Lavoptik Movie Stars

Issuing Company: Lavoptik, St. Paul, Minnesota Country of Issue: USA Year of Issue: around 1917 Color/B&W: Color Number of Cards in Set: 12 Card Size: Issued as insert with what product: Eye Wash

Notes: I had these listed as Knapp Movie Stars on my site for 18 years based on a small auction group I'd seen with the bottom section cut off. Knapp was the lithographer for this set and is listed on the cards. Greg Galliger showed some of these as full cards, revealing that the title of the set should really be Lavoptik Movie Stars, so I changed the name of the listing.

Another group of 12 of these cards can be found with Russell advertising on the backs. The pictures are exactly the same, though the framing design on the front is a little different. It was mentioned that these were used by them as calendar cards, which explains why the set consists of 12 cards.

Date Info: This set was probably issued in about 1917, based on the stars in the set. Mary Fuller's last film was in 1917. Lenore Ulrich is in the set using her birthname of Ulrich, which she used in her early films, the last time being used in 1917. She later switched to Ulric. The date of 1917 is confirmed by a group of these cards that were issued by Russell, which mentions their new 1917 catalog on the back of one of the cards.

Thanks to Greg Galliger and Bill Oliver for help with this checklist.

Bessie Barriscale
Marie Doro
Mary Fuller
Dorothy Gish
Lillian Gish
Anita Stewart
Blanche Sweet
Norma Talmadge
Lenore Ulrich
Lillian Walker
Pearl White
Kathlyn Williams

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