Collectibles: Tom Tyler on the De Beukelaer and Cloetta Drick Örn Cacao movie star cards

A De Beukelaer film star card

Two of the most popular European movie card collectors sets produced in the 1920's and 1930's were by the De Beukelaer (Belgium) and Cloetta (Sweden) companies. De Beukelaer eventually produced a total of thirteen sets of film stars, the first twelve sets containing a hundred cards each, while Cloetta manufactured a total of 330 cards in their set. Tom Tyler was lucky enough to have appeared on a card made by each company, both which are highly sought after by film star card collectors.

The De Beukelaer film star cards consisted of a real photo of the actor or actress, had blank backs and were produced in Belgium for biscuit (cookie) packages. One package of biscuits would contain a film star card which could be collected and traded. There were a hundred black and white cards in the first set in the early 1930's, with other sets being continuously produced through the late 1930's. Each film star card was small, 1 1/16 x 1 15/16” in size. According to the official De Beukelaer film star list, the Tom Tyler card is numbered 17. It should be noted that the name  De Beukelaer does not appear anywhere on the individual movie star cards themselves. De Beukelaer has been baking cookies since 1870 and is still in operation today.

The Cloetta Drick Örn Cacao movie star cards were manufactured in Sweden around 1920's or 1930s, in black and white, similar in size to the above cards at 1 1/8" x 1 15/16".  This product was a chocolate drink targeted towards children; the words Drick Örn Cacao translate to “Drink Eagle chocolate.” There were a total of 330 cards in the Cloetta film star card set, with Tom appearing on card # 84. Unlike the De Beaukelaer cards, the Cloetta cards had the company and product name labeled on the back of each movie star card. Founded in 1862, Cloetta is a confectionary and nuts company.