In Search of the Real Bingo King

Longone Antiques

Today a bunch of old bingo cards went up on etsy.  They are the heavy woodgrain look cardboard with the sliding clear red plastic windows that you pushed to cover your numbers.  No markers needed.  Everyone used those apparently to doodle on the cards.  There's art.  There's names.  There's initials.  There's addresses.  There's lists.  And hearts with who loves who.  And more than a few phone numbers.  Can you imagine.  "Hi, got your number off of a bingo card from a Moose Lodge in Texas.  Oh the cards date from the sixties.  I know it is 2019 but are you busy tonight?"  

Here is a little info about the famous Bingo King.

The game of BINGO was born in the 1920’s with the help of a toy salesman named Edwin Lowe who incorporated a carnival game called BEANO into a version for home play.  When a happy tongue-tied winner yelled out BINGO instead of BEANO, Edwin knew he had a perfect name for his game.  Even though almost all states prohibited gambling during the 1930’s and 1940’s, churches wholeheartedly adopted the game to raise money.  By 1949, legislation was passed in most states to attempt to regulate or outlaw the game resulting in only four states where bingo was legal.  This is when Bingo King was formed in Colorado as a small business distributing bingo cards for fund raising.  Bingo became huge in spite of being regulated to death.  Since each state had different rules, Bingo King utilized mail-order and sold cards, markers and number blowers as well as dispensed advice on how to organize and set up games.  By building these close relationships with large charities, Bingo King became one of the top five distributers in the 1960’s.  By then law enforcement agencies were finding it difficult to get convictions on bingo charges against institutions like the Elks Club or the Catholic Church.  By the 1970’s BINGO became legal in some form in all but 12 states.  Standex International Corp. took over Bingo King in 1971 and renamed them the Norbro Corporation.  Strandex attempted to run the bingo business alongside their mail-order grapefruit distributor and a mail-order colonial furniture manufacturer.  Strandex’s largest distributer was a religious publishing company and this gave Stramdex pause concerning the gambling aspect of bingo.  In 1981 Bingo King was reborn as independent and spun off from Strandex.  About the same time Native Americans became a large and growing customer for the game after court decisions allowed tribes to bypass state gambling laws.  Super jackpots brought profits and expansion.  Bingo King expanded through acquisitions and a revamp of its distribution system.  Too much too soon.  In1988, in debt and unable to keep pace with the growth of the industry, Canada's leading bingo equipment supplier, Bazaar & Novelty, assumed control of Bingo King.  Utilizing disposable bingo cards and a revamp of operations, Bingo King, now named Stuart Entertainment prospered and today continues operations internationally.  And the future is bright.

Till next time.  Stable Art Studio

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LongoneAntiques

https://www.etsy.com/shop/StableArtStudio

In The Valley Of The Jolly Green Giant

Longone Antiques

Finally got all three of my 1970's vintage Jolly Green Giant lithographed advertising dolls listed on Etsy.  I know all about these since I grew up with them.  The oldest and biggest was bought by my Grandma with can labels and was my first of the three.  I was young enough to enjoy playing with him and play I did.  He was a willing  patient to my doctor self and he received many many shots to protect him from everything.  Unfortunately it didn't protect him from a small shot hole in his right arm.  He also got no immunity from old age.  Faded, stained, and shifting stuffing I still love that doll cause he reminds me of Grandma.  The smallest Sprout, also courtesy of Grandma and her can labels, was the next toy.  I played with him some but was getting older.  He also aged and faded.  But he is still stiff with stuffing.  By the time Grandma came up with the medium Sprout I was over little kid stuff.  Sad.  But this last Sprout is in the best condition.  Time for me to grow up and move on.  They are all for sale.  To a good home only.

Some History

The Minnesota Valley Canning Company was founded in 1903 in Le Sueur, Minnesota.  A new variety of big green peas was introduced in 1925 and was named Green Giant.  Needing a mascot for the giant pea rollout, the Green Giant was conceived by Carly Stanek (Bingum), who modeled him after a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.  He looked like a hunched over scowling orange caveman with bearskin clothes. In 1935 he was re-imagined by Leo Burnett with leaves, a smile and the addition of the "Jolly" to his name.  The new Jolly Green Giant made his first TV appearance in 1958 and promptly scared kids who saw him as a monster instead of a mascot.  His next appearance on TV was in 1961 where he was given animated helpers and filmed from afar with no closeups.  Laughing "Ho. Ho. Ho." was introduced and success followed. 

In 1973 the Jolly Green Giant was given a pint sized apprentice, Sprout. Sprout, also designed by Leo Burnett, was destined to introduce yummy vegetables to kids. Eager to grow up and learn all he could from the Green Giant, little Sprout absorbs all lessons on growing, canning and freezing vegetables.  Later in the 1980's and 1990's when General Mills owned both Plllsbury and Green Giant Brands Sprout and Poppin' Fresh hung out together in print ads. In 2015 B & G Foods acquired the brand and Sprout got his own Instagram account (@sprout)

"In the valley of the Jolly, Ho, Ho, Ho, Green Giant."