Monday, December 3, 2012

Cheerful Card Company can help you earn extra money for the holidays

  • "It costs you nothing to try."
  • "$100.00 IS YOURS for selling only 100 boxes of our new Crystal Fantasy Christmas Card box assortment."
  • "You make $1.00 for selling 1 box, $2.00 for 2 boxes, $10.00 for 10 boxes, etc."
  • "You can make a few dollars or hundreds of dollars."
  • "All you do is call on neighbors, friends and relatives anywhere in your spare time."
  • "Everyone needs and buys Christmas cards."
  • "No experience necessary."
The above image and excerpts are from the top half of the glossy advertisement that appeared on the back cover of the November 1971 issue of Marvel Tales comics.1 The Cheerful Card Company could help you make EXTRA MONEY by selling boxes of Crystal Fantasy Christmas cards. The cards, which came in boxes of 20, were described as "really deluxe cards" and "excitingly different."2

I'm not making that up. Look:


I'm not sure what the difference was between "deluxe" and "really deluxe." And, based on the illustration, "excitingly different" apparently involved some candles with what looks like Easter eggs in front of them. Somehow, I don't think these Cheerful cards approached the quality of Hawthorne-Sommerfield greeting cards.

Other products offered by Cheerful (which had a 96-page color catalog) included:
  • Pastel Pets: "10 heart warming giant size cards of unusual appeal."
  • Correspondence Circles stationery: "24 large sheets, each almost 8" in diameter. Bright colors, pink envelopes. Latest vogue."
  • Deluxe Christmas Gift Wrapping: "15 gay, colorful large sheets. Terrific."
Cheerful Card Company, a division of Bevis Industries3, was surely a top-notch business that made lots of money for comic-book readers by offering wonderful commissions and dandy products. I mean, anything that has a "Dept. Z-28" must be on the up and up, right?

In fact, the company hoped that getting you to sell Christmas cards on its behalf would be the start of a long and fruitful relationship. Elsewhere in the advertisement, it states:
"As a Cheerful Dealer I will also be privileged to receive additional FREE money-making literature, catalogs, special offers and seasonal samples on approval as they become available."
Privileged, eh?

Yes, you were certainly privileged to become their next sucker, I'm sure.

(UPDATE: Oh, how wrong-wrong-wrong I was with my flippant opinions in this post. To see how wrong, check out all the comments below and also see this January 2016 post for some vintage samples of their cards.)

Footnotes
1. Marvel Tales featured reprints of stories previously published by Marvel Comics. This issue features past tales involving Spider-Man and Iron Man. In one of the stories, Spider-Man finds himself battling Rhino (aka Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich). If you're interested in the history of Marvel Comics during this time period, you might want to check out the recently published "Marvel Comics: The Untold Story" by Sean Howe. To get a taste of the book, you can read a lengthy excerpt that was posted on Grantland.
2. Note that nowhere in the advertisement does it tell you the price of the box of 20 Christmas cards. That's a fairly important omission.
3. Oh look, here's a 1970 court case involving Bevis Industries, fraud and "certain unfair selling practices." Surprised?


42 comments:

  1. i remember when i was a youngster seeing the above add in a magizine and sending for the kit to sell greeting cards. i do not remember how much i earned. that had to be 50 years ago. i am now going to be 66. what a happy memory.

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    1. I sold them for years. I too am 66 and had a loyal customer base. So much so that when i stopped i had customers calling Me. Only reason i stopped was when they sent out this years kit and several weeks later sent the letter asking if you wanted them!

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    2. I’m 75 and was selling for the Cheerful Card Company when I was 6. Our poor neighbors and friends had to listen to me. I ended up spending my professional life in sales. :o)

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    3. I enjoy selling and buying things, cards and gadgets were available , still remember my I'd #.. lol, that was late 1960's

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  2. How funny. I am 66 and was just telling my wife how I use to dress up and carry my brief case with me.....I was 11 or 12.....knock on the door and say "I represent the Cheerful Card Company of (somewhere) New York and I would like to show you our line of Christmas Cards." I didn't always make a sale but I did score milk and cookies on numerous occasions. I remember making enough one Christmas to shock my Dad and he wasn't shocked easily. What a fun read.

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    1. Somewhere? I remember Larchmont, N.Y.

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    2. I am 67 now I sold Cheerful Card company cards. I was just thinking about them and wanted to see if I could still find something from my past on them. Oh gosh, I couldn’t believe how many memories. Thank you. It was a great time in my life.

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    3. White Plains, NY is where the Cheerful Card Company had its Headquarters.

