Arcade cards were American picture cards that were issued from penny arcade vending machines. The cards were manufactured by the Exhibit Supply Company of Chicago. The cards were called arcade cards because they were purchased from penny arcade machines located on the various seaside boardwalks of North America. We selected fifteen Arcade cards including several Western cards, from the 1920s till the 1950s.
American arcade card by Ex. Sup. Co. (Exhibition Supply Company), Chicago, Ill. Photo: Hal Roach.
Our Gang (also known as The Little Rascals) is a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighbourhood children and their adventures. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively natural way, as Roach and original director Robert F. McGowan worked to film the unaffected, raw nuances apparent in regular children rather than have them imitate adult acting styles. In addition, Our Gang notably put boys, girls, whites, and blacks together as equals.
American arcade postcard by Sup. Co., Chicago. Photo: William Fox Productions. William Farnum in The Orphan (J. Gordon Edwards, 1920).
American actor William Farnum (1876-1953) was one of the first major film stars. From 1914 to 1925, Farnum was one of the biggest sensations in Hollywood, earning $10,000 a week. Farnum's silent pictures include the Westerns The Spoilers (1914) - which culminates in a spectacular saloon fistfight, Drag Harlan (1920), and the drama-adventure If I Were King (1921).
American arcade card. Caption: William Desmond, Universal Star.
William Desmond (1878–1949) was an American actor, who appeared in 205 films between 1915 and 1948. He was nicknamed 'The King of the Silent Serials' and acted in numerous Westerns.
American arcade card by Ex. Sup. Co. (Exhibition Supply Company), Chicago, Ill. Photo: Pathé.
American actor Jay Wilsey (1895-1961) was a star of the silent Western and later appeared in B to Z Westerns. His first studio called him 'Buffalo Bill Jr.', although he had no connection whatsoever with the real Buffalo Bill, William F. Cody. Wilsey appeared in nearly 100 films between 1924 and 1944.
American arcade postcard by Exhibit Supply Co, Chicago, Ill. Photo: Paramount. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in The Air Mail (Irvin Willat, 1925).
Handsome and distinguished, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (1909-2000) was much more than the son of his superstar father. He was a bright, multi-talent, who excelled in sports and sculpting, was involved in the business, and was knighted for his war efforts as a lieutenant. And he acted in approximately 100 films or TV shows.
Next to the various games of skill and chance, the merry-go-round and other rides of adventure on the seaside boardwalks of North America, there were rows of machines that distributed various picture cards. The cards were usually a penny and the variety was very large.
Each machine had its own specialty loaded inside. There were machines that contained stars of football and baseball, movie stars, wrestlers, song cards, and, for those old enough, the pinup girl cards. The ever-evolving arcades were sources of entertainment for the masses in those days with short films, music, games of chance, digger machines, peep shows, and card vending machines.
Exhibit Supply Company was the company of (John) Frank Meyer, born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1881. He came to Chicago with a fifth-grade education, By 1910 he controlled a small partnership involved in the amusement arcade business called Exhibit Supply Company (ESCO, established 1901), which Meyer had joined in 1907.
Meyer began combining his printing knowledge with the needs of the arcade business. One of his early products was a coin-operated machine that produced metal ribbons stamped with whatever information you wanted to type. After WWI business boomed. In 1921, ESCO began issuing the arcade cards and promised arcade operators: “We release a new series of cards every 30 days.”
Meyer’s business evolved into developing and selling arcade machines, providing parts and selling cards, and premiums to use in the machines. His staff was charged with coming up with new, affordable products that would attract customers. ESCO became a leader in its industry, employing some 285 people at one time in its Chicago plant. The cards coming out of vending machines were a small portion of the arcade business but proved to be more lasting investments than other elements.
Meyer continued to issue and release new cards until 1966, although for years afterward cards continued to be issued from penny arcade machines. Even today cards continue to turn up in penny arcade machines as the owners try to use up all the old cards. One could still find 1948 football cards in machines in the 1960s. Owners did not update cards and remove them but continued to sell whatever stock was still on hand. This made it easier to find cards that became valuable over the years.
American arcade postcard by Ex. Sup. Co., Chicago. Ricardo Cortez in The Pony Express (James Cruze, 1925).
Ricardo Cortez (1900-1977) was an American screen actor and director, who peaked in the 1920s as Paramount's romantic lover opposite the big female stars of the decade. In the 1930s he rather played tough men such as the first Sam Spade on the screen.
American arcade card by Ex. Sup. Co., Chicago.
