are almost all licensed products (Davy was generic) and I doubt any of those were repeated here.

What we are left with then are the likely original issue Tatoos where I can't find a corresponding single.  I doubt we'll ever truly know how many subjects were created originally and there is no way to tell what the "official" set counts mean.  100 + 100 + 150 = a potential universe of 350 subjects but we know Topps repeated some of those, reissuing them in larger sizes as they went along through 1953 or thereabouts.  Of course the bottom number is theoretically 150 but I'd say the true answer lies in between.

I'll break this all down in the final post in this series, creating a checklist of possible Tatoos that should at least show a nodding acquaintance to fact.

Patching Things Up

Well I'm getting closer to finishing off the Tatoo study that commenced back at the end of September but enough new material has rolled in that I am pushing that by a week or two.  This week, another two sets that were printed as "transferrables" will be under the ol' 'scope instead.

In 1964 (I think) a set of 24 Military Emblems were included in party boxes of Bazooka. These were actually issued in panels of two and are very hard to find:

These were iron ons and they were printed on somewhat brittle paper.  If separated, they would each measure approximately 2 1/2" x 3 " but the cuts on these are horrible so any idea of precision is laughable. The emblems above are for the 63rd Army Division and 2nd Marine Division, respectively.  I am not even remotely conversant on the military regalia of the United States Armed Forces but thanks to this handy back-of-box checklist, it's easy to tell:

 

No Navy patches, which is kind of odd. I'm going to provide a matrix of this checklist, which will be needed momentarily:

  A B C D E F G H

1

2

3

The 63rd Army Division emblem would then be at the B3 coordinate.

The box front looked like so.  I've got a rough dating on 1964 and am working to refine that.

Friend o'the Archive Lonnie Cummins sent me an uncut sheet of what I thought (as did he initially) were the Bazooka emblems:

Well I was four emblems in when I realized not all of the Bazooka iron-ons were on the sheet and that there was no "topper" on those, although at first I was horrified to think my type example had been beheaded! In fact, only nine of the '64 Military Emblems were on the sheet. Using the matrix, the coordinates shook out like this: A1, B3, C1, C2, C3, E2, F3 and H2.  That left 15 and I fleetingly thought another batch of 24 might have been issued by Topps.  However, Lonnie and I apparently realized at about the same time that something was amiss and sure enough, Lonnie confirmed the sheet was actually displaying the 1965 Battle Cloth Emblems inserts.  Here's one now:

These are smaller than the Bazooka emblems and measure 2" x 3 1/4", with the topper taking up 3/4" of the real estate.  Still no Navy emblems, those Shorin's were all drafted as doughboys back in 1917-18!  As you can see these were proto-cloth stickers. Topps vacillated on self-stick vs. water-activated  stickers for several years and I suspect it was mostly due how it impacted the overall cost of a particular set, noting sometimes the self-stick ("pressure sensitive") stock wasn't always available.

Despite no relevant content-Happy Hallowe'en to you all!

What Year Is it?

We'll be tuning the WABAC machine to the time of polyester and mutton chops today kids but I'm not sure of the exact coordinates!

Two closely linked sets that were seemingly tested by Topps in 1973 are today's quarry. I speak of Baseball Comic Bubble Gum and Baseball Pin-Ups, two sets that I can't believe have never addressed here. And hold on to the word "seemingly" for now.

The Comics are quite nice and were actually the underside of this wrapper:

I think they look really sharp:

These measure 4 5/8" x 3 7/16" as do the Pin-Ups.  If you've never seen one in person I would say the Comics are a little bigger than you would expect and the Pin-Ups similarly smaller. They were essentially wrapping a big stick of gum as envisioned:

The airbrushed cap and references to Atlanta instead of the Braves were intended to be that way as I believe Topps was trying to see if they could circumvent Major League Baseball Promotions Corporation licensing fees by eliminating team logos.  Epic fail, although they did this with Football and Basketball products for years.

Here's Henry in decidedly more 70's style duds than he wore for the comic:

Topps liked Johnny Bench as their wrapper mascot!

