Title
Here’s Your Special Prize Gift-and also the 5000 Roller Skate Winners in My Island-Naming Contest!
Publisher
Ovaltine and Little Orphan Annie,
Date
1938.
Description
The cartoon Little Orphan Annie was serialized on radio during the 1930s. Its sponsor was Ovaltine chocolate drink. In 1938, the Orphan Annie character announced she had discovered an imaginary island and asked listeners to name it and describe why they chose the name. 5,000 lucky winners are listed in this folded paper sheet. (It’s hard to believe that 5,000 children received roller skates just for sending in island names.) For the others whose island names were not chosen, there is a reward of the Shado-ettes. These six movable-jaw puppet heads, representing characters from the Orphan Annie story, were to be punched out, assembled by the child, then placed in front of a light source to create “talking” shadows. An additional set of Shado-ettes was available for sending in the gold seal on the Ovaltine package. The roller skates, by Union Hardware in Torrington, Connecticut, could be had for sending in the coupon cut from the accompanying flyer and five cents to cover postage and handling. What a promotion!
Source
Collection of Ellen G. K. Rubin.