Ken Maynard (1895–1973) was one of the superstars among the film cowboys. Reportedly, he began his career as a trick rider with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show and later with Ringling Brothers (some sources deny this). From 1924 on, he worked in Hollywood and made some 20 silent westerns. He was famous for the stunts he could enact with his horse, Tarzan. Maynard was the first singing cowboy in the movies.
American arcade postcard by Ex.[Exhibit] Sup[ply]. Co., Chicago, USA, 1928.
Kermit Roosevelt 'Tex' Maynard (1897–1971) was an American stuntman, actor, and performer, who often worked as a stand-in for his brother cowboy hero Ken Maynard and other actors. later he became a star in minor Westerns.
American arcade card by Ex. Sup. Co. (Exhibition Supply Company), Chicago. Jack Hoxie and Helen Holmes in Highwayman (1926).
John Hartford 'Jack" Hoxie (1885–1965) was an American rodeo performer and motion picture actor whose career was most prominent in the silent film era of the 1910s through the 1930s. Hoxie is best recalled for his roles in Westerns and rarely strayed from the genre.
American arcade card by Exhibit Supply Co., Chicago. Caption: William Desmond and Geo. Giegman Mixing It.
William Desmond (1878–1949) was an American actor, who appeared in 205 films between 1915 and 1948. He was nicknamed 'The King of the Silent Serials' and acted in numerous Westerns.
Arcade cards manufactured by the Exhibit Supply Co. were postcard size - 33/8 by 53/8 inches (10.5 x 17 cm). The cards didn’t have any numbers, the backs were blank and the cards didn’t fit nicely into the shoeboxes with the regular postcards.
The photo appeared on the front of the card, usually with a facsimile signature of the individual portrayed. In addition, in the lower right-hand corner appeared: “Made in USA” or “Printed in USA”.
The cards were on heavy cardboard stock and the majority were black-and-white or tan sepia colored. Many film star cards are also in blue or red.
In the period of 1939-1946, beside the actor’s autograph on the front of the card there appeared a salutation "Truly Yours", "Cordially", or "Sincerely" above the facsimile autograph.
The cards were usually issued in a series of 32 or 64. One theory is that the card machines were designed to cut paper stock sheets in 32 or 64 pieces.
Some card subjects did get new pictures over the years. Famous cowboy singer and actor Gene Autry had at least three different pictures. One picture was autographed "With Best Wishes – Gene Autry." Autry was wearing a Western-style button shirt with a giant American flag imprinted on the shirt.
During the 1930s and 1940s, the International Mutoscope Reel Company made all manner of penny-arcade machines, including ones that dispensed film star cards and cheesecake cards of young women in various states of undress. There are almost 300 different types of these cards. All carry the inscription "A Mutoscope card".
Most of the Exhibit penny arcade cards have remained very inexpensive. Collectors can concentrate on film stars, but also on football players, baseball, wrestlers of the 1940s and 1950s, television stars, pinups, military equipment, and the individual cards sell in the $3-$10 range.
American arcade card. Caption: Sincerely, Mae West.
Blonde Mae West (1895-1982) was a seductive, overdressed, endearing, intelligent, and sometimes vulgar American actress and sex symbol. She featured a come-hither voice, aggressive sexuality, and a genius for comedy. West started in Vaudeville and on the stage in New York, and later moved to Hollywood to star in such films as I’m No Angel (1933), She Done Him Wrong (1933), and Klondike Annie (1936). She was one of the first women in the cinema to consistently write the films she starred in.
American arcade postcard by Mutoscope. Caption: Cordially, Jack Beutel.
Jack Buetel (1917-1989) was an American film and television actor. He is best known for his first role as the infamous Billy the Kid in Howard Hughes's controversial Western The Outlaw (1943-1946), also starring Jane Russell. In the seven years after shooting his film debut, Hughes refused to allow him to appear in films.
American arcade card. Caption: Best wishes, Judy Canova.
Judy Canova (1913-1983) was an American comedian, actress, singer, and radio personality. As a wide-eyed, yodeling country bumpkin, she was the leading female star of Republic. She also appeared on Broadway, and from 1943 to 1955, she hosted her own radio series.
American arcade card. Caption: Sincerely, Jennifer Holt.
Vividly beautiful blonde Jennifer Holt (1920-1997) was an American actress who made 47 films during the 1940s. All but eight of her roles were in Westerns in which she appeared opposite cowboy stars such as Lash LaRue, Tex Ritter, and Johnny Mack Brown.
American arcade postcard.
American actress Cleo Moore (1924- 1973) was a well-known pin-up girl and a platinum blonde bombshell in Hollywood films of the 1950s. She made seven B-films with Hugo Haas. Although she never became a true film star, Moore is now a cult favourite as one of the 'Bad Girls of Film Noir'.
