The first card is the 1954-55 Parkie and it shows Ko Togo (L) and Tosh Togo (R) from a promotional shot. This card has a “Lucky Premium” back instead of the regular 1954-55 back. These backs were instant win cards of sorts and offered mail-away offers where you had to send in the card plus the cost (I am guessing for shipping and handling) and you got the item on the card back. My card is for the Cinderella watch but some of the other items were a flash camera with a 50mm lens ($3.75), a high powered giant field glass ($2.00) and a Hopalong Cassidy boy’s wrist watch ($5.95). When the cards were redeemed for the item they were kept by the company so cards with the Lucky Premium back are not as common as the regular cards.
The second card is the 1955-56 Parkie and shows Tosh Togo (L w/ hammer) and Ko Togo (R w/block). This was a time when wrestling was real but the three were more than wrestlers. Previously I had talked about Tosh Togo (The Great Togo, aka Harold Sakata) being a weightlifter but the other two were master martial artists so they often did other events where they showed off their skills, and I am figuring that this cinder block break was at one of those events.
There were three Togo brothers though none of them were actually related. There was Tosh Togo (Toshiyuki/Harold Sakata), Ko Togo (Kokichi Endo) and Mas Togo (Mas Oyama). Ko Togo and Mas Togo do not have their own cards in either set and I haven’t been able to find any cards featuring Mas at all.
I did come across a picture of the three “brothers” together.
Very cool. Oddjob was definitely a memorable role for Tosh Togo.
ReplyDeleteHow strange, I was looking at these two cards on COMC just last night!
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