Mutoscope cards

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This article is about still images, typically of "pin-up" material, printed on cards and sold through vending machines. For the early motion-picture device, see Mutoscope.

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Mutoscope cards were 5.25" x 3.25" (13.3 cm x 8.25 cm) cards were published during the 1940s by the International Mutoscope Reel Company and other firms.^[1] They are not individual pictures from Mutoscope reels and have no connection whatsoever to the Mutoscope motion-picture device. All carry the inscription "A Mutoscope card." They were sold from coin-operated vending machines in places such as amusement parks. Most Mutoscope cards are of "pin-up" material, but some featured other kinds of images such as Jimmy Hatlo cartoons.^[2] Mutoscope cards are a recognized category of collectible.

In the literature of cinematography, the phrase "Mutoscope cards" is also used to refer to the individual cards comprising a Mutoscope reel, corresponding to individual frames of the original film from which the reel was produced.^[3]

[edit] References

^ Kevin Freeman (2006). Mutoscope cards. Mutoscope World. Retrieved on 2006-09-17.
^ Jimmy Hatlo Comic Strip - Mutoscope Cards. Online Antiques Mall (2000). Retrieved on 2006-09-17.
^ e.g. Lubin, Joseph P. (1997). The King of the Movies: Film Pioneer Siegmund Lubin. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. ISBN 0-8386-3728-0. , p. 85: "The only moving images of the event to survive would be a set of Mutoscope cards."