Cracker Jack Pull-Tab Prize

     Clown Pull-Tab Prize - Front

This Cracker Jack pull-tab prize is 1 1/4" x 1 3/4" and is made of thick paper. There is a slide card between the front and back; the black directions on the back of the slide portion say to "FOLD DOWN" a tab and then "PUSH UP AND DOWN" to create a picture change. The front of this clown prize has slots cut out at the eyes and mouth so that the face changes when the slide card is moved. The clown's eyes will move to the side and his smile becomes toothy. This series of prizes is reminiscent of one of the earliest series, the "Cracker Jack Movies" prizes, which were distributed at least before 1922.

Clown Pull-Tab Prize - Back

Additional instructions on the back in red are specific to each prize in the series. For example, this one says, "WATCH THE CLOWN MOVE HIS EYES AND MOUTH."

Based on company archival evidence and private collections, there are at least 26 other prizes in this series, including the face of a different clown wearing a collar instead of a bow tie, a magic bird cage, and Cinderella's magic coach. There is a cowboy's face, too.

But not all of the prizes in the series are faces. With one, looking in the mirror and pulling the tab will reveal "Who is the fairest of them all?" Find other prizes in the series and watch Pinocchio's nose grow, witness a zebra become a gorilla and a lion become a polar bear in two different circus wagons, experience a space ship leave a rocket, or view a submarine rise from the depths of the sea.

All of the prizes in the series have the bright yellow border. The prizes are not marked Cracker Jack, but they are dated 1964 on the back.

 

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© Jim Davis 10/12/02

Revised 2/28/04