Wacky Wednesdays – Smith Sisters!

CC_WackyWednesdays_Smith Sisters TITLE PLATE

Though I’ve largely retired it as a semi-regular column, I recently had reason to bring back Wacky Wednesdays – at least for today’s post on the 1974 parody sticker classic, Smith Sisters!

I’ve spoken in the past about my love of Topps’ Wacky Packages parody stickers, both the 1970’s classics as well as the modern iterations.  For those that don’t know, Wacky Packages were (primarily) peel-away sticker parodies of the packaging of well-known consumer products.  As a kid, these stickers captured my imagination – which might be part of the reason I have found such fascination as an adult with packaging at large and candy in specific.

Needless to say, one of the things I’ve had fun doing is trying to track down the exact version of packaging that has been parodied in the original Wacky Packages series.  It’s a fun offshoot of my hobby but I also feel it is important for historical perspective and understanding of Wacky Packages themselves.   Without a clear image of the target of their parody, without that context, it may eventually become difficult if not impossible to understand their humor.  And in most cases tracking down those original packages can be very tough to do.

Such was the case with the original product featured with the Wacky sticker, Smith Sisters, a parody of Smith Brothers cough drops.

Smith Sisters - Wacky Packages 5th Series - 1973-4

Smith Sisters – Wacky Packages 5th Series – 1973-4

[Edit:  Smith Brothers being a cough drops product might force it out of my preferred category of confection, but I feel that it’s okay.  In my own youth, I often consumed Smith Brothers cherry cough drops as if they WERE candy, and I hope I’m not alone in that.]

I’ve been searching for the style of Smith Brothers cough drops box parodied in this original series Wacky for the better part of ten years.  Surprisingly, this specific version of a Smith Brothers box never surfaced until recently, and I say surprisingly because it seemed as though the significantly different 1960’s (or earlier) style box showed up every week.  But not this one.

I would finally acquire the box in question when I saw it in the collection of a European candy box collector late last year.  I flipped out when I spotted it on his Instagram, contacted him regarding it, and we soon worked out a trade.  Here it is:

Warner-Lambert - Smith Brothers Wild Cherry - 15-cent medicated cough drops box - early 1970's

Warner-Lambert – Smith Brothers Wild Cherry – 15-cent medicated cough drops box – early 1970’s

As I have a couple of times in the past, I assembled a side-by-side look at the sticker and the original box, framing the original in the Wacky Packages sticker frame:

Smith Sisters - Smith Brothers Wacky Wednesday comparison

Smith Sisters – Smith Brothers Wacky Wednesday comparison

And so ends one of my collector quests.  I can finally put my “Smith Brothers” saved eBay search to rest once and for all.

That’s everything for this special Wacky Wednesdays – see you next time!

CC_WackyWednesdays_Smith Sisters CLOSING IMAGE_Colorfied

About Jason Liebig

A New York City based writer, editor and sometimes actor. After spending much of the 1990′s in the comic book business helping tell the stories of Marvel Comics’ X-Men as series editor, he has since split his time between developing his own entertainment properties while still consulting and working on others. Having been described as “the Indiana Jones of lost and forgotten candy”, Jason is one of the country’s premier candy collectors and historians with his discoveries appearing in countless blogs, magazines, newspaper articles, and books. Always happy to share his knowledge and unique perspectives on this colorful part of our popular culture, Jason has consulted with New York’s Museum of Food and Drink and has also been a featured guest on Food Network’s Heavyweights, France’s M6 Capital, and New York’s TheActionRoom.com. My Google Profile+
This entry was posted in 1970's, Boxed, Topps, Wacky Packages and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to Wacky Wednesdays – Smith Sisters!

  1. GP says:

    I was about to accuse the Smith Brothers of murdering the Pine Brothers because I have not seen a box of the Pine Brother soft almost-chewy cough drops for years. But a quick web search finds that I was looking in the wrong section: they’re now in a hang-bag. No more box 🙁

    • Tom says:

      I have not seen Pine Bros in the box format, but I have seen them in nice-looking canisters, the ones approximating the size and shape of a small shoe polish tin, same as those you can sometimes find with various breath mint products. Not quite the same as the classic box, but a nice way to preserve more or less the same packaging design.

      On a related note “Honees” cough drops, another throwback brand, have been back on well-stocked candy stores for a few years now. Packaging graphics same as I remember back in the n the day.

  2. GP says:

    I adore wacky-pack stickers. As a kid, I did not collect the sheets (how was one to predict ebay would make anything worth a zillion dollars?) I have a steno pad covered with them. I’ll keep it to my dying day 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *