Some time ago (almost exactly seven years to be precise) I took a look at the 1967 Topps Funny Travel Posters set, one of their classic large format sets of the late Sixties. One of the posters therein thoroughly mocks Madison Avenue and in doing so, portrays several character mascots loved by generations of consumers, So I thought it would be fun over this week's post and next's to break down the roster, almost of of which were eventually animated, and seen on television about a gazillion times, some of which are very much still still in use today.  In addition, I'll follow up with a loo ..read more

Some odds and sods today kinds! Friend o'the Archive Jason Rhodes passed along this little bit of fun some time ago and I'm just now managing to show it. I would have bought this product had I seen this box: That looks really cool, right?!  I'm estimating it as early Sixties, based upon the box-bottom indicia: Can't say I've seen many, if any,  80 count boxes from that era but this was one. Another weird one was Giant Bubble Gum, which I believe was a twist wrap product from around the same time, maybe even a smidge earlier. This is courtesy of Lonnie Cummins: A short time ago ..read more

Further to last month's post on Hopalong Cassidy's wide range of Topps products way back in 1950 (yup, 75 years ago buckaroos), Friend o' the Archive Lonnie Cummins has sent along some additional details relating to Hoppy Pops. First up, we have the sixth and final b&w box bottom image for the checklist: It's very close to the image I've dubbed "Hoppy Gazing" but you can see his gun here, so I'll call this one "Hoppy Gazing - Gun Visible" and update the checklist accordingly: Hoppy Gazing Hoppy Gazing - Gun Visible * Hoppy Atop Topper Hoppy Next to Topper With Gun * Hoppy in Relaxed Pos ..read more

1968 saw a number of wildly inventive sets come out of the increasingly underground-centric New Product Development Department at Topps. Woody Gelman's gang of hirsute pranksters sure look like they got a green-light from the company's top brass to go wild once the move of production facilities to Duryea was fully wrapped up, as many of the designs coming out of Brooklyn thereafter were in sync with the hippie and psychedelic zeitgeist of the next half-decade or so. Their most zeitgeist-iest set of all, with the possible exception of Nasty Valentine Notes in 1972, was 1968's Laugh-In ..read more

Way back in 2009 I posted about the 1951 Baseball Candy set and, as part of what is now a mostly obsolete series of observations, examined how this multi-faceted set might have been assembled and distributed by Topps.  To refresh your collective memories, Baseball Candy was an overarching marketing name and its constituent parts were comprised of what is now considered by the hobby at large to be five separate sets: Red Backs, Blue Backs, Connie Mack All Stars, Major League All Stars and Teams. The latter three were exactly twice the size of the first two, so they all fit neatly together ..read more

Last week's peek at Hopalong Cassidy lollipops and candy promised a look at the cards released by Topps in 1950, and here we are.  It's not hard to describe the impact Hoppy had on early children's television - "massive" comes to mind quite easily - but he also had outsized influence for Topps. Their first set using a licensed character, Hopalong Cassidy sold and sold and sold,  brought a larger card size (2 1/16" x 2 5/8") and also kicked off a Topps marketing campaign dubbed "Save 'Em-Trade 'Em" that would encompass eight different sets in total.  A cross-promotion with B ..read more

Way back in 1950, when television was really starting to take off, a need, quickly voracious, for content developed. With some foresight in this mad scramble, William Boyd, who had gained fame by portraying the good-guy cowboy Hopalong Cassidy in dozens of old "oaters" that were staples of Saturday movie matinees in the Thirties and Forties, acquired the rights to and packaged up a gaggle of his old movies and had them formatted for the boob tube.  If Hoppy wasn't the first kids fad fueled by Tee Vee it wasn't far behind.  It also set the stage (sorry), along with the Lone Ranger, fo ..read more

A long, long time ago, I took a look at the Milton Bradley Win-A-Card Game that focused on the cards included with this esoteric bit of Topps history. I won't rehash all of that here but to note the special sheet of 132 cards Topps printed up for the game have caused much confusion in the 55-plus years since it was available on store shelves. Some better scans of the game board and box have since popped up and I figured they were worth sharing.  We've seen most of the game board before but this is a decidedly better look at it: It's quite colorful and you can see the attraction of t ..read more

More on the incredible Andy Yanchus collection today kids! Goofy Goggles, a gumless novelty imported by Topps from Japan, remains one of their most elusive issues.  I have never seen an example of one in person and until this auction, had only seen the black-and-white image offered by Chris Benjamin in his Sport-Americana guides from three decades ago. Yanchus, who was obviously good at ferreting out these kind of things, had only two examples from the twelve subjects advertised by Topps.  So right now it's a universe of three images available! The Yanchus items were sold indie their ..read more

I 'll be spending a little time here at summer's end to look at some of the more esoteric items to emerge from the Andy Yanchus collection, the bulk of which was recently sold off over the course of five auctions by Bruneau & Co. of Rhode Island. Yanchus was product designer for Aurora Plastics for a decade (covering roughly 1965-75) before working as a colorist for Marvel Comics and then moving on to other projects in the mid-Nineties.   He lived in a three-level home in Brooklyn's Vinegar Hill neighborhood that featured a garage (a rare thing in such parts, I can assure you) an ..read more