Who is Barnum's "fat lady"?

July 22, 2018 8:05 AM

Help identify this old card game.

On twitter, user HistoryBones asks:

"Bought this old card game but there are no identifying markers on it anywhere. My only clues are some of the questions that date the game. Anyone have an idea?"

Images of the cards are available on that linked tweet.

posted by komara to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (5 answers total)

About when was the game released?
posted by brujita at 11:57 AM on July 22, 2018

If they mean Mary Anderson the actress, that puts the game in the 40s to 50s, if that helps.
posted by frumiousb at 2:56 PM on July 22, 2018

The Mary Anderson I was thinking of was also an actress, but active starting in the 1870s. The "uncommon scold" might refer to Anne Royall, another 19th-century figure, and in Trollope's Barchester Towers (1857), Obadiah Slope gets his ears boxed (by Eleanor Bold).

Are the backs of these cards just blank, or do questions appear on both sides?
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:15 PM on July 22, 2018

Is there a reason you think it’s a game and not something like a collection of tobacco cards?

I did find this site for vintage non-sports cards. It’s a lot more pages than I want to go through. They refer to a chat board at the top, so maybe someone there could help.
posted by FencingGal at 4:40 PM on July 22, 2018

Yeah, I agree they are likely tobacco cards.
posted by Miko at 5:30 AM on July 23, 2018