 We're not going to focus here on
the politicians' part of the question.
After months of campaigning,
there's been more than enough of
that. What's left, of course, are flip books
and, if you've never worked one of these
low-tech collectibles, here's your primer:
Flip books are a continuing series of
images, perhaps 30 or so, held together by a
rubber band, a piece of string, a staple or similar
connector. The images create what
appears to be motion when you flip through
the pages with your thumb and fingers. They're not a new thing;
people were flipping books way back to the 1700s in Europe, and
they were first patented in the U.S. in 1882.
Some explain the phenomenon as an optical illusion of movement
or, more physiologically correct, a form of retinal persistency.
Others will claim flip books were the earliest form of interactive
media. However you choose to describe them, in the hierarchy of
things to be viewed, flip books fill amid-point gap between images
(either photos or drawings) and cinema. In fact, they've been called
a primitive form of cinema and promoted as a way to "make your
own movies."
Some non-sport collectors refer to prizes in boxes of Cracker
Jack in the early 1900s as a starting point for
collectible flip books in the U.S. Such books
continued to be popular through the 1940s,
especially those showing entertainers, cartoon
characters or sports heroes, and a few dedicated
to eroticism.
Among non-sport collectors, the most
popular form of the genre seems to be the
series of 50 produced in 1949 by Topps.
Called Flip-O-Vision, it was one of earliest
products created as premiums by the gum
company which eventually would become so
central to the lives of collectors.
What Topps brought to market were five-cent packs of gum
which contained, in addition to the slab of chewy, an unassembled
flip-book consisting of 30 numbered black-and-white photo
images folded accordion style in sections of three to fit into the
packaging.
When opening one of the packs to get your nickel's worth, you
were directed to fold the photos along the dotted lines, then separate
them, bundle the now-single images in order, and finally hold them together with a string, thread or rubber band. If your string or
other connector held, you were ready for some book flipping and
vision viewing. Not infrequently, your connector would fail, your
first flip would flop and your vision would become 30 small pieces
of paper spread across the floor.
But if your flip held, Topps would bring you many of the top
movie stars, comedians, singers, and band leaders of that era, plus a
few cartoon characters and even one image more closely related to
sports. The guides relate a wax paper advertising insert identified
49 subjects, although a 50th has been discovered. While there is
some skip-numbering in the series (numbers 52, 53, 56, 59 and 60
have been discovered), veteran collectors tend to believe it was the
result of contractual problems with some celebrities rather than
intentional.
The long-lost 50th book pictures the Ink Spots, a doo-wop
group formed in the 1930s that had a long list of chart toppers like
"If I Didn't Care" and "The Gypsy," a number 1 song for 13 weeks.
But even before the Ink Spots were added, the series read like an
award-winners list from the movies, comedy and music. Many
were among the most popular entertainers of the era, like the Marx
Brothers (with Marilyn Monroe), Abbott and Costello, Burns and
Allen, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Kirk Douglas, James Stewart, and
Red Skelton. Some were not as well-known, like B-movie heroine
Lois Collier, crooning cowboy Jimmy Wakely, and dancer Peggy
Ryan. There were a few comic characters like Joe Palooka and Dick
Tracy. There were musical stars like bandleaders Kay Kaiser and
Cab Calloway, and singers like Vic Damone and Johnny Desmond.
Movie Pre-Vue Flipbooks was probably issued in 1951 by Bowman,
rather than in 1949 as sometimes stated. The little booklets
prevued Saturday matinee movies. The backs of the Flipbooks state
there are 24 different in the series but very little is known as to the
exact total released. The one shown is from Federal Agents Vs.
Underworld, Inc., which was a working title for the 12 chapter
Republic series titled Federal Agents Vs. PhantomLegion.Mary Ellen
Kay is thought to be the actress shown in the flipbook.
For some, the year 1949 was pivotal—like The Aldrich Family,
which moved its popular radio sitcom to TV in 1949; Bomba the
Jungle Boy, who appeared in the first of his dozen movies, and The
Pied Pipers, voted as the top singing group of the year.
And there was Al Schacht, who became the "Clown Prince of
Baseball" after several seasons as pitcher and coach with one of the
game's unwittingly clownish teams.
In the 1960s, Topps came up with two other flip-book collectibles:
a movie monster series of 36 in 1963 (Monster Flip
Movies) and 16 Monkees mini-movies (Monkees FlipMovies) based
on the TV show.
Others which have attracted attention among non-sport collectors
include:
- Post cereal's (Grapenut Flakes) 1949 reversible Walter Lanz cartoon series featuring a color production in one direction and a black-and-white vision when flipped in reverse.
- Bowman's 1949 series of 24 books focused on matinee movies.
- Kellogg's 1951movie stars series.
- Betty Boop in the 1930s and Disney character flips over several years.
Sports collectors have had some interesting choices, too,
including several baseball products highlighted by two Babe Ruth
series in the 1930s by Wheaties and Quaker Oats showing the
great slugger doing what he did best; hitting home runs. There also
has been boxing action, with the Jack Dempsey-Georges Charpentier bout among the most popular, and golf and tennis seen as useful instructional tools for learning how to swing a club or racquet.
Flip-book popularity waned as the fast-emerging technology of
the 1970s appeared to write a final chapter. But surprisingly, flippers
have recently regained some popularity. Five years ago, the
first flip-book festival was held in Stuttgart, Germany. A second
gathering was held a year later in Austria. One new producer has
created a virtual Museum of Flip Animation on Second Life as part
of its campaign to revive what it calls "pre-cinema devices." Last
year, Forbes magazine recognized the comeback with an article
titled "Flip Books Return and Prosper as Marketing Tool in a Down
Economy."
Ironically, dramatic advances in photography and imagery have
led to new approaches in flip-book production, making these
strange little movies you can make right in your hand an anachronism whose
time apparently has come once again.
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