The story so far
My past posts about the Universal Toy & Novelty Company covered their ten-card strips of boxers and American presidents.
Those strips lay groundwork for more Universal Toy subjects, including today's 20-card set of movie actors. Its #5 features Charlie Chaplin looking a good deal cleaner than his signature Tramp character.
Its checklist includes Hollywood legends like Fairbanks and Pickford, who were married to each other from 1920-36.
- Douglas Fairbanks
- Theda Bara
- Fatty Arbuckle
- Pearl White
- Charles Chaplin
- June Caprice
- George Walsh
- Olive Thomas
- William S. Hart
- Mary Pickford
- Elaine Hammerstein
- Bryant Washburn
- Mabel Normand
- Charles Ray
- Dorothy Dalton
- Owen Moore
- Mae Murray
- William Farnum
- Norma Talmadge
- Wallace Reid
As with Universal's boxers and presidents, some actor strips include UNIVERSAL "MOVIE MATCHING CARDS" SERIES 2 text across Chaplin, #6 June Caprice, and #7 George Walsh.
Note how SGC used "C(irca) 1919 W-UNC" on this flip, which implies the submitter and SGC each failed to nail down a year or manufacturer.
Why so little info? Jefferson Burdick's 1960 edition of the American Card Catalog articulated challenges identifying this category of low-cost, high-volume sets.
