Boxing Day

I'm feeling a bit lazy today and thought I would just take a look at some interesting box graphics from the early days of Topps.

Very much a design that shows how quickly Topps issued this set in the wake of the Korean War, the Freedom's War box has some fairly basic graphics that don't really represent the great artwork in this set:

The "Save 'Em Trade 'Em" slogan was used across the Topps line of cards starting in 1950, appearing on retail and advertising pieces as a unifying meme to get the kids to buy more product.  It also was coincidental, excepting the reissues of Flags of the World and License Plates in their larger size, with their issuance of two card panels in nickel glassine and ten cent cello packs and ran until the end of 1951.  Fighting Marines was the first panelized set that didn't feature this wording since the beginning of 1950 so the campaign ran for almost two years.

Much more colorful was the Bring 'Em Back Alive box, which appeared before Freedom's War:

And before that, we had Hopalong Cassidy, which actually featured a photo and was the first entertainment property licensed by Topps:

Yo-yoing into 1951 Animals of the World had some decent graphics:

The motto isn't on the box but it is on the wrapper:

Baseball Candy even got into the act, as you can see on this scan of an ad provided by Friend o'the Archive John Moran:

Ringside?  Check:

Those ad back cards replicate the box graphics, one of Topps' best efforts I think. And ewhile we are in the sporting arena, let's not forget Magic Football:

Just like Animals of the World, you have to look at the wrapper to find the motto:

Now there is an anomaly out there as well and it belongs to Ed-U-Cards.  This 1952 photo from one of their ad campaigns is very intriguing, especially since Topps produced the Lone Ranger set for them in 1950 and there is a somewhat close connection with Baseball Candy:

Those early Ed-U-Cards graphics are not as cartony as their later issues and given the wording on the retail box, I am starting to wonder just how much of a connection there was between Topps and Ed-U-Cards.  Or maybe Solomon & Gelman's art agency is the connection.

The Topps Set That Almost Was

In 1950, just as Topps was rounding into form with their card sets, there appeared on the store shelves a little number called The Lone Ranger. Clayton Moore was riding high as John Reid, the lone survivor of a terrible ambush (and incidentally Grand Uncle Of Britt Reid, a.k.a. The Green Hornet--I'd link it but it's more fun to Google it!) along with his faithful sidekick Tonto (Jay Silverheels) and in 1949 saw his fortunes rise as The Lone Ranger transitioned from radio to TV.

1950 saw a set of 120 cards issued by Ed-U-Cards, whose wares were generally sold in the toy and variety stores of the day in "decks". These cards feature garish coloring of black and white shots taken from four episodes that aired early in the 1950-51 season, each episode being allotted 30 cards.  The set was sold in a series of brightly colored envelopes each holding five panels of three cards although it is not clear if these were sequentially collated.  Here's a look at a typical panel from the set, which carries an ACC number of W536:

If you think those cards look a lot like Topps' Hopalong Cassidy high numbers you're right. 

Now compare the backs from each set:

Pretty close, right?  Now look at a 1950 Topps Freedom's War reverse:

The font used for the set name is identical to that of The Lone Ranger and there are just too many stylistic similarities for this to be a coincidence.  I've previously documented some common elements between Topps and Ed-U-Cards baseball deck games and this is just more evidence of a link between the two companies (Ed-U-Cards was based about ten miles from Topps in Queens).  Topps either clearly designed the set for their competitor or had created it for their own purposes and decided to sub-let it instead. Either way, it's a fascinating little slice of Topps history. The Lone Ranger cards individually measure 2" x 2 5/8", a little smaller than the 2 1/16" x 2 5/8" measurements of Hoppy and Freedom's War. The perforations are much finer on The Lone Ranger than on any Topps cards that were issued in (two card) panels of the era to boot.

I said the set was issued in envelopes, here they are in all their glory from eBay:

Here's what could have come in one of the envelopes:

The Lone Ranger was not a typical Ed-U-Cards product and they would not issue anything else that was close in style. Whatever the reason, they deviated this one time and never did it again.

It's Cott To be Good!

Anyone remember the phrase used as the title of today's post? It was quite well known in the 60's and 70's as TV ads for Cott Beverages were seemingly everywhere in the New York tri-state area.  Cott also has an indirect tie to the 1951 Topps Red Backs bagged set and a direct tie to a 1950 (with a 1949 copyright) Ed-U-Cards boxed card game called Batter Up.

 

We've already looked at the various baseball diamonds that came with the 1950 card game and its 1957 descendant but there is a promotional version of the 1950 game (36 cards)  that was a mail-in premium for Cott's and featured the same paper diamond used in all of these games.  The cards are quite the period piece:

That catcher is going to break a finger if he keeps handling pitches that way! Here is the Cott logo on back:

That's a 1949 Ed-U-Cards copyright at the bottom. And of course, the diamond was in the box as well:

It is worth noting the Card Game Rules are the same as those on the diamonds packed with the '51 Red Backs set but there are slight differences on the bottom left panel when compared to later versions.

The diamond measures 7" x 8 5/8" in case you were wondering.

And let us not forget the boxed version of the 1968 Topps Game Cards, called "Batter Up":

That's a neat box but the graphics look like they depict a game of Town Ball or something. Ed-U-Cards had changed their diamond design for games issued after 1957 (there are some from the 1960's that had MLB themed cards for some teams) and I am not sure if Topps included a diamond in the '68 boxed set as the instructions were on the back of the box:

There is still more to the Topps and Ed-U-Cards connection-I am awaiting something in the mail before I can show you but stay tuned......

Around The Diamond

Last time out we took a look at the similarities between the paper baseball diamond included with the bagged set of 1951 Topps Red Backs, that was marketed by an anonymous third party and how it compared to a 1957 Ed-U-Cards game called Baseball that included a very similar diamond.  Well it turns out there was an earlier version of the Ed-U-Cards game called Batter Up ( and a related promotional set for Cott Beverages) that was issued in 1949 and was one of their first issues.

That game also included  a diamond, although I can only show the folded front panel (for now):

Fellow blogger Mark Aubrey has thoughtfully provided  a hi-res scan of the '57 diamond for comparison purposes:

Mark has much more on this over at his blog-check it out!  I'll post a full scan of the Batter Up diamond once I have it in my greedy little hands.

There is more to the Topps and Ed-U-Cards connection-stay tuned!

Diamond Mine

If you are old enough, which means over 40 for this exercise, you might remember using flash cards as a young 'un to learn basic math skills or to gain reading skills.  One of the prime manufacturers of such products was Ed-U-Cards of Queens, New York. Around the time Topps started putting cards and gum together, Ed-U-Cards started selling decks of cards to the public.  One of their games was a Baseball card game that was very similar to the game you could play with Topps 1951 Red and Blue Backs.

A very nice history of Ed-U-Cards appears on the Road Trip 62 blog but one particular picture over there really caught my eye.  Take a gander at the paper baseball diamond that came with the Ed-U-Cards deck:

It looks quite familiar.  Despite the Ed-U-Cards branding, it is the exact diamond that was sold with bagged sets of 1951 Red Back cards, which were likely marketed by a third party after Topps sold off their excess. There is no Ed-U-Cards logo but it's the same diamond for sure:

Of course this begs the question-did Topps sell their excess Red Back stock to Ed-U-Cards? Or did each company merely license or use the diamond for their own purposes?  Here is the bagged set, fronst and back.  You can clearly see the diamond is packaged inside the bag:

This bears further investigation....