One of 1934's Film Stars

How often does another blogger inspire you to piggyback on one of their posts with one of your own?  Often enough for me.  On Monday the man known as Fuji led off with a card that caught my eye.  "Hmm", I thought,  "do I have any Ginger Rogers cards of my own?"  Well, one of the better organized, though surely not completely, parts of my collection is my vintage tobacco cards.  They reside in one two inch black binder.  I even knew where that was.  (I know, I'm impressed too.)

Ginger is #38 in the 1934 Player's Film Stars Series 2 set.  BTW don't be fooled, as I almost was.  The "Radio" listed on the front and back refers not to the medium but to the movie studio RKO Radio Pictures.  The more times I see Ginger Rogers the more I like her.

Here's a few clips just for fun.

Ginger's first talkie

The Gay Divorcee (1934)  

I don't love it but The Continental was the very first to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

This is from the 1936 musical, Follow the Fleet.  Let Yourself Go was written by Irving Berlin.  A bit of trivia -- Betty Grable is the middle backup singer.

Marx Brothers Poster Cards

It should go without saying that I'm a big Marx Brothers fan.  I have been since the 70's.  I wish I could say I have some hugely awesome collection of memorabilia.  Most of what I have is books.  I learned about these cards from a post by Corky at Pack War two years ago.  I recall looking at the individual cards on ebay.  I ended up getting a complete set of 72 cards for $8.00 shipped.  As you can see from the backs, the set includes a strange mishmash of  Stars, Monsters and Comedy.  The Duck Soup poster looks like it belongs in the monster genre if you ask me.  I'm not sure where they found all of the images.  Anyway here are the five Marx Brothers representatives.  I doubt anyone will take the time to watch all the videos but those from the first three movies are cinema classics.  I wouldn't waste my time on the last two.  I think they made them primarily to cover Chico's gambling debts.

Hey, Whitey!

A previous post featuring Blackhawks favorite Pat Stapleton got me thinking about his nickname, "Whitey".  

I'm guessing this is the most famous "Whitey" of them all, "The Chairman of the Board", Whitey Ford.

It's an often overlooked fact that Whitey Ford was part of a successful US Military time travel experiment.  In 1953 Whitey was sent back in time and went 18-6 for the 1933 Yankees.  True story.

Whitey Herzog was a baseball "lifer" starting in 1949 as New York Yankees farmhand and ending in the Angels front office in 1994.  Along the way he became a manager and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2010.

Whitey Lockman also had a long career in baseball as a player, coach, scout, and front office man.  

Whitey  scored the tying run preceding Bobby Thomson across the plate as part of the "Shot Heard Round the World".

Yet another baseball "lifer", Whitey Weitermann spent over 40 years as a player and coach.

Jim from Downington added:

Any other notable Whiteys you can think of?  

Strange Days Indeed

These are strange times we're living in.  I thought this card would be appropriate.

I have a small collection of these cards, known as "Tall-Tales".  They feature mostly exaggerated fruits, vegetables, and animals.  This one dates from around 1910.  There is a second version with the same card number 530 but with a younger man with a mustache.

Burdick at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

I have a complete base set of 2009 Obak and bought a box of 2010.  Unfortunately I'm missing this card so I borrowed the image from COMC.

My wife has a subscription to The New Yorker magazine.  She knew I'd be interested in this.  In case you missed it I thought I'd pass it along to you.

Here's the link

This is from an earlier exhibit of football cards

This one comes via Matthew Glidden of Number 5 Type Collection.

Whitey Stapleton 1940-2020

An inevitable side effect of growing older is the loss of the heroes of our youth.  On April 8 Pat Stapleton died.  Along with greats like Hull and Mikita my first memories of the Chicago Blackhawks include Whitey.

RIP Glenn Beckert 1940-2020

There are a lot of things I don't like about getting older.  One of them is hearing about the deaths of  athletes and entertainers I grew up with. Such was the case last Sunday with the passing of Glenn Beckert.

1969 Tasco Poster.  It's hanging in my dining room with Hundley and Santo.

A couple of great mug shots.  "Strong armed outfielder"?  Glenn ended his major league career having played a total of ten innings in the outfield with two chances.  He did make the catches. If you check out his actual records you'll find this must have been a Topps error.  Glenn was an infielder for his entire  three year minor league career.

Captain Serious.  I still love cute Cubbie patch.

One of my two Milk Duds boxes.  The other is Ron Santo.

As far as I know none of the card companies has ever issued a certified auto of Glenn Beckert.  Don Kessinger has at least a couple.

You could probably find this game.  Duke Sims only played in 140 games with the Dodgers (90 in 1971 and 50 in 1972).

This is a photograph I took at a Cubs Alumni vs. Hollywood Stars game at Wrigley Field.  Glenn is at the far right, smiling.  Did Ernie just say something amusing?