Non Exacting X-Acto

I was lucky enough to snag two Topps mockups recently, one from a stab at Laverne & Shirley and another from a failed Hardy Boys adventure.

The Laverne & Shirley I obtained has been shown here previously but it's definitely worth showing again:

The mockup was assembled on card stock and measures 2 1/2" x 3 1/2", or standard size. The underlying stock is white and everything else is layered on top.  The sepia toned photo looks like it came from a promotional issue but that blue border is strictly cut and pasted strips of sticker material. That L&S logo probably took some finesse to cut and the text balloon is hand lettered and bordered. Have a closer look at both of these elements:

The lettering was done with reasonable care, although a couple letters look redrawn:

The back shows some residue from what was most likely rubber cement, no doubt once used to affix it to a presentation board:

L&S first aired in January of 1976, so this mockup likely was created in 1975.

The Hardy Boys mockup has a couple of differences but looks similar:

The design resembles Charlie's Angels wrapper art to a degree, check it out:

The Hardy Boys mockup is made up on very thin (possibly sticker) stock and Parker Stevenson overlaps Shaun Cassidy a little. No official logo here, those are paste on letters:

The reverse shows remnants of masking tape:

I believe there was a corresponding Nancy Drew mockup as well. Since the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries first aired in 1977, that's how I would date this mockup as well.

There are, however at least two other Hardy Boys mockups known to exist:

Poor Shaun got cropped a little too tight there-yikes!

There are assuredly some other TV shows that were done up by Topps in this manner.  In addition, rumors of three test issues from the mid 60's means the following shows may have been tested : F Troop, Green Acres and I Dream of Jeannie. These were probably tested as black & white cards but presentation boards started around 1966 so they could be actual mockups (if they exist).

Schlemiel Schlimazel

Every few months I post about some in house Topps productions used to pitch ideas by the Product Development team to the brass. Many of these mockups take existing cards and have added artwork or they take a photo from a third party and added a couple of design elements. One such mockup is for Laverne & Shirley, the long-running show from the 70's and early 80's.

Long thought of as very difficult test cards, these are clearly meant for in-house use only:

You can see here the blue border was stuck on since it's deteriorating.  The show logo and the word balloon are also add-ons, as is the photo itself-the whole thing is an art department creation.  This one is in a little better shape:

While very rare, these are not in the same category as tests and final proofs but are true corporate treasures from Topps. In fact, if you go to this Robert Edward Auctions listing from a while back, you can see these two cards on a presentation board.

Three other shows rumored to exist as cards: Green Acres, I Dream of Jeannie and F Troop, may in fact have been sighted as presentation board mockups.  Another rumored set is called Dixie but there was never a TV show by that name that I have been able to find. I want to keep digging for scans of those cards. SInce there wer no more than a handful made, they are quite elusive!