Trading Cards: "Real Movie Giant Pin-Ups" from Topps

In 1981, right around the time I stopped collecting sports cards (and in fact stopped following sports altogether) to concentrate on movies and rock 'n' roll, the gods of the bubble gum industry must've been reading my mind. First they put out Chu-Bops, which were small LP-shaped sheets of gum issued in 3x3-inch album cover repicas (I had Blondie's Parallel Lines, Kiss Unmasked and a bunch of others), then the mighty Topps Company came up with a series of 4-way folded 12½" x 20½" movie poster reprints -- for 30 cents each! I never collected all 12 of the posters, just the handful that I really wanted, with SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT (artwork by John Solie) and ANIMAL HOUSE at the top of the list. The other posters in the series were AIRPLANE!, THE BLUE LAGOON, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (Style A), GREASE, JAWS, REVENGE OF THE PINK PANTHER, ROCKY, STAR WARS (Style A), SUPERMAN, and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN.


Speaking of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, does anyone know the name of those color-your-own movie poster sets that were sold in toy stores in the late '70s? I got the YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN one at a Kay Bee Toy & Hobby in 1977 or '78, but I remember seeing BLAZING SADDLES, THE TOWERING INFERNO, EARTHQUAKE and a few others (possibly THE HINDENBURG?) around for year or so. I think the word "star" was in the name of the product -- like "Star Graphics" or "Star Images" -- and each poster came rolled in a long cardboard tune with magic markers included.

Trading Cards: "Here's Bo" from Fleer

Bo Derek was at the peak of her career in 1981 when Fleer issued a set of 72 trading cards and 12 mini posters to tie in with her husband John's stinko TARZAN, THE APE MAN. The front of each card features a photo by John (all of them from his King of the Apes epic, leading me to believe these would've been official TARZAN, THE APE MAN cards had the movie not been rated R) while the back contains facts about Bo under the heading "The Life Story of Bo Derek." And if you think the so-called posters were anything like the ones you could buy at Spencer Gifts in the early '80s, then check out the miserable example at the bottom of the post; it looks like a frame grab from the pan-and-scan network broadcast!

Trading Cards: The Pam Grier card from Players

In 1994, Players magazine issued a set of collectible trading cards. All of the nude beauties featured were either porn stars (Angel Kelly, Heather Hunter, Sahara) or Players models, with one exception: PAM GRIER. Naturally, her card was #1. Here it is.

(front)

(back)

Trading Cards: "Fright Flicks" from Topps

Our local A&P supermarket has a vending machine that sells collectible cards, mostly sports and manga-related with a sprinkling of old favorites (Wacky Packages, Garbage Pail Kids) and more offbeat selections (Mad Magazine, National Lampoon). Recently I was surprised to see this machine stocked with a half dozen packs of "Fright Flicks," a series of 90 cards and 11 stickers Topps issued in 1988 (!) focusing on 15 different creature features from the '80s -- no, make that 14 different creature features from the '80s (evidently no one at the company realized that PUMPKINHEAD and VENGEANCE: THE DEMON are the same movie) -- ranging from FRIGHT NIGHT and THE FLY to DAY OF THE DEAD and the first three NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET flicks. Needless to say, I caved in and bought a pack. Nine cards, one sticker, and a powdered sheet of pink something that I purposely dropped so I could watch it shatter, all for a dollar, yes, one dollar, ladies and gentlemen, one-tenth of a sawbuck!