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Topps Wacky Packages Sticker Facts
 
Here are some stories behind a few titles, and some random trivia about a few others. More will be added over time.
 
Note: In each fact you can click on thumbnails for larger images.
 
Facts 1-10     Facts 11-20     Facts 21-30     Facts 31-34
 

From: char_boy To: ALL   Posted: Monday 3:33 am, November 8, 2004 message 49

Fact 21: Totarillo Cigars On this wacky Norm seems to have been highly influenced by the baby from Saturday Evening Post covers (see picture below). Jay says: "Norm really wanted to do a Saturday Evening Post cover. He did a few on speculation....one is something about firemen. I've seen it...I don't know where. The original still exists somewhere. None of his Post paintings were ever used. But to Saunders, a Post cover was the epitome of success for a commercial artist."

 

From: char_boy To: ALL   Posted: Tuesday 2:12 am, November 9, 2004 message 50

Fact 22: Krazy Crackers Why does it say "Sanitarium" on the sticker, but "Sunshine" on the tattoo?

 

From: Crakola_Crayons To: char_boy   Posted: Tuesday 5:10 am, November 9, 2004 message 51

Less red tattoo ink by writing Sunshine (eight letters) instead of Sanitarium (ten)? Or maybe they were concerned that kids with the word "sanitarium" on their body might just get picked up by the men with the white coats and hauled off to the funny farm? (I'm just having fun here...)

 

From: fanatical_and_sickly To: char_boy   Posted: Tuesday 12:43 pm, November 9, 2004 message 52

I would guess that sanitarium wouldn't fit in the available white space given the font size, so they picked something shorter. Why they would use the actual manufacturers name is just bizarre.

 

From: BustedFinger To: fanatical_and_sickly   Posted: Tuesday 12:46 pm, November 9, 2004 message 53

They should have used "Insane".

 

From: Hipton To: BustedFinger   Posted: Tuesday 7:11 pm, November 9, 2004 message 54

They could have used "Senile," shorter yet and keeping with the "s" theme.  Oops, probably too offensive.  Might have been ok to call someone an idiot or a moron but not senile.

 

From: char_boy To: ALL   Posted: Wednesday 5:36 am, November 10, 2004 message 55

Fact 23: Ivery Snow The model on the original Ivory Snow box is none other than Maralyn Chambers, famous porn actress. This no doubt is what motivated Norm Saunders to paint this one (warning: image has been censored, however it is still adult material, follow link at your own risk), which he gave to Len Brown back in the 70's as a gift. Yep, a genuine, vintage, Norm Saunders X-rated Wacky Pack, who would have thought such a thing existed? This is a "lost" wacky, or more like an underground wacky, that has barely seen the light of day until now. We asked Zina, Norm's daughter, if she had a problem with us sharing it with the world. Zina is as cool as one could imagine and her response was as follows: Quoting Zina:  I think the painting reflects a facet of Dad's personality that the public has rarely seen, but that he shared with those close to him: an earthy, irreverent sense of humor and a disdain of the priggish. My father's attitude ... was very open and honest, and his comfort level with all aspects of being human is reflected in this piece. I know another of Dad's private pieces he did when he was doing illos for Topps trading cards was a spoof of the Batman cards he was doing: he did one called "Batman in the Bat Room", and it featured the Dark Knight of Gotham City sitting on the toilet with his tights around his ankles, reading the paper (if I'm remembering correctly). I think the Ovary Snow piece is in the same vein: raunchy humor that takes a "pure and clean" image to the silliest and earthiest extreme. I say show it with pride (and laughter)!

 

From: Crakola_Crayons To: char_boy   Posted: Wednesday 6:06 am, November 10, 2004 message 56

Greg, wow!!! It is very nice that you added Zina's endorsement about sharing this one with the rest of the Wacky community.  It is nice to get some further insights into the man who obviously had an effect on many of us in the hobby with his work and style.

 

From: Mr._Stubble To: Crakola_Crayons   Posted: Wednesday 8:48 am, November 10, 2004 message 57

Well said, Martin.

 

From: char_boy To: ALL   Posted: Friday 6:22 am, November 12, 2004 message 58

Fact 24: TV Garbage This 11th series title was used again in the 1982 album series, but the shows were whited out and updated to reflect 80's shows. (see both scans below).  Here is a link to the original art where you can sort of see the white-out.

 

From: BustedFinger To: char_boy   Posted: Friday 6:27 am, November 12, 2004 message 59

Looks like the price increased from 15 cents to 50 cents as well.

 

From: Crakola_Crayons To: BustedFinger   Posted: Friday 6:53 am, November 12, 2004 message 60

Yep.  I noticed that too.  A bit of inflation, eh?  :)

 

From: Grapehead To: Crakola_Crayons   Posted: Friday 2:39 pm, November 12, 2004 message 61

Now that's what I call attention to detail!

 

From: char_boy To: BustedFinger   Posted: Friday 3:16 pm, November 12, 2004 message 62

What does "Loco Programs" mean?

 

From: Shock To: char_boy   Posted: Friday 3:25 pm, November 12, 2004 message 63

Local Or Loco "crazy"

 

From: BustedFinger To: char_boy   Posted: Friday 4:05 pm, November 12, 2004 message 64

I guess they substitued "loco" (meaning crazy) for "local". "Loco Programs" instead of "Local Programs"

 

From: Mashbox To: char_boy   Posted: Saturday 5:21 pm, November 13, 2004 message 65

They updated a couple other magazine titles as well. I know they changed the "calories" on Seventon in the 1982 series and I think the price on "Playbug" was also changed.

 

From: char_boy To: ALL   Posted: Sunday 7:09 am, November 14, 2004 message 66

Fact 25: 61 Magazine "My 61 mag rough should turn up in a Topps auction soon.  The 61 rough that's up now is one that Bill Griffith did. Griffy's gave too many names of real people...so they wound up not doing it that way.  61 mag used to have a painted, humanized animal on each cover.  So I made it a goat.  I actually read that mag at one point, I think, when Gloria Stavers was editor...was that her name?  She hung with Jan Cremer and Lenny Bruce...she was pretty hip...but she had to do this mag about Donny Osmond and David Cassidy to make a living...and there was always bitter humor snuck in between the lines."  -Jay

 

From: char_boy To: landoquakes   Posted: Monday 4:39 am, November 15, 2004 message 67

Dave Caudle pointed me out to this further discussion about 61 Magazine from delphi May 2002: > Does anyone know what the blue goat on '61' is supposed to be? That is, I *think* it's a goat. To which Jay responded: "All it was intended to mean is that he is an "old goat", a popular ageist phraise back then.   ...and I think 16 magazine at the time had this blue cat character that was their mascot...and he would be on all the covers interacting with rock stars heads pasted on simply drawn bodies...and the cat character would be bigger than the rock stars...so we made him an old goat instead of a young cat." Jay

 

From: char_boy To: ALL   Posted: Monday 4:39 am, November 15, 2004 message 68

Fact 26: Murial Blands The text was changed slightly from the art to the sticker on Murial Blands.  Can you find the difference? Art Sticker

 

From: freetoes To: char_boy   Posted: Monday 5:36 am, November 15, 2004 message 69

I remember this discussion on Delphi.  The word "a" appears on the reprints, but not on the original Series 7 sticker.  I always wondered whether or not the artwork had been altered.

 

From: fanatical_and_sickly To: freetoes   Posted: Tuesday 8:47 pm, November 16, 2004 message 70

yep. Just one of several differences that can be seen in the 4th reprints - a result of using using new photos of the original artwork (as opposed to re-using photo plates as was done for the 1st and 2nd, or using old stickers for images as was done with the 3rd)

 

From: char_boy To: freetoes   Posted: Monday 5:53 am, November 15, 2004 message 71

Wow, I didn't realize the variation on the sticker, I'll have to check that out.

 

From: Crakola_Crayons To: char_boy   Posted: Monday 5:56 am, November 15, 2004 message 72

Very easy to spot that one.  I think your facts will get folks scrambling back through their collections.

 

From: char_boy To: ALL   Posted: Tuesday 3:22 am, November 16, 2004 message 73

Fact 27: Fanatical and Sickly Fiction The moon was originally supposed to be a smiley face, like those yellow t-shirts that were everywhere in the early 70's. That is how the rough was drawn by Jay (see below). The joke was about the fact that at the time those yellow smiley face shirts were literally everywhere, to the point where it was "sickening." The joke was that the astronauts went to the moon and even that was a smiley face. But Norm didn't get it, and he painted it like a real face. So the joke was essentially lost. But it didn't seem to matter to the kids, the title was appreciated anyway, Norm brought his experience as a pulp cover artist to this piece and it has been a perennial classic ever since.

 

From: dth1971 To: char_boy   Posted: Tuesday 7:31 am, November 16, 2004 message 74

Nice fact on Fanatical and Sickly Fiction which bought Norm Saunders back to his roots as a pulp cover artist. Did he ever illustrate covers for the real Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine?

 

From: Shock To: char_boy   Posted: Tuesday 10:10 am, November 16, 2004 message 75

That is really interesting about the smiley face!  I sure remember those.  That joke really makes sense.  Very cool fact.  That would have really been a neat retro wacky too.  Jay was "right on" that one.

 

From: char_boy To: ALL   Posted: Wednesday 1:25 am, November 17, 2004 message 76

Fact 28: Decay Toothpaste This is the only Wacky Pack that was actually based on no product at all, they just made it up out of the blue. This might have been done due to increasing desperation that more and more companies had C&D'd them and so there were fewer products available for parody.

 

From: char_boy To: ALL   Posted: Monday 3:02 am, November 22, 2004 message 77

Fact 29: Heavy Trash Bags There is a variation of Heavy Trash Bags is in the 1980 3rd series reruns. The line of black text "LAUGH WHILE YOUR GARBAGE MAN STRUGGLES" either does or does not appear: Notice that on the 1974 10th series version the text is white, not black. So what's up with this line of text anyway??

 

From: Crakola_Crayons To: char_boy   Posted: Monday 4:49 am, November 22, 2004 message 78

Wow, I never noticed this - and I have one reprint (black) and a 10th series (white).  Cool.

 

 
Facts 1-10     Facts 11-20     Facts 21-30     Facts 31-34