Elwar Button Mystery

[hugohernandez]

OH MY GOD-NESS!  you SOLVED IT.  That is the proof of all proofs.     Now if we only knew where they were sold!!!!    WOW, I LOVE THE CARDED.

[Mike Scott]

OH MY GOD-NESS!  you SOLVED IT.

What did I solve?

WOW, I LOVE THE CARDED.

I can't say if that carded button was ever sold. Could just be a mock-up?

[hugohernandez]

YOU solved the mystery of the 1st run buttons.    NOW we know for sure Captain Company Warren Publishing produced those big buttons, and someone in this thread remembered the carded version being sold.

Those Wonderful pics you dug up is the rock bottom proof.     Nobody was quite sure how they got on FJA's shirt.       Thanks.    It could be he sold those at conventions only etc.... and then Universal said to by the rights, and they did and redid them better.    Why they waited to sell them until 1970's, we'll never know.

Is Warren still alive?

(I am at work and cannot see the pics again, they show up at home.

I am going to have to copy them from home and send to my work email.     They will make a great background on my computer screen.)

Now to find the elusive Frankenstein!!!!!

[Mike Scott]

NOW we know for sure Captain Company Warren Publishing produced those big buttons, and someone in this thread remembered the carded version being sold.

Don't close the book, yet! There's still a lot of unanswered questions. Could you post a link to the card guy's post? I wanted to (re)read what he said.

Is Warren still alive?

He is, but he's not an easy guy to get a hold of, unless you're a friend.


(My) Unanswered (rhetorical) questions:

If Warren is ELWAR, why are the small b/w buttons the only Warren items ever sold in GB machines?

Why does the GB card use the words "Famous Monsters", but not the FM logo?

I'll probably think of others.

[horrorhunter]

Don't close the book, yet! There's still a lot of unanswered questions. Could you post a link to the card guy's post? I wanted to (re)read what he said.

I think I'm the "card guy" you guys are referring to. Here's a link to my post: http://www.universalmonsterarmy.com/forum/index.php?topic=2650.msg474851#msg474851

So, anyway, I'm pretty sure I bought my large Creature button on a blister card for 39 cents back in the mid '60s, probably at a Kresge, Woolworth, or similar place that sold toys. That's a hazy kid memory, and it offers no concrete proof.

I know the book isn't closed on this, but from all I've seen over the years I think the 3 1/2" large pinbacks are by Warren, and Elwar was a subsidiary of Warren in much the same way that Linemar and ELM (Empire Louis Marx) were lesser parts of Marx.

[Mike Scott]

Here's a link to my post:

Good lord, I must be losin' my mind! Can't even remember a post from 2 wks ago! I though it was gonna be one of the ones from 2008!

I'm pretty sure I bought my large Creature button on a blister card for 39 cents . .

Or maybe just a card with no blister. Does the above photo ring any bells?

[hugohernandez]

HorrorHunter, yes  you are the kid who bought the carded version.

wow, Kresge.    that makes sense.  Woolworths too.   I wonder why they didn't sell them thru the magazines?    Maybe easier to move such a fabulous big button for people to see it in real life, like the Monster Kits in real life.

Its one thing to see a black and white ad of Phantom Kit, but I remember my child hood eyes first look at the sealed model kit at the corner store.

The color blew my little mind away, oh the ghastly green face.    Anyway, my point is the marketing strategy seems to me to be, the button will sell like hotcakes.   Kids won't be able to resist the color and size when they see it at the Kresge, Woolworths, etc.

My corner store didn't carry too much in the way of Monsters, we were lucky to get the Model Kits right down the street.   
Scotties was a Mom and Pop corner store much like today.    Mostly candy that was laid out like a deli behind glass, Soda pop in bottles,and I guess some hardware stuff and that middle isle stacked high with all the model kits.

but I digress.       Ill bet those big buttons sold just like HorrorHunter remembered.          And then pulled because of no copyright on the curl.

I dream of Frankenstein Big Button.

[horrorhunter]

Good lord, I must be losin' my mind! Can't even remember a post from 2 wks ago! I though it was gonna be one of the ones from 2008!

Or maybe just a card with no blister. Does the above photo ring any bells?

It does seem like it was a blister card similar to this:



But, like I stated, the memory of buying it is through that Monsterkid haze we are all too familiar with.

And it wasn't a "first run" Creature button. It was the common one. Which is why I was saying they were sold in the '60s.. maybe not through the mags till early '70s, but I bought it in the store in the mid '60s. I can't figure out why they weren't sold through the mags earlier, because Jim Warren was all about hawking the goods through Captain Company. Strange that.

[Mike Scott]

And it wasn't a "first run" Creature button. It was the common one.

Do you still have the button and know that it was the one you bought then? (Just wondering if there is any "haze" involved.)

[horrorhunter]

Do you still have the button and know that it was the one you bought then? (Just wondering if there is any "haze" involved.)

Here's a picture of my big Elwars (again):



All 6 are clearly the more common type. The other five I picked up off eBay a couple of years ago, but that Creature button is the one I got as a kid in the mid '60s. There's nothing hazy about the button, or roughly when I got it. The memory is a little unclear about the exact year and what the packaging looked like, and the exact store it was purchased from, but I'm pretty sure it was on a blister card and it was 39 cents and it was from a store like Kresge or Woolworth. I know it wasn't bought as late as the '70s because I wasn't buying the monster stuff then except for comics and mags (I was into Hot Wheels and other types of toys by that time). It had to have been purchased in the mid '60s, no later than '67, and probably around '65.

[hugohernandez]

He did and don't call him . . well, you know the joke.

Are the 1st run pins in his book?   It would be great to see the big Frank in full color.

[hugohernandez]

Here's a picture of my big Elwars (again):



All 6 are clearly the more common type. The other five I picked up off eBay a couple of years ago, but that Creature button is the one I got as a kid in the mid '60s. There's nothing hazy about the button, or roughly when I got it. The memory is a little unclear about the exact year and what the packaging looked like, and the exact store it was purchased from, but I'm pretty sure it was on a blister card and it was 39 cents and it was from a store like Kresge or Woolworth. I know it wasn't bought as late as the '70s because I wasn't buying the monster stuff then except for comics and mags (I was into Hot Wheels and other types of toys by that time). It had to have been purchased in the mid '60s, no later than '67, and probably around '65.

I personally don't mind seeing you picture again and again.   its like horror eye candy for me.     

I agree with you that your Creech button was bought around the time you say.
that fits in with the theory that 1st runs were also sold, albeit earlier, and then pulled because of the lack of info on the curl and copyright issues.
Then redone with proper permission etc. and beefed up Art.

continuously being made and sold in stores.

Then they find...
in the warehouse in the back...
hidden somewheres...
A huge box of the buttons they made from the 1960's and Warren says "Boys, lets get those babies in the FM ads".     

( was into Hot Wheels when they first appeared and still have a nice little minty collection)

[Mike Scott]

The other five I picked up off eBay a couple of years ago, but that Creature button is the one I got as a kid in the mid '60s.

Thanks! Just wanted a confirmation.

[Mike Scott]

Are the 1st run pins in his book?

I don't have the book and don't know if he has those, but you know he's got monster buttons of some kind.

[Mike Scott]

Then they find... in the warehouse in the back... hidden somewheres...
A huge box of the buttons they made from the 1960's and Warren says "Boys, lets get those babies in the FM ads".     

That's certainly possible.