 

Did you notice the "T" codes?  T-93-A-5 for the Comics and T-93-B-5 for the Pin-Ups. This is the only Topps test issue where two products shared a product code (the "93").  Now here's the thing-  Friend o'the Archive Lonnie Cummins has been researching these T codes for some time and found some weirdness when it comes to these two sets.

Topps started using T codes for test issues in 1973, with the first such dubbing was used for Emergency/Adam-12. They run consecutively and by 1980 were into the 120's.  It's therefore possible to track the date of issue with some precision but the problem is the 93 code puts them squarely in.....1977!

The two sets were clearly designed for 1973 release though.  We can tell thanks to Mike Epstein, who was a Texas Ranger the first part of the 1973 campaign, having been traded there by Oakland after the 1972 season ended. Ironically he had been a Senator through the beginning of 1971 when he got sent to the A's (fun fact, he won a ring but was 0 for 16 in the '72 World Series) but more importantly to this discussion, was only a Ranger until May 20, 1973 when he was traded to the Angels. He's the only potential multi-team player in the whole set and him being on the Texas squad fits perfectly with a one player per team scheme. Check it out:

So what happened?  Well, there's a couple of theories, one mine and one Lonnie's.  Mine postulates it's possible Topps transposed 39 for 93 and intriguingly Lonnie has yet to find the 39 code. However, the tests included many straight confectionery items as well, so tracking is difficult and certainly even more so with non-novelty products.  Lonnie though, thinks they could have been tested twice.  Once in 1973, having been green-lighted in 1972 and planned for release just before Emergency/Adam-12. The remaining supply was then, he posits, lost in the March 30, 1975 Card Collectors Company fire.  He then surmises they were actually reissued in 1977. His research shows the copyright and ingredients lists all match 1973's and not 1977's. Of course, 1977 was an expansion year so why would Topps issue 24 subjects and not 26? Some guys were out of MLB by then as well and many had changed teams. So there's no 100% rock solid evidence either way.

PSA pops are interesting for these two sets.  There are 160 Comics in their report, with a low of 5 and a high of 11 (Willie Davis) examples being recorded.  There are over twice as many Pin-Ups graded though at 348, ranging from 10-19 examples (Aaron has the most).  Those are definitely test issue levels for the era. 

Well, I don't really know if we'll ever figure it out but can say I track the first appearance of all Topps test issues in The Trader Speaks and cannot find any references to either set through the end of the magazine's run in the 1980's, which is just strange. There's not even agreement in the hobby as to whether they were actually issued or not but the consensus leans toward no but with a nod to them being packaged and oh-so-close. These two sets really are a mystery in many ways.

What's not a mystery is the checklist, which is the same for both sets.  I count 14 Hall of Famers! I've used the full team names, electing to thumb my nose at the (now defunct) MLBPC:

AARON	HANK	ATLANTA BRAVES
ALLEN	RICHIE	CHICAGO WHITE SOX
BENCH	JOHNNY	CINCINNATI REDS
CARLTON	STEVE	PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
COLBERT	NATE	SAN DIEGO PADRES
DAVIS	WILLIE	LOS ANGELES DODGERS
EPSTEIN	MIKE	TEXAS RANGERS
JACKSON	REGGIE	OAKLAND ATHLETICS
KILLEBREW	HARMON	MINNESOTA TWINS
LOLICH	MICKEY	DETROIT TIGERS
MARSHALL	MIKE	MONTREAL EXPOS
MAY	LEE	HOUSTON ASTROS
McCOVEY	WILLIE	SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
MURCER	BOBBY	NEW YORK YANKEES
PERRY	GAYLORD	CLEVELAND INDIANS
PINIELLA	LOU	KANSAS CITY ROYALS
ROBINSON	BROOKS	BALTIMORE ORIOLES
RYAN	NOLAN	CALIFORNIA ANGELS
SCOTT	GEORGE	MILWAUKEE BREWERS
SEAVER	TOM	NEW YORK METS
STARGELL	WILLIE	PITTSBURGH PIRATES
TORRE	JOE	ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
WILLIAMS	BILLY	CHICAGO CUBS
YASTRZEMSKI	CARL	BOSTON RED SOX

The Organization Men (and Women)

Friend o'the Archive Keith Olbermann sent along a really neat Topps item recently and I think you'll all agree it's one of the more amazing pieces to be discussed here. I've previously shown an example of Topps Jamboree, a newsletter designed for the wholesalers and jobbers Topps relied upon to distribute their products but this particular item seems geared to the far-flung Topps salesmen around the US.  I'll get into dating in a minute but let's gawk at this wonderful piece first.

