The Air at the Top of the Bottle

The Ullage Group header image 1

Children’s Card Games (192)

January 10th, 2013 · 4 Comments

CCG192

“Life’s Game of Artists,” published sometime around 1910 by Parker Brothers, featured cartoons by Life magazine’s roster of illustrators.  This was, of course, the early humorous Life, not the later oversized photo mag.  The cartoons usually depicted courting couples, often with Cupid hovering nearby.  The game itself is a version of Quartet or Authors, in which you collect four of a kind; the artists are: A. D. Blashfield, Bayard Jones, C. Clyde Squires, C. Coles Phillips, C. D. Gibson, C. J. Budd, Balfour Kent, F. W. Read, F. T. Richards, Henry Hutt, J. M. Flagg, Orson Lowell, W. L. Jacobs, and W. B. King.  I hope some of today’s cartoonists will revive that distinguished custom of two initials.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)

Tags: Card Games · Cartoons · Ephemera

4 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Win // Jan 12, 2013 at 12:10 am

    I like C. Coles Phillips’ style. His negative space technique is highly engaging, like connect-the-dots images, and apparently it saved publishers a considerable amount of ink on extra colors.

    I also notice that “he” is showing considerably more of his ankles in this picture than “she.”

  • 2 Doug // Jan 12, 2013 at 10:50 am

    Life had some sophisticated artists in its pages. In this period, Charles Dana Gibson (he of the”Gibson girl”) was probably the star attraction. Phillips did make negative space one of his trademark; it made for some striking covers. I’m glad you enjoy the ankles.

  • 3 Win // Jan 13, 2013 at 12:44 am

    This would have been before the period when Life became known as the magazine with pictures for people who couldn’t read; as opposed to Time, the magazine with words for people who couldn’t think.

  • 4 Doug // Jan 13, 2013 at 11:08 am

    It was a different magazine; Luce bought the name when it folded. That’s a nice description of the terrible twosome…