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  3. I remember seeing the adverts in the back of the comic books I read in the early 1960's. I sold Cheerful Cards to neighbors and on my mothers job. I am now 61. What an experience. I wish I had those comics now!

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    1. I am a legend of cheerful house , I used to sell door to door , my neighbors would look through the catalog , and buy from me .
      Christmas cards , birthday cards, oh my God those were the days. Every one who saw them wanted to buy them. That was back in 1972 , cheerful house just brought tears to my eyes and alot of wonderful memories.i was 12 years old back then , today I'm 60 , and it feels like it was just yesterday. 48 years have passed I thought they were gone for ever , but when I saw this
      It's a great feeling.

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    2. I did the same,

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  4. Selling door-to-door for the Cheerful Card Company was my first job. I was nine years old. Tons of sales, plenty of money. I am sure this experience had propelled me into an after-school newspaper route by the time I was eleven (child labor laws were easily flouted in those days), and another better-paying job by the time I was sixteen. All in all, I look back on my days with the Cheerful Card Company as the beginning of a lifetime of enjoying running my own company. Children should not be prevented from working!

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    1. I feel the same way , I sold cards for them when I was 12 , my mom got jealous , I was earning more than her full time job

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  5. I'm 74 years and sold cheerful cards and sold them as a young mother with children. I just thought it was fun and I loved the knickknacks, cards, etc. The products were so easy to sell. does anyone know if they're still in business?

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  6. I was 11 years old and I remember it well. I have never forgotten the kit I recd. It was a cardboard box that folded up like a briefcase with a handle. I was so proud to go to the neighbors and sell. It was awesome. It was my first job.
    fw-alpharetta ga

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  7. I am 82 years old and remember selling 100 Cheerful Cards when I was 16 years old and earned a beautiful green coat with a black velvet collar. I remember putting it on and thinking I looked more beautiful than Elizabeth Taylor!

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  8. I am 58 and sold these cards for many years when I was younger and had regular customers who wanted imprinted cards. When I stopped selling them I still had people calling me back for years hoping I would start again. Great memories!

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  9. I am 68 (almost 69) and Cheerfully sold my cards from the Cheerful card company to friends and relatives. My mother was shocked when the box came to our door with my "first business venture" enclosed. I was very proud to won my own business. Fond memories.

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  10. I am almost 69 and remember selling them for several years in my early and pre-teen years. I enjoyed selling them and enjoyed the money although I never sold 100 boxex in a year.

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  11. I earned the money to buy my first bicycle this way, I think I had saved $19.50, the guy wanted $25 but my dad talked to his dad and I got it for $22.50 and my dad loaned me the $3. Schwinn Stingray, about 1971. It was a good experience, and I probably wouldn't have gotten a bike for Christmas as a neighbor kid had bonked his head on the pavement, (no helmets then)

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  12. I am 87 years old and this was my second job. My first was selling Cloverine white salve from the same type of ad.

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  13. I sold these as a child back in the 1950's. They were beautiful cards. You could even have your name printed on the cards. This company was a legitimate company.

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  14. Absolutely NOT a sucker gimmick. I am 70 and sold the cards when I was eight and nine. I made $25 the first year, which paid all but $5.00 of my mother's monthly mortgage payment! It was my first success in life and I look back at it fondly. I still have a set of folders with cards attached.

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    1. I was looking for info. I have an empty box that was my mother's, I want to frame it and give it to my daughter but I have no info on the company and/or who the illustrator was. I thought if you still have stuff from that you might find some information for me. Thanks

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  15. I sold Cheerful house cards to order things for myself with the profit when I was around 9 or 10 years old. Not sure how I did it, as I was extremely shy. I remember ordering 2 "surprise boxes" filled with random items, and then doing my Christmas shopping out of the boxes. I was so proud to mail my grandparents a Christmas package one year, as they use to do that for us, but we never sent them anything. I mailed my grandpa a "silent night" music box made of plastic. It was an angel playing an organ. Grandpa played the piano. And I mailed grandma egg & custard cups. They held your boiled egg or turn it upside down and it was a custard cup.

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  16. I recently went through a box from my grandparents home and found 11 Salesman samples folders that have these cards in them. They look to be from the mid 50's. I love the suggestions on how to personalize your cards "Mr. and Mrs. J. Bell and their little "Chimes" is one of the suggestions. Love them! Not sure what to do with them, but so cool.

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  17. I sent in the ad from the back of a comic when I was 8. I sold Cheerful Cards to all of my family, friends and neighbors. It was my first job, first money of my own and a strong lesson on meeting and dealing with different kinds of people, including some difficult cases. I would not take anything for the experience now and I am just retiring at 66! Wonderful, vivid delightful memories! You are simply uninformed if you think we were all "suckers"!

