Elwar Button Mystery

[horrorhunter]

I always wondered why they made those display cards so small. It looks like they would have wanted to fill the entire front of the gumball machine with the image to more effectively entice kids to throw in money.

Similarly, I have one of the original Vari-Vue UniMon/Casper Flicker Ring display cards that's tiny like that. It only measures 4" X 3" and it isn't even cardstock, just paper. I had to cut out a backing board and plastic bag to fit it just so it would be rigid enough to stand up on it's own. Of course, they just taped them to the inside front of the gumball machine but why make them so small? I guess they tried to cut corners on such cheap items but they kinda shot themselves in the foot by not making them as big as possible for the machine to attract attention and get more kid-money. Just another head-scratcher. 

[Mike Scott]

Just another head-scratcher. 

I think you may have a skin condition.

[horrorhunter]

I think you may have a skin condition.

Think so?



Nahhh. 

[Mike Scott]

It's really not that noticeable. 

[YoungestMonsterKid]

'60s it is, then! I'll edit my button posts.

"Dr-- Dracular???"

[Mike Scott]

"Dr-- Dracular???"

[Hepcat]

Forry wore the large buttons in the Unimart Don Post Show in late 1965/1966

Also attached as promised is a hi-rez scan of Forry wearing the buttons at the Unimart show....

Here's another shot of Forry wearing those buttons.

Since the image Richard posted has disappeared, I'm wondering whether the picture Jim Bertges posted is from the same 1965/66 Unimart show.

[Hepcat]

Sorting through the info on the Elwar buttons posted previously in this thread is challenging given that many of the pictures are missing and most of the early posts presuppose some familiarity with these buttons.



Nonetheless, to summarize the musings and info so far, the buttons in the top row appear to have been a preliminary production run by somebody or other (perhaps Elwar) in the mid-sixties. Forrest Ackerman can be seen wearing some of them in pictures from 1965-66.

No copyright information is provided on the edge of these buttons and they feature rectangular holes on the back:





Unfortunately nobody has posted memories of buying these buttons back in the sixties.

The buttons on the second row with the large names are info-labelled Universal/Elwar on the edges. They have round as opposed to rectangular holes on the back.

Both Horrorhunter and Wolfman have posted remembrances of buying the info-labelled buttons in Woolworth or Kresge stores sometime in the 1965-69 period. These were also the buttons sold through Captain Company ads in Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine beginning with issue #95 cover dated January 1973:



The info-labelled buttons are the ones much more commonly found these days.

[Mike Scott]

That pretty much sums it up, other that to say that Elwar is thought to be Warren, as no other products (or other buttons) are know to exist made by that company.

[horrorhunter]

Both Horrorhunter and Wolfman have posted remembrances of buying the info-labelled buttons in Woolworth or Kresge sometime in the 1965-69 period. These were also the buttons sold through Captain Company ads in Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine beginning with issue #95 cover dated January 1973:

Not only that but when I was researching this with a Google search I found several entries of people listing the info-labelled buttons as being available in the 1960s, especially the mid '60s. Here's one of them- a Hake's auction for a Creature button like the one I bought as a kid in the mid '60s which lists it as "c. 1965", link: https://www.hakes.com/Auction/ItemDetail/71813/THE-CREATURE-FROM-THE-BLACK-LAGOON-UNIVERSAL-FILM-MONSTER-SCARCEST-BUTTON

To further sum up, we're somewhat baffled as to why the buttons didn't show up in Captain Company ads in the mid '60s. Jim Warren was a helluva huckster and it seems very unlikely he wouldn't offer the buttons through his mail order branch if they were indeed sold in the mid '60s. On the other hand there seems to be a huge amount of "hearsay" evidence that they WERE sold in the mid '60s including my own personal memories of buying mine then. Trouble is we haven't been able to turn up any hard evidence to prove it. So, that's where we are. Maybe evidence will turn up sooner or later to substantiate these personal memories from various people that the large info-labelled Elwar UniMon buttons were in fact sold in the mid 1960s. *whew*

[Hepcat]

That pretty much sums it up, other that to say that Elwar is thought to be Warren, as no other products (or other buttons) are know to exist made by that company.

Yes. Could Elwar be a derivative of Warren Ltd? That theory was first advanced in this thread by Monster Bob:

I'm also thinking maybe all these buttons were made by Warren Publishing, later using the name "Elwar", which is probably somebody's cat.

Warren definately made Munsters buttons in 1965, which are marked WARREN PUBLISHING CO

The main reason I think Bob's theory makes a lot of sense is that nothing else turns up from Elwar  If they were an independent button company, you would think they would make more than just monster buttons.  Even if they were short lived, they'd try a broader product range than that. 

The fact that Warren made buttons that are similar to the small ones further advances it.

The theory makes a lot of sense given that the artwork on many of the buttons was based on the Famous Monsters Speak LP released in 1963 or the Famous Monsters 1965 Yearbook published in 1964.

But!!! If these buttons were first produced in 1965-66, why did Warren wait until late 1972 to start flogging them through Captain Company ads in Famous Monsters of Filmland? Warren/Captain Company flogged everything else to monster-loving kids through such ads. Why did Warren somehow neglect to hawk its very own buttons in the magazine for over six years? That would have been very un-Warren like behaviour.

Secondly, these 3 1/2" buttons were being sold in stores during the late sixties. I can't think of any other Warren junk that was sold through stores other than the magazines. It was through Captain Company ads that Warren liked to sell stuff.

[Hepcat]

To further sum up, we're somewhat baffled as to why the buttons didn't show up in Captain Company ads in the mid '60s. Jim Warren was a helluva huckster and it seems very unlikely he wouldn't offer the buttons through his mail order branch if they were indeed sold in the mid '60s.

Precisely, especially if Warren was the actual publisher/producer of the buttons!

[Mike Scott]

Confused yet? Me too! 

[Wolfman]

Is it possible that they were advertised earlier? Did you look through every copy of FMOF from the 60's? There's not a snowballs chance in hell I got them in the 70's. I had moved on from collecting monster stuff by '68. So there.

JP

[Mike Scott]

Did you look through every copy of FMOF from the 60's?

Yup!