Good morning, everyone: Christmas is here, you’re watching the Star Wars Holiday Special bootleg Santa brought last year, and if you’ve ended up on Santa’s ‘good-little-kid’ list this year, too, maybe you got what you want under the tree.   In an attempt to, you know, get some brownie points with the elves, I put my Santa letter into christmas-carol format.   Hopefully Santa doesn’t count rhyming schemes when analyzing his incoming mail, but I did my best.   If you’d like to sing along, it’s written to the tune of God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen (audio here):

Dear Santa, I’ve been good this year,
No problems caused by me,
I thought I’d write a short list here,
if guidance did you need,
to pick out just the bestest thing
that I could ever see,
And Star Wars is just the thing for me,
wouldn’t you think?
My suggestion is what my collection needs.

I want a vintage Obi-Wan
the rarest that there be,
his saber is collapsible
not one-piece blade, you see,
they were just made in
one small batch,
are few and far between,
oh eBay has failed me once again,
once again,
I can’t find him for sale, that ol’ Ben.

If Obi Wan cannot you find
A YakFace will do fine,
In Europe and Australia
was he sold to fans sublime,
The market in the States was foul,
Star Wars was in decline,
so a YakFace is very rare to find,
stateside,
but it’s not too spendy, if you check the Guide.

One day I sold my Boba Fett,
twelve-incher, he was big,
because he lacked accessories
and paint-flakes did he bleed,
but now I wish I had him back,
Oh, Boba, why’d you leave?
But Christmas is here and now you see,
I have a real need,
I’d like another — with accessories.

In Christmas memories of mine
Star Wars was prominent,
My uncle dressed as Santa and
gave Jedi accoutrements,
but years have passed and now I lack
the toys that came and went.
Collecting is tougher now ‘cuz boys
play hard with their toys,
now grownups still ask Santa for Star Wars.

WWII was a great boon for publishing in many ways.    In the interest of entertaining soldiers abroad, exceptions were made in the paper ration process for publishers, so long as they printed books that would be of interest to servicemen during their off-hours.  Publishers brought cheap, portable paperback books to the front lines throughout the world, but encountered the question: what do they want to read? The Department of Defense made arrangements for Pocket and Penguin to publish useful books, like aircraft spotter manuals, and much of what sold well were the publisher’s regular best-seller lists.  However, the availability of approachable literature to the soldiers was creating a huge new generation of casual readers.   One of my favorite genres to really see growth due to WWII are the comedy paperbacks.

WWII didn’t create the genre, however.  The bread-and-butter books of publishers weren’t always the big-name authors, but were instead small collections of previously-available content repackaged for the mass market.   1931’s The Pocket Book of Boners, edited and illustrated by none other than Theodore Geisel himself, had already been selling well before it shipped out to PXs around the world.  After it hit the soldier’s outposts, by 1942 it was #4 on Pocket’s Army best-seller list, behind a Ripley’s Believe It or Not! book (also an anthology of previously released material), Nana by Emile Zola (already over 60 years old by that time),  and the dictionary.  When thefreely-distributed, cheaply-made Armed Services Editions were being planned, books of humor were the third most numerous titles of any other genre.   Bennett Cerf, an expert in storytelling and bookselling, quickly assembled The Pocket Book of War Humor and sent it to the presses. These light-hearted, low-effort books of humor helped our soldiers get through their tours of duty, and when they returned stateside they brought their taste in literature with.

This burst in quick, cheap wit continued beyond the end of the world war.   Bennett Cerf continued publishing his collections of funny micro-stories and brief punchlines, while others got into the act as well.   Magazines also saw their popularity grow, and their need for short, entertaining articles bred a generation of witty writers well-suited for an anthology of their comedy bits.  Kermit Schafer epitomized the genre of re-publishing previously used funny bits by building it into a publishing empire with his Bloopers series of books and albums.  Nearly all the content was gleaned or recreated from radio broadcasts, had previously been published in his syndicated column, and much of the content between books was repeated from previous editions as well.   One facet of humor books that continued to see strength that would soon dwindle were the race-based joke books, who, for the most part, repeated the same jokes with a different nationality filled in the blanks.  The 1950s’ public attitude was focused on white picket fences and apple pie, with little tolerance for ‘fringe’ content, but as the decade began to close, writers were beginning to reflect the growing social iniquities via satire.

One of the earliest were the Mad Magazine, who published books under Ballantine, bringing their edgy humor and satire to paperback form.   Books like Mac Bird, Golden’s Only in America books, and handfuls of Harvard/National Lampoon books gave humor paperbacks an edge that had been largely missing during their earlier years.   The interest in censorship still hovered over much of the media, resulting in the Comic Code, varying enforcement of the Hay’s Code, and the introduction of movie age-ratings.   However, books tended to be more immune due to their status as ‘literature’.  The race-based joke books also took either a self-referential tone, or later evolved into non-race  books like ‘blonde jokes’ or ‘redneck jokes’, and moved away from general interest into naughtier ‘party’ books for adults.   While some books kept their innocuous form and cater to a more juvenile audience, the satire of the 60s and 70s was most decidedly adult in nature and subtle references.