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  18. I worked for the Cheerful Card Company in White Plains NY in the summer of 1965. What a nightmare that was. It was like being in prison.

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  19. My mother sold these cards every fall to earn money for our Christmas gifts. Without the Cheerful Card Company we might never have had Christmas gifts. Definitely not a scam and I still smile remembering looking thru the "selling book"

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  20. 66 seems to be the magical age. I'm 66 as well.
    I proudly sold not only greeting cards, I also sold flower and veggie seeds during the same years. Can't remember if both products were thru The Cheerful Card Company, but I do remember the experience.
    My first big sale was to our local bank. My mom took me to deposit my 'milk money' from school and l brought my case. The manager was so impressed with my cards and sales pitch that he purchased imprinted Christmas cards from me for 3 years.
    Because we were military we moved often. I sold cards and seeds until I was a freshman in high school.
    Wonderful memories of my customers and personal growth. Still have boxes of cards😎

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  21. I am 61 years old and I also have wonderful memories of selling Cheerful Christmas cards to friends and family in the Bronx, NY in the late 1960s. I also recall the cardboard box that folded into a carrying case, and the beautiful catalogue with sample cards. I think I was young, maybe 10 or 11 years old, the first year and continued for several years after that. The experience gave me a real sense of pride and independence. Of course the extra money was fantastic too.

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  22. I am 75 years old and remember well, when I was 10 years old or so, lugging around an old beat up suitcase filled with my "samples". Mr. and Mrs. Fisher were very elderly neighbors and always my best customers. I vividly remember Mrs. Fisher opening the door one year excitedly saying "we were wondering if you were coming!" I think they loved having a visitor as much as they loved buying the cards and gift wrapping paper. Ah, the good old days. Parents wouldn't dare let their kids do this today for fear that they would be abused or kidnapped, or worse. So things have NOT gotten better with time. Besides, most kids today seem to be too self-absorbed with their $$$ iPhones. It seems to be all about social media - not developing social skills. Sad!

    Well, Jennie and Charlie Fisher, your "Cheerful" kindness to a young kid has never been forgotten!

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  23. I sold Cherrful Greeting cards in the 1960s. I was 10 years old when I started and made a nice amount of money for a kid my age. I went door to door, mostly on my block, and many neighbors ordered cards. I enjoyed it. I selected the Cheerful Card Company because I earned cash instead of prizes. I'm so glad I had that experience. Today, direct marketing businesses focus on recruiting more than selling. I never had to recruit to make money back then

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  24. UnknownJuly 28, 2020 at 3:29 PM
    I too, had great experience 70 years ago sending off for a sample box of cheerful cards. Every person commented as to how they had never seen such pretty cards. I even sold scalloped stationery to a young teenage boy. Those cards "sold" themselves and my younger sisters continued that legacy after I went off to military school; for another TEN years!I learned a lot about selling and keeping customners such that when I started my own insurance business,I became a beloved agent.

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  25. I currently work for an organisation that provides care to people with disabilities in N. Ireland. The premises were bought and donated to the local community by Thomas Doran, who I believe may have owned the Cheerful Card Company. Would anyone know if this was correct and what happened to the company and Thomas Doran.

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    1. Thomas Doran was my Uncle. He sold the company in 1966 and he died in 1970. Parkanaur bought (mostly) by him in 1958 and given to a friend of his to set up and run

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    2. Hello- Tom Doran’s sister Eveline was my Grandads first wife. She passed away a year after my aunt (half) Joan was born, Tom’s niece. Would love to know how you’re connected! Tom sold the co. For $10m in 1966 but not sure to whom.

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    3. I worked there in the summer of 1965. It was the most horrible place I have ever worked. Stuck in a back room with no a/c and no windows and we were not allowed to speak to anyone ever, among other things.

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    4. Interesting ... he was my Uncle too !! Married to my father's sister (Peg). There is a book written (The Helping hand) which includes the story about TD Buying Parkanaur for Gerry Eakins who founded the centre

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  26. I worked there as a data entry operator, find memories of fellow employees. Nice to read people have good memories of our company

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  27. I used to sell Cheerful House Cards and products in the 70's.
    My wife and I were cleaning out a box today and found an ad for their BiCentennial Flag special offer. it was in a box I had stored some of my father's stuff in, the box came from Cheerful House, Bevis, from Baltic Connecticut. That box is 46 years old. Brought back many memories.

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  28. I sold four years Cheerful Cards and gadgets back in 1954 what fun I had helped to be more self confident and proud for selling. Every kid should have the great feeling I had all those years ago!

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