Today we look at Early Houdini Trading Cards (No. 57-61) from an extremely rare set of 25 Hoyo De Monterrey of Havanna Tobacco Cards (No. 57-81) circa 1920, depicting stills from his Terror Island movie:
No. 57 Still 318-45 (HHCE Collection)
No. 58 Still 318-12 (HHCE Collection)
No. 59 Still 318-11 (HHCE Collection)
No. 60 Still 318-21 (eBay)
No. 61 Still 318-19 (HHCE)
Strange that these cards were packed inside Cuban cigar boxes. What was the point? HH never toured Cuba, unless his films were distributed to Cuban theaters. Then the cards in those cigar boxes would have made sense.
Not sure, why Havana. But there was a card collecting boom in the 1920s. Popularly collected sets of cards were issued picturing film stars. They were usually issued in numbered series of twenty-five, fifty, or larger runs to be collected, spurring subsequent purchases of the same brand.
I’m sure they had movie theaters and that’s what these cards are promoting — Terror Island the movie and Houdini as a movie star, not a theatrical performer.
On second thought, if the cigar boxes were exported to the U.S. then it would make sense to pack the Terror Island cards inside. American cigar smokers would have opened the boxes and seen the cards. The people who marketed this film got really creative. HH was in Britain at the time and was out of this one.
FWIW: The back of the cards written in Spanish, describe the scene depicted in the still and advertise the Paramount stars Houdini and Lila Lee, as well as the maker of the cigars.
Ah–then the cards were meant for Latin American customers.