Sources: Jim Trautman (Sports Collectors Digest), George Vrechek (Sports Collectors Digest), Collectors Weekly, and Wikipedia.
American arcade card by Ex. Sup. Co. (Exhibition Supply Company), Chicago, Ill. Photo: Hal Roach.
Our Gang (also known as The Little Rascals) is a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighbourhood children and their adventures. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively natural way, as Roach and original director Robert F. McGowan worked to film the unaffected, raw nuances apparent in regular children rather than have them imitate adult acting styles. In addition, Our Gang notably put boys, girls, whites, and blacks together as equals.
American arcade postcard by Sup. Co., Chicago. Photo: William Fox Productions. William Farnum in The Orphan (J. Gordon Edwards, 1920).
American actor William Farnum (1876-1953) was one of the first major film stars. From 1914 to 1925, Farnum was one of the biggest sensations in Hollywood, earning $10,000 a week. Farnum's silent pictures include the Westerns The Spoilers (1914) - which culminates in a spectacular saloon fistfight, Drag Harlan (1920), and the drama-adventure If I Were King (1921).
American arcade card. Caption: William Desmond, Universal Star.
William Desmond (1878–1949) was an American actor, who appeared in 205 films between 1915 and 1948. He was nicknamed 'The King of the Silent Serials' and acted in numerous Westerns.
American arcade card by Ex. Sup. Co. (Exhibition Supply Company), Chicago, Ill. Photo: Pathé.
American actor Jay Wilsey (1895-1961) was a star of the silent Western and later appeared in B to Z Westerns. His first studio called him 'Buffalo Bill Jr.', although he had no connection whatsoever with the real Buffalo Bill, William F. Cody. Wilsey appeared in nearly 100 films between 1924 and 1944.
American arcade postcard by Exhibit Supply Co, Chicago, Ill. Photo: Paramount. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in The Air Mail (Irvin Willat, 1925).
Handsome and distinguished, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (1909-2000) was much more than the son of his superstar father. He was a bright, multi-talent, who excelled in sports and sculpting, was involved in the business, and was knighted for his war efforts as a lieutenant. And he acted in approximately 100 films or TV shows.
Each machine had its own speciality
Next to the various games of skill and chance, the merry-go-round and other rides of adventure on the seaside boardwalks of North America, there were rows of machines that distributed various picture cards. The cards were usually a penny and the variety was very large.
Each machine had its own specialty loaded inside. There were machines that contained stars of football and baseball, movie stars, wrestlers, song cards, and, for those old enough, the pinup girl cards. The ever-evolving arcades were sources of entertainment for the masses in those days with short films, music, games of chance, digger machines, peep shows, and card vending machines.
Exhibit Supply Company was the company of (John) Frank Meyer, born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1881. He came to Chicago with a fifth-grade education, By 1910 he controlled a small partnership involved in the amusement arcade business called Exhibit Supply Company (ESCO, established 1901), which Meyer had joined in 1907.
Meyer began combining his printing knowledge with the needs of the arcade business. One of his early products was a coin-operated machine that produced metal ribbons stamped with whatever information you wanted to type. After WWI business boomed. In 1921, ESCO began issuing the arcade cards and promised arcade operators: “We release a new series of cards every 30 days.”
Meyer’s business evolved into developing and selling arcade machines, providing parts and selling cards, and premiums to use in the machines. His staff was charged with coming up with new, affordable products that would attract customers. ESCO became a leader in its industry, employing some 285 people at one time in its Chicago plant. The cards coming out of vending machines were a small portion of the arcade business but proved to be more lasting investments than other elements.
Meyer continued to issue and release new cards until 1966, although for years afterward cards continued to be issued from penny arcade machines. Even today cards continue to turn up in penny arcade machines as the owners try to use up all the old cards. One could still find 1948 football cards in machines in the 1960s. Owners did not update cards and remove them but continued to sell whatever stock was still on hand. This made it easier to find cards that became valuable over the years.
American arcade postcard by Ex. Sup. Co., Chicago. Ricardo Cortez in The Pony Express (James Cruze, 1925).
Ricardo Cortez (1900-1977) was an American screen actor and director, who peaked in the 1920s as Paramount's romantic lover opposite the big female stars of the decade. In the 1930s he rather played tough men such as the first Sam Spade on the screen.
American arcade card by Ex. Sup. Co., Chicago.
Ken Maynard (1895–1973) was one of the superstars among the film cowboys. Reportedly, he began his career as a trick rider with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show and later with Ringling Brothers (some sources deny this). From 1924 on, he worked in Hollywood and made some 20 silent westerns. He was famous for the stunts he could enact with his horse, Tarzan. Maynard was the first singing cowboy in the movies.
