Fortunate Sons (Of Magic Funny Fortunes)

I've briefly touched upon the esoteric and poorly documented issue known as Magic Funny Fortunes here previously, covering an issue of early 60's vintage (the exact issue date is presently indeterminate but circa 1961) that mimiced the familiar one cent Topps tattoo format of the era. Instead of a tattoo, it had a magic viewer feature; otherwise it's essentially the same thing in terms of packaging, with a small piece of red cello added.  Here's an example:

Classic Jack Davis right there kids! That helps with the timeline for the set too but I'm not here to discuss Magic Funny Fortunes today.  Nope, instead let's take a peek at a successor set, issued inside Bazooka around the time they were running out of Bazooka Joe's in the early 80's. Running out?  Yup-Wesley Morse had created so many of the little strips that Topps used his Joes for almost two decades after the artist had died in 1963 before running out!  

With the strip's Howard Cruse redesign still a couple of years off, a number of oddities and recyled ideas, plus flat out reissues, started peppering the Bazooka interior wraps around 1980-82. One of these was a refreshed take on Magic Funny Fortunes.  Take a look at this fortune and compare it to the above image:

That and the rest of the Funny Fortunes detailed here came via Friend o'the Archive Lonnie Cummins and I assume the punchlines all match those of the vintage Magic Funny Fortunes from the 60's. No Jack Davis? No problem, just get Jay Lynch to come up with some snazzy artwork

Dated 1980 by Jay, this is the original:

According to a reliable source, Lynch signed all of his work to make sure there was no, um, misattribution; an issue apparently sometimes at Topps.  But wait, there's more:

This original has some instructions regarding color (with color ink codes to boot):

I'm not sure if all of the 1980's Fortunes were taken from the 60's version but it's likely as the gags were already written (and paid for!). Check out this groaner:

Yuh huh!

Lonnie has sent over a gaggle of stuff on the "between the Joe's" strips, stay tuned! More Bowman fun is coming too!

Fortune Favors The Old...

...Old Topps novelties that is!

I am trying to solve a mystery here today, namely one involving an issue of indeterminate dating called Magic Funny Fortunes.  MFF is one of those issues where you place a piece of red cellophane over an image to see a hidden picture underneath that is usually the answer to a pun. It looks like the classic penny tattoo tabs issued by Topps in the 50's and 60's but there is no transfer feature.  I'll show the interior first, which features Jack Davis artwork.

You will note the little production rip you would see along the top is missing.  As I've seen this same image a few times and actually have another as well, I assume it's a salesman's sample (as are many similar products sans rip).  The answer is "As Window Washer" in case you were wondering.

Now here is the exterior of the wrapper:

Here is the all important indicia: 

That looks Canadian to me, which is reinforced by the Made In USA info that appears above the ingredient list:

No copyright year, which is little surprise. I have two sources for the date, one says 1961 and the other 1968. However, if we look to another set from what may be roughly the same time frame if the earlier date is correct, 1960's Football Tattoo, we may get a clue:

It's the same indicia, which may help with dating, but the Football Tattoos feature only NFL teams and US Colleges so presumably it was issued in the US as well as, and quite mysteriously, Canada. See here for a more detailed discussion of that particular point. 

The earlier Baseball Tattoo issue of 1960 made a clear distinction between US (Brooklyn is detailed on the indicia) and Canadian issues (the latter clearly says "Made in Canada" on an OPC issue) but perhaps the laws in Canada changed mid year.

Looking at Topps Hockey and CFL Wrappers of the era, which are all Canadian only (in theory), the 1960 issues have "Made & Printed in USA" on the wrapper indicia followed by "In Canada Made & distributed by O-Pee-Chee Ltd" while the 1961 issues just say "Made & Distributed in Canada". So it looks like Topps had a kind of Jekyll/Hyde thing going on 

Anyhoo...Chris Benjamin described this issue without attributing a date or country of distribution in his 4th Sport Americana Non-Sports Guide and Tucker & Simon's NSA Wrapper Guide also shows the same wrapper that I have above.  Todd Riley's www.non-sport.com site has a listing for both US and Canadian issues but the wrapper shown for each listing is the same as the one above as well. Finally, Chris Watson's Non-Sports Bible also shows the same wrapper as everyone else but has Canadian and US listings for the set (attributed to 1960).

I am going to assume, unless some other evidence turns up, that the Magic Funny Fortunes are a 1961 issue that was distributed in both the US and Canada using the same packaging. If there's more information out there, please let me know.