Country of Issue: USA
Year of Issue: 1919
Color/B&W: Color
Number of Cards in Set: unknown
Card Size: 1 1/2" x 2 3/8"
Issued as insert with what product: Issued in strips by themselves with no other product. Cards are usually found cut apart.
|
|
Issuing Company: Unknown Country of Issue: USA Year of Issue: 1919 Color/B&W: Color Number of Cards in Set: unknown Card Size: 1 1/2" x 2 3/8" Issued as insert with what product: Issued in strips by themselves with no other product. Cards are usually found cut apart. |
Notes: Checklist may or may not be complete. Cards are in color, with the caption containing the star's name in all slanted caps below the picture. Some cards contain a small card number below the picture. Some of these numbers are very hard to read. Blank-backed.
There are three or more different versions of these cards. For example, I have seen three different versions of the Mae Murray card. The first shows her with a green background and a forward copyright symbol. The second shows the same card with a reversed image of Murray and a backward copyright symbol. The third shows her with the same picture, but with a yellow background and her name spelled May Murray. The first version of the Mae Murray card says G Cards Series 1 in the top border - some additional text was probably written before the G but it has been cut off.
In another example, I have seen two different Roscoe Arbuckle cards, one with a yellowed border, the other with a bright white border. The Arbuckle card with the white border displays "I.F.S." on the bottom left corner of the card.
Since some of these cards show numbers and some don't and some of the numbers are very difficult to read, I am going to show this checklist in alphabetical order with numbers in parentheses.
Date info - Collector Tim Cline offers the information that Olive Thomas started in movies in 1916, but wasn't a "star" until 1917 / 18 and died in 1920. Other pictures of Olive wearing the same hat have been dated about 1919 by some Olive Thomas collectors. Because of this information and the fact that Arbuckle and Reid were also finished by the very early 1920s, I am dating this set at 1919, though it could have been released any time from 1918 to 1921. Because of all the variations, it is very possible that this set was reissued one or more times after its initial release.
Since this is a very complicated checklist, I have decided to picture as many of these cards as possible. I have just put all the cards of the same person together, even if the pose is different. So, sometimes there are additional pictures in the picture links, not just the cards for the listed pose.
There is a similar group of cards with slanted text with more primitive artwork that is probably another strip of cards, including Priscilla Dean, Will. S. Hart, and Wallace Reid and probably more.
Thanks to Tim Cline, Ron Strader and Matthew Glidden for help with this checklist.
Checklist showing all variations of all cards
Fatty Arbuckle (#32) (red background)
Roscoe Arbuckle (#3) (yellow background)
Theda Bara (#9) (blue background)
Billy Burke (#22) (red background)
June Caprice (#5) (red background)
June Caprice (#6) (blue background)
June Caprice (#25) (blue background)
Charles Chaplin - blue background, #5, I.F.S. in lower left, forward facing "C"
Charles Chaplin (#34) (red background)
Dorothy Dalton (#4) (blue background)
Dorothy Dalton (no number) (blue background)
Dorothy Dalton (purple background)
Dorothy Dalton (red background)
Priscilla Dean
Douglas Fairbanks (#10) (blue background)
Douglas Fairbanks - closer view (blue background)
William Farnum (#40) (red background)
William Farnum (blue background - reverse copyright C)
William Farnum (#18 blue background - forward copyright C)
William Farnum - blue background, #13, reverse "C"
Pauline Frederick (orange background)
E. Hammerstein (#39) (yellow background)
Elaine Hammerstein (#20) (yellow background-reverse "C")
Elaine Hammerstein (yellow background-forward "C")
Will. S. Hart (#26) (red background)
Will. S. Hart (greenish yellow background-Mountie uniform)
Wm. S. Hart (#2) (green background)
Owen Moore (#36) (blue background-same card as the Tom Moore card)
Tom Moore (yellow background-same card as the Owen Moore card - reverse "C")
Tom Moore - (#16) (yellow background, forward "C")
Mae Murray (#17) (green background-same card as the May Murray card)
Mae Murray - (#14) (green background, reverse "C")
May Murray (yellow background-same card as the Mae Murray #17 card)
Mabel Normand (#13) (blue background)
Marle Normand (#23) (blue background)
Mary Pickford (#16) (dark blue background)
Mary Pickford (#10) (red background, forward "C")
Mary Pickford (#1) (red background, reverse "C")
Mary Pickford (#35) (green background)
Charles Ray (#30) (green background)
Wallace Reid (#38) (yellow background-same card as the Walter Reid card)
Wallace Reid (yellow background-different but similar picture)
Walter Reid (red background-same card as the Wallace Reid card)
Walter Reid (#11) (red background, reverse "C")
Norma Talmadge (#37) yellow background
Olive Thomas (#29)(seen with pink or blue background)
Olive Thomas - red background, #8, I.F.S. in lower left, forward facing "C"
Olive Thomas - red background, no number, reverse "C" { this is a mirror image of the other red card, the printing isn't as good and the letters are slightly "fatter"}
Geo. Walsh - green background, no number, reverse "C"
Geo. Walsh - (#28) (red background)
Bryant Washburn (#12)(red background)
Bryant Washburn (red background - reversed)
Pearl White (#4) (green background, forward "C")
Pearl White - green background (green background, reverse "C")
Pearl White (#31) (blue background)
This section places each variation of each card in their various sets.
