Collectibles: Tom Tyler on the R423 movie cards

 When it comes to collecting small movie cards, the ones manufactured by Cloetta (1 1/8” x 2") and De Beukelaer (1 1/16” x 2") can certainly be counted among them. Yet there is one even smaller in size, smaller than one inch, tiny yet highly collectible. Known as the R423 strip cards, these were printed in a series of 13 different cards on a single strip, issued with bubblegum starting in 1950.  Measuring 5/8" x 7/8" in size, baseball players as well as actors were issued in these small accordion strips of collectible paper. For the baseball players, each card was numbered, a total of 120 different cards printed, while the total number for the actors is unknown, but well over 84 for the black and white cards, and over 34 for the color cards. 

The backs of the black and white cards were orange in color and bear a silhouette of a seated man operating a film projector, while the color cards depict the same against a purple background. The color cards ones are of different portraits of the actor compared to the black and white one, as can be seen from the ones with Tom Tyler.

Other actors who appear on the R423 movie cards include: Charles Starrett, Red Skelton, Rita Hayworth, Jane Russell, and Desi Arnaz.

Collectibles: Tom Tyler on the R-94 Movie Scenes cards - Part 1

One of the most sought after movie card collectibles are those belonging to the R-94 Movie Scenes.  It could be that these are rare, especially those being Tom Tyler on the front of these cards, much like the United Postal Card Supply Company arcade cards, which makes them highly collectible. The R-94 cards were manufactured in two different sets, each set being two slightly different sizes. According to “The American Card Catalog: The Standard Guide on All Collected Cards and Their Values” edited by J P Burdick et al, the R-94 cards were thought to have been originally distributed with either gum or candy (cards with an R designation were included with one or the other edible product; cards bearing a W indicated being one of a set of strip cards). These cards are blank backed, the left and right edges serrated, a common depiction of strip cards, or a series of cards sold from a single strip.

The first set of R-94 strip cards, or R-94-1, measure 3" x 2 3/8”in size and came in the following colors, with one film scene often appearing in multiple monochrome colors: red, green, brown, blue, and purple. Not all R-94-1 cards are of film scenes, however; some of them were of solo shots of Hollywood stars, such as Thelma Todd and Milton Sills. It is this set which produced a series of card scenes from “Terror Mountain” (1928) with Tom in each scene.

The R-94 cards were most likely distributed as early as 1929.