Here's a nice shot of Topps HQ in Brooklyn and a letter from Sales Manager Hugh Spencer to kick things off:

I can't find a good reference to John Dromey, at least the one who would have written the below piece but he wrote for an industry trade magazine called International Confectioner and that's where this story originated, in a longer form:

Take Mr. Dromey's exhortations with a grain of salt in places.  I'm not sure about the American Leaf Tobacco Company (ALTC) being the largest wholesale tobacco company in the US but they did have an impressive presence nationwide, or at least east of the Mississippi River.  Their scale is hard to measure though as so little is available on the company. The "Profitable Sales Aid of Silence" tagline though is 100% accurate-it's how the Shorin's operated for decades, i.e. letting their products do the talking.

The referenced real estate venture had at least one very major hiccup in 1933, when the building housing the ALTC (and apartments on the upper floors), a joint venture of their father's with another family (the Rabkin's), went bust and 7 Debevoise St. was foreclosed upon. This act makes the comments about ALTC reasonably suspect to my mind as well, although prior to the Depression things may have been quite rosy in both empires.

The filling stations though, which went by the American Gas Stations (AGS) moniker, are much more quantifiable. They certainly were doing well enough to get bought out by the Standard Oil Co. of New York (Socony) or what we would now call Mobil, in 1938, although latter day family accounts and those of certain associates differ on just how well things were going. 

A 1939-40 New York City tax photo documents one such station; all seem to have been located in Brooklyn  although I have a recent report of one possibly being in Queens.  This may be one of the few photos showing the operation as any other tax photos I could find showed the switch to Socony had already occurred. AGS sold Socony products so the oil major must have had a pretty good idea of what they were buying.  Around fifteen AGS station existed at their peak.

Similar chains around New York City such as Sobol Brothers, were also being gobbled up at this time by much larger companies. AGS should not be confused with the American Oil Company (AMOCO), which was originally a brand of Standard Oil's but got trust-busted into an independent in 1911.  They later re-associated though and both Standard and AMOCO stations co-existed for many years before various mergers somewhat reunited them. The AGS stations were rebranded as Socony's after the deal closed and I'd imagine would have been filtered down to Mobil stations eventually. One location was still active (as a BP IIRC) until five or six years ago and one or two others may still be service stations.

The "American" theme, which featured red, white and blue prominently, would be reflected in Bazooka's livery once the product was launched in 1947.

Now we get to some Shorin's.  I think I've only seen one other picture of Ira and maybe two of Abram over the years. Joe looks like Joe and Phil looks like a super-villain!

We see some offspring next.  Joel Shorin would end up as President of Topps and Phil Shorin's role must have been expanded at some point (I'm not as up to speed on the third generation as I am on the original nuclear families). Check out young Sy Berger!

The references in Berger's bio lead me to think this newsletter is from the second half of 1948 as I believe his first son was born earlier that year and the other jobs described match up with that dating. Eddie Shookoff's son gave me a valuable interview for my book and I believe Mel Bohrer was a car pool buddy of Woody Gelman and Sy Berger's for many years. I suspect Phil Jr. and Sy also interacted quite a bit as Berger had some involvement in procuring premiums from Japan after the war. Charles Zubrin also featured prominently for decades at Topps. 

I want to match up some of the initials of the secretaries below to some Topps correspondence I have but it's a back burner item:

As the "Changemaker" is still front and center and with no reference at the end to the penny tab version of Bazooka (that being a mid-1949 effort), I think my latter part of 1948 date estimate stands up pretty well. 

These "house organs" are hard to find and I have no idea how long this publication ran. I'd love to find more copies of this one and Topps Jamboree.