Monday, January 26, 2009

Classic Hockey Pictures

When I was young I collected hockey pictures that came from Beehive Syrup. I still have them in a binder. I have 29 pictures from about 1962/63 to 1967, mostly of Toronto Maple Leafs that I was a fan of in that era as I previously posted about the Leafs last Stanley Cup win in 1967.


The upper two pictures are of Tim Horton and George Armstrong of the Leafs. Most young people now only know of Tim Horton as a donut chain. The pictures in this style were made up to 1964. The lower two pictures are of Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull. Bobby Hull is shown here promoting Beehive Syrup. The picture style for Bobby Hull was used from 1964 to 1967.

The St. Lawrence Starch Company in Port Credit Ontario that made Beehive Syrup first started the hockey picture promotion in 1934. The players themselves got little or nothing for the pictures other than a few cans of syrup. The company discontinued the pictures in 1967 due to NHL expansion and the newly formed NHL Players Association wanting royalties for the players.

To get 29 pictures, I must have got my Mom to buy a lot of syrup because you could send for one picture with each proof of purchase. As a marketing promotion for the company it must have worked because to this day I will hardly use any kind of syrup other than Beehive corn syrup.

2 comments:

Queen of West Procrastination said...

I love your Beehive hockey cards! Have you written about your airplane wheel collection yet? You should take pictures of them.

The Blog Fodder said...

The airplane wheel collection was from Jello? I think ross has a full set including holder of car wheels from Jello. It way still be at the farm