Non-Sport Potpourri

Just having some fun today with a thread covering some interesting images of the Non-Sports variety.  

Topps began what was to become an annual Valentine's Day tradition that lasted until 1971 (or more likely 1972) with Funny Valentines, a set illustrated by the masterful Jack Davis.  A salesman's sample popped up recently and it's a thing of beauty:

I showed a different sample about five years ago, which you can visit here. Davis was a favorite of Topps New Product Director Woody Gelman and given how tough any salesman's samples can be, but especially those that weren't advertising their Baseball sets, this is a scarce piece. There's more tasty Davis goodness on the back:

Moving into the 1960s, Topps continually hoped they could sell cards and bubble gum to young girls, a demographic they were not particularly crushing. A prime example was the release of Casey & Kildare, which were sold as Wallet Photos.  The cards are not at all scarce but unopened packs are, especially the cello version:

The back has a lot of indicia and detail, including a a smiling Richard Chamberlain peeking out:

This next image was part of a Morphy Auctions offering of 1965 Push-Pull cards and packaging.  It's a well-documented set, although the box and wrappers are probably approaching rare, but I like the image so much I'm including it here:

Push-Pull was an innovative set, released just before the onslaught of whacked-out Topps releases that started taking off in 1966-67. The size of the cards and play action have made these condition rarities over sixty years later.  The aforementioned play action is described on the wrapper in detail:

I've read previously that there was only one black "shutter" included per pack but according to the lot description "Each pack contains three picture cards, three slotted cards and one slab of gum. Card series #1 - 36."  These would have looked pretty inviting at first but I'm betting the set was a poor seller as the novelty would have worn off pretty quickly, so not all innovations were welcomed by the public.

The "tall boy" style sets sold by Topps in 1964-65 are intriguing but seem like a failed experiment in some ways overall. The Football and Hockey sets issued in this larger size left a lot of empty real estate on most cards, feeling like an idea in search of better execution. Plus, the dimensions make finding examples in nice shape difficult.