Country of Issue: USA
Year of Issue: 1940s-1950s
Color/B&W: B&W (Brown Tone)
Number of Cards in Set: 32 (unnumbered)
Card Size: 3 3/8" x 5 3/8"
Issued as insert with what product: Came out of coin-operated arcade machines
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Issuing Company: Exhibit Supply Company Country of Issue: USA Year of Issue: 1940s-1950s Color/B&W: B&W (Brown Tone) Number of Cards in Set: 32 (unnumbered) Card Size: 3 3/8" x 5 3/8" Issued as insert with what product: Came out of coin-operated arcade machines |
Notes: In a 1956 Exhibit advertising flyer, Exhibit called this set All Star Cowboys, and indicated there were 32 cards in the set. Front of 1956 Exhibit advertising flyer. Back of 1956 Exhibit flyer. It is likely that this set was sold for many years, with some possible changes over the years.
These cards can be identified by the following characteristics:
- They have a brown tone.
- There are four different stars on each card.
- Beneath each star's picture, there is a greeting on one line followed by the star's name on the next line, both in autograph style.
- In the bottom right corner of the card, it says "MADE IN U.S.A."
Collector Otis Johnson has provided quite a bit more information on this set as follows.
This set dates to the late 40's or very early 50's considering the inclusion of Gregory Peck (first film credit was 1944) and Robert (Bobbie or Bobby) Blake pictured as Little Beaver, a character he played between 1944 and 1947. Finally, Danny Thomas is shown on a CBS Arcade card. The "Danny Thomas Show" ran on CBS Radio from 1944-1949.
Certainly the set was still being vended in 1956 as the 1956 Exhibit Supply flyer lists All Star Cowboys as one of its sets, suggesting they be combined in one vending machine with the 32 card Dead Shot set.
My set is brown-tint with all cards having the 11 mm MADE IN U.S.A. in the lower right hand corner.
Most of the images have salutations; a few do not. Two of the images are generic: A Western Saddle King and A Western Sheriff, and there are three images of the Lone Ranger from an earlier Exhibit Supply set featuring that hero.
You'll notice I added a notation that the picture labled Paul Parry is actually legendary Western Swing musician Bob Wills. The identical photograph (touting a story about Wills and with reversed image) appears on the cover of Billboard Magazine's January 20, 1945 issue. This information is from "Cowboy Hero Arcade Cards" by Gibson, Gibson and Moore, pp. 80-81. There was an actor named Paul Parry who appeared (usually uncredited) in 19 movies between 1934 and 1944, but this picture isn't him...its definitely Bob Wills. There are a few other quirks I noticed: Bill Boyd also appears as Wm Boyd. Bill Elliott appears as Bill Elliott, "Wild Bill" Elliott and Wild Bill Elliot. Gabby Hayes also appears as Geo "gabby" Hayes, and Johnny Mack Brown outnumbers John Mack Brown two to one. Smiley Burnette and Buddy Roosevelt's names are misspelled, always a sign the signatures aren't authentic. According to IMDB, Robert Blake was never billed as "Bobbie", so I made a notation. Jack Padjan was sometimes known as "Jack Padjeon", however, so I left him alone. I'm sure there are other anomalies, but you can drive yourself crazy with this stuff.
Thanks to Otis Johnson for supplying the checklist information for this set.
The checklist is in alphabetical order by the last name of the occupant of the top left quadrant.
A Western Saddle King (anonymous), George Montgomery, James Newill, Richard Arlen
Gene Autry, Tom Tyler, Bill Desmond, Johnny Mack Brown
Don Barry, Buck Jones, Allan Lane, John Wayne
Bobbie (Bobby) Blake, Roy Corrigan, Jack Beutel, Fred Morrison
Bill Boyd, Ray Whitley, Charles Buck Jones, Buster Crabbe
Wm Boyd, Jack Randall, Gene Autry and Champ, Rod Cameron
John Mack Brown, Fuzzy Knight, Allan Lane, A Western Sheriff (anonymous)
Smily (Smiley) Burnette, Tom Tyler, Monte Hale, Terry Frost
Spade Cooley, Jimmy Dodd, Johnny Bond, John Wayne
Gary Cooper, Max Terhune, Ray Whitley, Tex Ritter
Ray Corrigan, Charles Bickford, "Wild Bill" Elliott, Tim McCoy
Eddie Dean, Gregory Peck, Russell Hayden, George Montgomery
Wild Bill Elliot (Elliott), The Lone Ranger, Raymond Hatton, Charles Starrett
Bill Elliott, Rufe Davis, The Lone Ranger, Charles Buck Jones
Monte Hale, Andy Devine, Jack Holt, Tim McCoy
Tim Holt, Roy Hughes, Pat Brady, Ted Wells
Fred Humes, Roy Rogers, Ken Curtis, Jimmy Wakely
Tom Keene, John King, Russell Hayden, Danny Thomas
The Lone Ranger, Wally Wales, Tom Tyler, Don "Red" Barry
Fred MacMurray, Don Coleman, "Sunset" Carson, Tex Ritter
Leo Maloney, Bob Nolan, Jack Ingram, Fred Gilman
Ken Maynard, Bob Steele, Johnny Mack Brown, Gabby Hayes
Jack Padjeon, James Warner, Roy Rogers, Monte Hale
Roy Rogers, Elton Britt, Gene Autry, Buffalo Bill, Jr.
Roy Rogers, Edmund Cobb, Geo "gabby" Hayes, Ernest Tubb
Buddy Rooseveldt (Roosevelt), Dick Foran, Bob Livingston, John Wayne
Robert Stack, Ken Maynard, Max Terhune, George O'Brien
Bob Steele, Jack Luden, Peter Cookson, Lane Chandler
Bob Steele, Jimmy Wakely, Paul Parry (actually Bob Wills), Bob Steele
Charles Starrett, Bob Baker, Gary Cooper, Ward Bond
Tom Tyler, Gene Autry, Gene Autry, Leo Maloney
Lee "Molasses" White, Johnny Downs, Monte Hale, Gene Autry
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