MONSTER OLD MAID Card Game (Milton Bradley, 1964)

 

Here is a vintage monster item that I actually found in a shop somewhere, complete even, for 1/3 of what it's worth! This game is nothing if not a snapshot of the classic monster era, from the golden years of model kits and local TV horror hosts.

Let's face it: you had Old Maid as a kid, and I did too (we looked at the 70's Marvel Comics version here, years ago), although mine was the crappy version with an actual Old Maid.  60's kids were much better off.  

Before we dive in, I need to point out that there are some very unusual choices for the card art in this game...starting out, you can easily see the "Universal Picture" copyright on the front, so you know we are in good hands--but still, some strange decisions were still made in the monster selections for this game.  

As you know, here at The Sphinx, we go the extra mile:  I thought it would be fun if we tried to identify exactly what these unusual cards depicted, and even find their source images...so here we go:

Here is the instructions ("Directions") card, which is one-sided.  The backs of all cards in this game looks like this:

As you probably know, all numbered cards in Old Maid come in pairs (except for the Old Maid), so we will look at the better-condition card for each number in the set, starting with #1:

Card 1 is the Creature From The Black Lagoon, old Gill Man himself (first name Gill, last name Man). He was the youngest Universal monster at the time of this game's release.

Card #2 is Frankenstein's Monster, and you would expect them to use Boris Karloff, but nope, instead here is Glenn Strange, who played the monster in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, HOUSE OF DRACULA, and ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN.  Below is the exact promotional photo that this image was taken from:

Card #3 is The Mummy, and once again, it's not Karloff either, but instead Tom Tyler from one of the sequels: THE MUMMY'S HAND:

Card #4 takes a weird turn.  It alludes to I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF (1957), which wasn't a Universal movie at all, but American-International...a film which was only 4 years old at the time, and was a big hit.  It actually depicts Henry Hull from WEREWOLF OF LONDON:

Card #5 is Dracula, so you know it's Bela Lugosi.  For fun, here is the promotional photo they used:

Interestingly, you can see that they touched up his left eye, which was covered in a shadow in the original photo...back in the days where you had to use an airbrush!

Here we go again, with Card #6.  This isn't even a "Wolf Man" per se, it's a werewolf, specifically Oliver Reed in Hammer's CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF! As it turns out, Universal distributed the film in the U.S. Here is a promotional photo using this image:

Card #7 continues the Hammer theme with their PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. I would've used Claude Rains, but I am sure that the Herbert Lom one was more common in the FAMOUS MONSTERS magazines of the day:

Again, Universal distributed the film in the U.S.

Card #8 is the reverse of #6: "The Werewolf," but actually "The Wolf Man!" (I guess we are splitting hairs, which...there's a werewolf joke there somewhere.)  This is Lon Chaney, Jr. from ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET THE WOLFMAN (the best A&C movie):

Card #9 shows that the makers of this game were not afraid to go waaaaaay back in time, because this is Lon Chaney senior from the silent HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1923). Strangely though, although there are lots of promotional stills they could've used, this is some sort of painting, and I was unable to find where it came from.

Card #10. If you are reading this post...then I don't have to tell you.

Card #11 is Gill again. Now the repeats really kick in.

Card #12 is Glenn Strange's Frankenstein's Monster, again:

At least, for #13, they gave us a different Mummy actor, which in this case is Lon Chaney, Jr., from THE MUMMY'S GHOST:

Card #14 is Henry Hull, again, making you think he's Michael Landon...again? This card looks very much like an old postage stamp-type design to me.

#15 is a Dracula repeat, but hey, it's Bela, so what are you gonna do. They had to work on this image some, from the original:

Card #16 is a repeat--see Card #6!

Card #17: Okay, they took my advice for a repeat card, and used a different actor, but I have to admit to you guys, I am completely stumped as to where this came from.  It's not Lon Chaney, Claude Rains, or Herbert Lom, for sure.  I hypothesized that it was perhaps from a Universal-related TV show, but wasn't able to come up with anything.  If anyone knows, please leave a comment! I got nothing.

Moving on, we finally get Lon Chaney, Jr., as THE WOLF MAN--oh, wait, "The Werewolf."  Whatever, I give up.

Card #19: I wouldn't have repeated the Hunchback, but now we can see that the previous card was just a reversed image of the head only, from this painting (or painted-over photo), from this scene:

And now, the Old Maid--Dracula's Daughter! Hey, that's pretty fun--hold it, Gloria Holden was Dracula's Daughter:

This instead is Andree Melly from Hammer's BRIDES OF DRACULA:

Which, you guessed it, was distributed by Universal.

And there you have it--I have to admit, I would've been tempted to broaden the scope, and include some giant 1950's Universal monsters, and throw in a Tarantula, a Deadly Mantis...I don't know, even a Monolith Monsters card, just to help break it up.  But, I can see, from a purist perspective, why they did what they did.  It's very much of its time...and it's certainly not every day that you run into a vintage monster collectible from back then!