American arcade postcard by Ex.[Exhibit] Sup[ply]. Co., Chicago, USA, 1928.
Kermit Roosevelt 'Tex' Maynard (1897–1971) was an American stuntman, actor, and performer, who often worked as a stand-in for his brother cowboy hero Ken Maynard and other actors. later he became a star in minor Westerns.
American arcade card by Ex. Sup. Co. (Exhibition Supply Company), Chicago. Jack Hoxie and Helen Holmes in Highwayman (1926).
John Hartford 'Jack" Hoxie (1885–1965) was an American rodeo performer and motion picture actor whose career was most prominent in the silent film era of the 1910s through the 1930s. Hoxie is best recalled for his roles in Westerns and rarely strayed from the genre.
American arcade card by Exhibit Supply Co., Chicago. Caption: William Desmond and Geo. Giegman Mixing It.
William Desmond (1878–1949) was an American actor, who appeared in 205 films between 1915 and 1948. He was nicknamed 'The King of the Silent Serials' and acted in numerous Westerns.
Heavy cardboard stock
Arcade cards manufactured by the Exhibit Supply Co. were postcard size - 33/8 by 53/8 inches (10.5 x 17 cm). The cards didn’t have any numbers, the backs were blank and the cards didn’t fit nicely into the shoeboxes with the regular postcards.
The photo appeared on the front of the card, usually with a facsimile signature of the individual portrayed. In addition, in the lower right-hand corner appeared: “Made in USA” or “Printed in USA”.
The cards were on heavy cardboard stock and the majority were black-and-white or tan sepia colored. Many film star cards are also in blue or red.
In the period of 1939-1946, beside the actor’s autograph on the front of the card there appeared a salutation "Truly Yours", "Cordially", or "Sincerely" above the facsimile autograph.
The cards were usually issued in a series of 32 or 64. One theory is that the card machines were designed to cut paper stock sheets in 32 or 64 pieces.
Some card subjects did get new pictures over the years. Famous cowboy singer and actor Gene Autry had at least three different pictures. One picture was autographed "With Best Wishes – Gene Autry." Autry was wearing a Western-style button shirt with a giant American flag imprinted on the shirt.
During the 1930s and 1940s, the International Mutoscope Reel Company made all manner of penny-arcade machines, including ones that dispensed film star cards and cheesecake cards of young women in various states of undress. There are almost 300 different types of these cards. All carry the inscription "A Mutoscope card".
Most of the Exhibit penny arcade cards have remained very inexpensive. Collectors can concentrate on film stars, but also on football players, baseball, wrestlers of the 1940s and 1950s, television stars, pinups, military equipment, and the individual cards sell in the $3-$10 range.
American arcade card. Caption: Sincerely, Mae West.
Blonde Mae West (1895-1982) was a seductive, overdressed, endearing, intelligent, and sometimes vulgar American actress and sex symbol. She featured a come-hither voice, aggressive sexuality, and a genius for comedy. West started in Vaudeville and on the stage in New York, and later moved to Hollywood to star in such films as I’m No Angel (1933), She Done Him Wrong (1933), and Klondike Annie (1936). She was one of the first women in the cinema to consistently write the films she starred in.
American arcade postcard by Mutoscope. Caption: Cordially, Jack Beutel.
Jack Buetel (1917-1989) was an American film and television actor. He is best known for his first role as the infamous Billy the Kid in Howard Hughes's controversial Western The Outlaw (1943-1946), also starring Jane Russell. In the seven years after shooting his film debut, Hughes refused to allow him to appear in films.
American arcade card. Caption: Best wishes, Judy Canova.
Judy Canova (1913-1983) was an American comedian, actress, singer, and radio personality. As a wide-eyed, yodeling country bumpkin, she was the leading female star of Republic. She also appeared on Broadway, and from 1943 to 1955, she hosted her own radio series.
American arcade card. Caption: Sincerely, Jennifer Holt.
Vividly beautiful blonde Jennifer Holt (1920-1997) was an American actress who made 47 films during the 1940s. All but eight of her roles were in Westerns in which she appeared opposite cowboy stars such as Lash LaRue, Tex Ritter, and Johnny Mack Brown.
American arcade postcard.
American actress Cleo Moore (1924- 1973) was a well-known pin-up girl and a platinum blonde bombshell in Hollywood films of the 1950s. She made seven B-films with Hugo Haas. Although she never became a true film star, Moore is now a cult favourite as one of the 'Bad Girls of Film Noir'.
Sources: Jim Trautman (Sports Collectors Digest), George Vrechek (Sports Collectors Digest), Collectors Weekly, and Wikipedia.
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