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1941 Home Defense Series
(F279-7)
Quaker Oats Company, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Series Title: Home Defense Series
American Card Catalog No.: F279-7
Manufactured by: Quaker Oats Company
Package Designed with: Quaker Sparkies Cereal Boxes
Country: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Number of Cards: 24 (2 sets of 12 cards)
Card Dimensions: 4.66 × 6.06 inches (nominal)
Circa: 1941
Overview
The genesis of this card set was the Little Orphan Annie radio show of the 1930s.
Little Orphan Annie was adapted to a 15-minute radio show that debuted on WGN Chicago at 5:45 pm EST on April 6, 1931, and eventually aired from coast to coast on NBC’s Blue Network.
The show was one of the first comic strips adapted to radio, attracted about 6 million fans, and left the air in 1942.
The show was initially sponsored by Ovaltine, a flavored milk supplement.
The scripts for the show were written by Ovaltine’s Chicago ad agency staff, and concentrated on pitching Ovaltine, using almost seven minutes of each broadcast to do so.
Fans could redeem Ovaltine proofs of purchase for a secret decoder ring or badge that decoded brief messages airing in the last moments of the show.
In 1940, Quaker Puffed Wheat Sparkies became the show’s sponsor and brought the fictional aviator Captain Sparks to the show.
Sparks eventually became the star, relegating Annie to a secondary player.
On the backs of Quaker Sparkies breakfast cereal boxes, kids could cut out collectible cards of the Home Defense Series.
Sparkies were inspired by Captain Sparks, combat pilot and sidekick of Little Orphan Annie on the Little Orphan Annie Radio Program.
The twelve-card F279-7 Home Defense Series
is actually two 12-card sets of package-design (cards cut-out from the backs of Quaker Sparkies breakfast cereal boxes.
The initial series of package design cards focused on military aircraft, racing aircraft, and flying maneuvers.
The attractive color artwork was surrounded by a thin white border frame and a large yellow border.
The card number was center in the bottom yellow border in the following format, i.e.: NUMBER 3 OF A SERIES … SAVE THEM ALL
.
The second twelve-card package design series is easily differentiated from the first series.
The cards either ask a question or have the letter A
after the card number.
The second series utilizes the artwork of nine cards from the first series with different titles and captions.
Three of the cards contain new artwork and are renumbered as 4A, 7A and 11A.
The cards measure approximately 4.66 × 6.06 inches.
The backs of all the cards are blank.
The American Card Catalog Reference Number is F279-7.
Image-Guide
All of the following card images have been computer enhanced for presentation purposes. The majority of the card images were reconstructed from low-grade scans from multiple sources. Blemishes have been removed, images straightened, etc.
Checklist
| First Printing Series | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uncle Sam’s Cadet Flyers | |
| 2 | Catapulting Navy Scouts | |
| 3 | U.S. Marine Parachutists | |
| 4 | Racing Planes | |
| 5 | Uncle Sam’s Floating Airports | |
| 6 | U.S. Army’s Fastest Fighter | |
| 7 | Laying A Smoke Screen | |
| 8 | Fighters “Peeling Off” | |
| 9 | U.S. Navy Patrol Boats | |
| 10 | Transport Landing At Night | |
| 11 | New Navy Interceptor | |
| 12 | World’s Largest Bomber | |
| Second Printing Series | ||
| 1 | What Ship Do Army Cadets Train In? | |
| 2 | What Are “Shotgun Aviators”? | |
| 3 | What Plane Carries Marine 'Chutists? | |
| 4A | What U.S. Plane Bombed Tokio? | |
| 5 | What Plane Operates From Airplane Carriers? | |
| 6 | What Fighter Plane Carries A Cannon? | |
| 7A | Navy’s Latest Torpedo Bomber | |
| 8 | What Does “Peeling Off” Mean? | |
| 9 | What Is A “Flying Boat”? | |
| 10 | What Is The World’s Leading Airliner? | |
| 11A | What Is The Navy’s Newest Fighter? | |
| 12 | What Is The World’s Biggest Airplane? | |
References