No (C), #1-40, brighter colors for #1-20, quality much lower for #21-40 (visible comparing Caprice below)
In the #21-40 group, Theda Bara and Dorothy Dalton were removed from the set, and Billy Burke and Pauline Frederick were added.
1. Charles Ray
2. Olive Thomas
3. Geo. Walsh
4. Dorothy Dalton
5. Will S. Hart
6. June Caprice
7. Pauline Frederick
8. Marle Normand
9. Billy Burke
10. Douglas Fairbanks
11. William Farnum
12. E. Hammerstein
13. Wallace Reid
14. Norma Talmadge
15. Tom Moore
16. Mary Pickford
17. Chas. Chaplin
18. May Murray
19. Fatty Arbuckle
20. Pearl White
21. Douglas Fairbanks
22. Billy Burke
23. Marle Normand
24. (Frederick/Washburn?)
25. June Caprice
26. Will. S. Hart
27. (Frederick/Washburn?)
28. Geo. Walsh
29. Olive Thomas
30. Charles Ray
31. Pearl White
32. Fatty Arbuckle
33. May Murray
34. Chas. Chaplin
35. Mary Pickford
36. Owen Moore
37. Norma Talmadge
38. Wallace Reid
39. E. Hammerstein
40. William Farnum
Normal photos & (C), "IFS" below handwritten name, #1-20
At least two stock variations. One of the darker stock variations printed the phrase 'UNIVERSAL "MOVIE MATCHING CARDS" SERIES 2' along the top of #5-7 and 'UNIVERSAL "MOVIE MATCHING CARDS" SERIES 1' along the top of #15-17.
1. Douglas Fairbanks (small "APIDA" above name instead of "IFS" below name)
2. Theda Bara
3. Roscoe Arbuckle
4. Pearl White
5. Charles Chaplin
6. June Caprice
7. Geo. Walsh
8. Olive Thomas
9. Wm. S. Hart
10. Mary Pickford
11. Elaine Hammerstein
12. Bryant Washburn
13. Mabel Normand
14. Charles Ray
15. Dorothy Dalton
16. Tom Moore
17. Mae Murray
18. William Farnum
19. Norma Talmadge
20. Wallace Reid
Reversed photos & (C), handwritten name, no "IFS" below name, #1-20
No stock variation and no UNIVERSAL titles. Just as the photos are reversed, this numbering's reversed within each strip of 10 from the set above. #10 Pickford becomes #1, #11 Hammerstein becomes #20, etc.
1. Mary Pickford
2. Wm. S. Hart
3. Olive Thomas
4. Geo. Walsh
5. June Caprice
6. Charles Chaplin
7. Pearl White
8. Roscoe Arbuckle
9. Theda Bara
10. Douglas Fairbanks (remnant of "APIDA" above name)
11. Wallace Reid
12. Norma Talmadge
13. William Farnum
14. Mae Murray
15. Tom Moore
16. Dorothy Dalton
17. Charles Ray
18. Mabel Normand
19. Bryant Washburn
20. Elaine Hammerstein
More Primitive Artwork
Priscilla Dean
Will. S. Hart
Alice Joyce
Wallace Reid
American Card Sets Sales List
American Checklists | Movie Card Website Front Page
