Post by RubberUgly on Nov 23, 2011 21:35:52 GMT -8
"Your latest picture" cards.
These cards are small "cigarette" cards believed to be from the 1960s. They feature various monsters and a lot of the artwork has a noticeable resemblance to Norman Saunder's work done for the 1965 Topps Ugly stickers series. The Your Latest Picture cards have a blank back and are not individually numbered. The sole information is a copyright on the right side of the card reading "Four Star Candy Co, Newark NJ". So far, about 25 different cards are known.
The company behind these creature cards, or at least the company that sold products including them was the "Four Star Candy Co". They were a candy cigarettes company that was officially registered as both a Candy & Tobacco company, yet they never manufactured any Tobacco products that I'm aware of. The Four Star Company often took ill advantage of their copyright registration as a real tobacco business and attempted to sell Candy Cigarettes under real cigarette name brands to children in realistic packaging. Only *sometimes* would they add the word "Jolly" above the infringed brand name logo on the candy cigarette pack in what I suppose was their poor & lazy attempt to avoid copyright infringement. Four Star had multiple lawsuits filed against them throughout the duration of their existence for issues regarding the marketing cigarettes to children under actual cigarette brand names.
The four Star Candy company is most well remembered for their "Halloween themed" cigarettes such as "Spooky filtered" Scar'Em, Hairyton, Scent, Boo Up Morris, BooPort, Old Mold, Pottersfield, and last but not least Liceroy.
An educated guess would say that these Four Star Monster Cigarette cards obviously came on the back of these "wacky" candy cigarette packs.
As far as relation to cards go that we know of, the Topps company made the "Speed Wheels" brand of Transfers/rub-offs for the Four Star Company in 1974. I also believe the *earlier* 1960s "Latest Picture" cards were also supplied by Topps given such similarities to art and style from the artists of the Topps Ugly Stickers themselves, as well as Four Star's inability to create such a card product without an outside resource.
Since Topps and Four Star have had at least one relationship that we know of, there will forever be questions remaining to the other contributions Topps made to them.
Four Star Candy Co attempted to continue their marketing of candy cigarettes into the 1970s as "Candy sticks" instead of cigarettes. Four Star's reign in the candy industry ended swiftly, not because of lawsuits but because they became headlines in the news.
In 1977, Viceroy Cigarettes filed a report with WNBC-TV New York about the Four Star company selling Viceroy Candy Cigarettes without approval. The Viceroy Tobacco company had a strict policy against promoting tobacco to youth, and acted quick to respond to the media. The Four Star Candy Company remained silent, but Viceroy's parent company B&W issued the following statement:
"B&W does not approve Four Star Candy Company's marketing of candy using brand names of B&W's cigarettes and our silence with regard to such marketing does not constitute approval."
The Four Star Candy company closed it's doors the same year without comment.
The Best Sweet company swiftly bought out the Four Star brand in 1977, and manufactures Baskin-Robins brand hard candies to this day.
These cards are small "cigarette" cards believed to be from the 1960s. They feature various monsters and a lot of the artwork has a noticeable resemblance to Norman Saunder's work done for the 1965 Topps Ugly stickers series. The Your Latest Picture cards have a blank back and are not individually numbered. The sole information is a copyright on the right side of the card reading "Four Star Candy Co, Newark NJ". So far, about 25 different cards are known.
The company behind these creature cards, or at least the company that sold products including them was the "Four Star Candy Co". They were a candy cigarettes company that was officially registered as both a Candy & Tobacco company, yet they never manufactured any Tobacco products that I'm aware of. The Four Star Company often took ill advantage of their copyright registration as a real tobacco business and attempted to sell Candy Cigarettes under real cigarette name brands to children in realistic packaging. Only *sometimes* would they add the word "Jolly" above the infringed brand name logo on the candy cigarette pack in what I suppose was their poor & lazy attempt to avoid copyright infringement. Four Star had multiple lawsuits filed against them throughout the duration of their existence for issues regarding the marketing cigarettes to children under actual cigarette brand names.
The four Star Candy company is most well remembered for their "Halloween themed" cigarettes such as "Spooky filtered" Scar'Em, Hairyton, Scent, Boo Up Morris, BooPort, Old Mold, Pottersfield, and last but not least Liceroy.
An educated guess would say that these Four Star Monster Cigarette cards obviously came on the back of these "wacky" candy cigarette packs.
As far as relation to cards go that we know of, the Topps company made the "Speed Wheels" brand of Transfers/rub-offs for the Four Star Company in 1974. I also believe the *earlier* 1960s "Latest Picture" cards were also supplied by Topps given such similarities to art and style from the artists of the Topps Ugly Stickers themselves, as well as Four Star's inability to create such a card product without an outside resource.
Since Topps and Four Star have had at least one relationship that we know of, there will forever be questions remaining to the other contributions Topps made to them.
Four Star Candy Co attempted to continue their marketing of candy cigarettes into the 1970s as "Candy sticks" instead of cigarettes. Four Star's reign in the candy industry ended swiftly, not because of lawsuits but because they became headlines in the news.
In 1977, Viceroy Cigarettes filed a report with WNBC-TV New York about the Four Star company selling Viceroy Candy Cigarettes without approval. The Viceroy Tobacco company had a strict policy against promoting tobacco to youth, and acted quick to respond to the media. The Four Star Candy Company remained silent, but Viceroy's parent company B&W issued the following statement:
"B&W does not approve Four Star Candy Company's marketing of candy using brand names of B&W's cigarettes and our silence with regard to such marketing does not constitute approval."
The Four Star Candy company closed it's doors the same year without comment.
The Best Sweet company swiftly bought out the Four Star brand in 1977, and manufactures Baskin-Robins brand hard candies to this day.
