Continuing down the Universal trail
Presidents Day 2021 is an ideal time to look at one subset of Universal Toy & Novelty's strip cards from a full century ago: the presidents. Let's also talk about a complicated character in this photo...
President Harding meets Ty Cobb, April 3, 1923 |
...our 29th Commander-in-Chief, Warren G. Harding. Cobb can take the day off.
What we're talking about when we talk about presidents
Universal's presidential strip cards are a subset of what's catalogued W563. While "100 years ago" represents a huge jump in terms of collecting history, that same amount of time lops off just 17 Presidents. Harding himself took office on March 4, 1921, before we changed to January inaugurations.
Americans thought well of Ohio's former Senator during his lifetime. He kept up with baseball in detail and even owned a minor league team. Seems like an OK guy...so far.
Universal released a strip of ten President cards in mid-1921 and their "© Copyright 1921" text straddles the outgoing Woodrow Wilson and incoming Harding. This nails down our issue date twice.
Universal printed this 1921 copyright date on just two other strips, a series of Boy Scout activities and scenes from Charlie Chaplin's movie "The Kid." (I'll profile those sets in future posts.)
Other subsets in this style, like W516-1 baseball and W529-1 boxing, omit any date. That implies Universal needed to enforce a design copyright or defend against similar claims from competitors by 1921. Either way, their company name appeared along the middle of each strip.
While I believe Teddy Roosevelt's best-remembered of these three, Taft deserves a better reputation than his reputed bathtub misadventures. Eight years after leaving the presidency, he became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, as nominated, in 1921, by Warren G. Harding. Even bad presidents possess great influence!
Before I forget to say so, Harding's administration ranks as one of America's worst. His own drinking habits and multiple infidelities paralleled corruption throughout the cabinet. You can spend several minutes just reading Wikipedia's summary of its scandals. Had Warren not died mid-term in 1923, he risked a public fall from grace soon after.
How these presidents fit Universal's bigger picture
Every era of card-making produced sets with politicians and presidents, so it makes sense Universal would do the same. Based on cards available in the hobby today, they ranked behind baseball and boxing in popularity with 1920s collectors, similar to the scarcity of Hollywood actors.
1919-21 Universal actors #15, Dorothy Dalton |
I have a keen interest in strip card variety and look for hints wherever I can find them. Miscuts from presidential strips prove at least one multi-subject print layout existed. This one shows a sliver of W563 Warren Harding above W516 baseball's George Burns.
Another layout put them above W529 boxers.
Note that I used W516/W529/W563 catalog numbers instead of Universal Toy & Novelty in that context, since these miscuts lack clear connection with Universal's strip cards. An ideal example would show at least two different subjects and Universal's title text, something like this pasteup.
Until something with title text and multiple subjects appears, remember that Universal's cards represent a subset of similar strips. Some collectors and dealers consider them variations.
W516 Tris Speakers, with Universal at lower right |
3 comments:
-Cool set, I dont have any yet from it......
I looked up Harding. Never realized all the scandals
It's quite a list! Wonder if the presidential responsibilities (and its access to booze, despite Prohibition) hastened his heart problems...
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