Those more innocuous humor books, some repeating re-worded jokes that were indistinguishable from Bennett Cerf’s content in the 1940s, continued to find their audience among children.    Services like Scholastic’s SBS brought small catalogs of cheap books into student’s hands on a monthly basis, and those title lists often included more than one collection of jokes or funny comics.  While most are completely unremarkable, Scholastic had a knack for selling timely books, like the Pac Man themed humor on the left.   While the jokes were largely juvenile and simple, it matched their audience’s sentibilities, and Scholastic joke books are quite numerous.

The wide appreciation for humor books and their cheap production expense has created a collectible market with an enormous amount of items to collect.    Particularly in the fifties and sixties, the humor books from large presses were produced in enormous numbers, and largely survived well, and cost remains quite low.   Somewhat rarer books, like the early Mad or the Harvard Lampoon books, have a higher demand and were produced in relatively low quantities compared to the usual mass-market runs.  Still, they can usually be found for lower prices than their rarer cousins, and many were produced as series, encouraging a collector to obtain every volume, rather than any single one.

Two weeks ago we spent the morning going to local rummage sales and I scored two boxes of Garbage Pail Kids — for $2.

I was too old for the cards back in 1985 when the cards were originally released, but for $2 I figured I’d have some fun with them. (Seems I am more cheaply entertained & less mature as a 40-something than I was as a 20-something.)

The first box had cards grouped together, held by rubber bands, all of which seem to be, as the boxes state, from the 3rd series of Garbage Pail Kids. From the check list (one of the 7 cards is marked), it seems the original owner was able to get all the cards in the series too. I looked at one stack and then moved to the next box.

This box had cards in the wrappers. Being a jaded collector, I figured the cards were just stored in wrappers neatly refolded around them — but the package didn’t flip open so easily… I picked up a few more packs, and they looked sealed too. But still, I figured heat from storage, or even just the warmth of the sun at the sale, had effectively resealed the wax packs.

I gently, but firmly, opened a package and inside with the cards, a piece of the retro bubblegum, broken in two pieces. I quickly felt the other packages and felt the presence of gum — far more delightful the the old gum I’ve discovered under tables and other pieces of furniture, because not only is this gum un-chewed, but perhaps an indication that the packages keep their virgin integrity.

This made me question the likelihood of the age of the cards. While the cards and packaging state a copyright date of 1986, I’m not sure these aren’t reproductions or older cards bearing the original date the art was created. Turning to the collector’s number one research tool, Google, I look-up Garbage Pail Kids.

The 3rd series does hail from 1986 (making the cards 22 years old), and all signs indicate these are original cards.

Also, they appear to be the first printing of the 3rd series. In the 3rd series, copyrights changed from print to print, making these cards a bit more difficult to identify & therefore collect.

There were three printings of the 3rd GPK cards. Here’s how Wayne’s Garbage Pail Kids References explains their identification:

The packs with 25¢ on the front of the wrapper and “MADE & PRINTED IN USA” near the bar code or have that the wrapper code 0-490-21-01-6 can contain cards with or without (only one or the other for the entire box (not both)) the copyright information on the puzzle pieces.

The packs without 25¢ on the front of the wrapper or that have the wrapper code 0-490-21-02-6 contain cards with the copyright information on the puzzle pieces.

The packs with 25¢ on the front of the wrapper and “GUM MADE IN CANADA” near the bar code or that have the wrapper code 0-490-21-03-6 contain cards without the copyright information on the puzzle pieces.

It should also be noted that the wrapper code is not the bar code. For example, the bar code on my wrappers (for both the t-shirt and sweatshirt wrappers) is 4111600490, but the wrapper code is 0-490-21-01-6. The wrapper code is only visible when the wrapper is opened (found in the bottom right corner, beneath the shirt size chart), and therefore the collector has a decision to make.

Of course, if you want to see the cards, you’ll have to open them anyway; but if you’re looking to save cards in the original packaging, you’ll never really know what you’ve got for certain. Even though I’ve an opened pack from the first printing, I cannot verify for certain that all of the 28 remaining wrappers contain cards from the first printing. Or, in fact, that these wrappers were never opened and resealed.

Wayne also makes the following recommendation to collectors:

It probably is best to buy a 3rd Series set without the copyrights and then buy another set with copyrights because most dealers do not sell (or even know about) the copyright variations as part of their sets.

The 3rd (and the 4th) series of the backs of US Garbage Pail Kids cards have near exact copies of a 1960’s poster set by Topps called “Wanted Posters”, which may bring additional delight to collectors.

Topps began making Garbage Pail Kids as a parody of Cabbage Patch Kid dolls in 1985. They began as a way for little brothers to annoy their little doll-toting sisters, and they eventually moved past just the dolls to a general gross mockery of many things — except for President Lincoln, as noted at Barron Aaron’s Garbage Pail Kids World:

This John Pound Unpublished GPK was completed late in 1985 and was intended for the 3rd series. Topps decided the piece was too gruesome and ended up rejecting the artwork for this release. The piece was originally intended for the 3rd series set with only one bullet through the hat and the character holding a “PlayBill” which was changed to “SlayBill” for the 5th series card with Abe’s hat with two bullets and one bullet through his forhead, but the piece was removed late in production.

Even more than a century later, it’s too soon for a gruesome Lincoln joke. (Additional proof that everyone loves Lincoln — more on that another time; remind me to tell you about that…)

Topps created a cash cow with GPK; even little girls fancied the gross cards & Topps began making more, betting that the more names the icky kids had, the greater the chance they could seduce kids to the dark side of dolls if they found cards had their name on them. But in 1988 Coleco, maker of the Cabbage Patch Kids, sued Topps for trademark infringement. They settled out-of-court, with Topps agreeing to modify, beginning with the 10th series, the appearance of the Garbage Pail Kids so they wouldn’t so closely resemble the Cabbage Patch Kids, but even with card production continuing, the fad was on the outs.

In 2003, Topps, fueled by the possibility of a nostalgic cash cow (real money for them; warm fuzzy memories for you), resurrected GPK, complete with virtual Garbage Pail Kids “alive” online.

As for me, I’ll share the cards with the kids, finish scanning them and upload them to the community, maybe sell a few… I’m really more apt to get the warm-n-fuzzy laughter over Wacky Packages. I know they are out there; just haven’t found boxes of them for $2. Yet.

It occurs to me that many of you Thursday Thirteen-ers only stop in here on Thursdays and may not only miss my other great posts, but not even know of the other great writers here at Collectors Quest. So today I’m going to bring you thirteen of my favorite CQ posts — not made by me — in order to show-off the delightful, the charming, CQ writing staff. Each of us are an acquired taste (that’s how we describe ourselves as it sounds nicer than ‘weirdo’), so I’m sure you’ll find others to love along with (not ‘instead of’) me.

I would consider it a personal favor if you read them and left a comment at those posts you find most interesting, illuminating or, as I often do, amusing.

Collin

Collin’s love of action figures and all-things-comic is mind-blowing. Just knowing there are this many heroes and characters is nearly beyond my comprehension, but Collin knows them all. His single-minded obsession might lead you all to think he’s a pasty man-boy who never leaves his parents’ basement — but nay, he does! Not only does he work at the library, but his coverage of events for CQ is proof that this is indeed a man about town — so long as that part of town has comic books or toys.

This (#1) is my favorite post of Collin’s from this year’s toy fair.

I also love it when he’s been on assignment covering things off his usual beat (#2) — seeming as out of sorts as I would be at a comic book convention.

I kid Collin a lot, because well frankly, I’m pretty sure he can’t kick my butt. No, seriously, he’s funny and what’s not to love about a man who is as fond of finger puppets (#3) as I am?

However, my favorite Collin post remains the one about Jeffry Tambor’s pants (#4).

Derek (my hubby)

To be fair, most of what hubby writes I already know. Not because I’m big and brainy like that, but because as husband & wife we talk a lot about the stuff we’re going to write here and so I’ve heard it before I’ve read it. But neither that nor my affection for him should dilute a presentation of some Derek linkage.

Derek’s got a love of paper and lots of posts to prove that, but I’m going to ask you to read this post (#5) and this post (#6) and double-dog dare you not to give me some much-deserved sympathy for being the wifey to such a crazy man.

Crazy has its upside too. Collecting Filmstrips (#7) is an indulgence of mine as well and notable for the recent not only projects filmstrips, but plays records — two great tastes that go great together!

Val Uble

Val’s funny (as if you couldn’t tell from her moniker byline) but her posts also have the additional charm of sentimentality which can often be overlooked at many collectible sites and in collecting publications. The result is reading what could otherwise be overheard listening to any grandma talk at the dinner table. If only fresh hot rolls were served as I read them — pass the butter, please!

Exhibit A is this piece on cottage prints (#8). And Exhibit B, this bit of history on watch fobs (#9).

I wonder how she’s doing on her New Year’s resolutions? (#10)

The Dean

Also a grandparent, The Dean waxes a bit nostalgic now and then and provides a perspective on time that offers big-picture context.

In his piece on childhood toys (#11) I was a bit humbled to think of all the Barbies and other toys I had piled in toy boxes and under my bed.

If that piece struck home personally, his posts about obscure and perhaps odd collectibles (#12) reminds us each, again, that anything can be coveted and collected when the right beholder discovers it.

It should remind me to be less snarky and mocking…

But then The Dean reminds me that most collectors are a humorous lot (#13).

The writers here sure prove that.

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