4. Bazooka Joe Celebrates 60th Birthday
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Book jacket (above) and unjacketed book (below) |
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When Woody Gelman, head of product development at Topps Gum, Inc. in 1953, hooked up with comic strip artist Wesley Morse, it marked the beginning of a long and highly successful run of Bazooka-brand bubble gum comics.
Thus, for the past six decades, "Bazooka Joe and His Gang" have been synonymous with bubble gum, providing a unique combination of cheap laughs wrapped around pink, sugary slabs of chew.
To help commemorate this long string of iconic mini-comics, Topps has produced a 224-page full-color compendium in horizontal 6 by 7-1/2 inch format. The compilation includes extensive essays written by the closest observers and participants in the production of the comics.
Perhaps of greater interest to our readers, however, is the source of the Bazooka Joe comics that are liberally used to illustrate the narratives of the book. As credited on the title page of the book, the comics used were "selected by and from the collection of Jeff Shepherd." A longtime subscriber of Old Cardboard magazine, Shepherd has contributed his knowledge as well as images from his collection to the vintage hobby (and to OC magazine) over the course of a number of years.
A large majority of the comics were of non-baseball themed. As shown at left, however, a few were. The leading block of each comic contained the "Bazooka Joe and his Gang" label and icon. Most were also followed by a "fortune" across the bottom as illustrated in both examples shown here.
In addition, as with the example at right, many of the comics ended with a promotion for a then-current Topps premium offer. Like the subject of the comics, most promotions were not related to baseball. The promotion in this example, however, was for a five-inch felt emblem for a team of the recipient's choice. The recipient was asked to either send "75 Bazooka comics and no money or only 15 cents and 5 Bazooka comics" for each emblem desired. The promotion on this comic expired on June 30, 1955.
Examples of two baseball-themed premiums promoted in the Bazooka Joe comics are shown below. They are a typical five-inch felt team emblem (Cardinals) and and a 5 by 15-inch pennant (Red Sox). Although obscure, both are highly prized by Topps collectors of 1950s cards, and both are discussed in some detail in Issue #13 of Old Cardboard magazine (see David Hornish, "Topps' 1st Decade of Baseball Cards, Part II: Novelty & Test Issues of the 1950s," OC Issue #13, Fall 2007, p.29).
We were particularly impressed by the full-color quality of the hardcover book--right down to the simulated bubble-gum binding and the matching pink edge coloring of the pages, making the unjacketed book resemble a giant slab of bubble gum. More than 100 classic comics are reproduced inside including the first series reprinted in its entirety for the first time. Contents also include jokes and fortunes along with rare advertisements, ephemera, photographs, artitst sketches and more.
The book was released by Topps in May of this year (retail: $19.99) and is available on Amazon.com. A Kindle edition is also available.
5. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings)
Vintage Pennant Price Guide Revised. Old Cardboard reader Mike Egner has revised and updated his "Vintage Pannant Price Guide (Baseball and Football Edition)." The first edition of the book was reviewed in OC's eNewsletter #70 (February 2010). Since then, the Guide has grown from 210 to almost 350 black & white pages with over 2,200 pennants pictured. Price is $19.99 plus $4 shipping; its also available in eBook format. Visit Mike's online Vintage Sports Shoppe for details and how to order the new edition of the book.
Custom eBay Searches Enhanced. For years, the popular Custom eBay Searches provided on the Old Cardboard website and linked to from the OC Home Page have provided an easy way for our readers to quickly search for vintage cards. There are now searches for nearly 150 vintage card sets organized into 20 major hobby card groups. We have spent considerable time over the past few weeks in revising and updating these searches to yield even better search returns and to reduce unwanted search results such as reprint cards and other erroneous or unrelated auction lots. Please take a look at these newly revised OC Custom eBay Searches. As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions on how we might make these searches even more effective for vintage collectors.
Lyman and Brett Hardeman
Old Cardboard, LLC.
Old Cardboard, LLC. was established in December 2003, to help bring information on vintage baseball card collecting to the hobbyist. Produced by collectors for collectors, this comprehensive resource consists of three components: (1) Old Cardboard Magazine, (2) a companion website at www.oldcardboard.com and (3) this eNewsletter. The Old Cardboard website contains more than 500 pages of descriptive reference information for baseball card sets produced fifty years ago or longer. Each of these set summaries has a direct set-specific link to
auctions and a similar link to
's powerful search engine for further research. The website also includes a Show and Auction Calendar, an eBay Top 50 Vintage Sellers List, and much more. As a result, the Old Cardboard website makes a great "Alt-tab" companion for vintage card shoppers and researchers. Old Cardboard eNews provides current hobby news, upcoming shows and auctions, and updates to the website and the magazine. It is published around the middle of each month. For a FREE subscription to the eNewsletter, or for subscription information on Old Cardboard Magazine, please visit the website at www.oldcardboard.com. If you find this information resource helpful, please tell your friends. We need your support and your feedback. Thank you.