joemarbles

Recently saw/heard some 'marble' references in music, for instance, this cowboy song from 1949.

MONEY, MARBLES AND CHALK

Written and recorded by Pop Eckler

INTRO: [G] Money, marbles and [D] chalk sweetheart .........

( [A7] notes to last line of chorus [D] )

There's an old [G] sayin' that's [D] been all around

I [A7] heard it before I could [D] walk

How some's got [G] health and [D] some's got wealth

Others [A7] money, marbles and [D] chalk.

Chorus:

I got [G] money, marbles and [D] chalk, sweetheart

But I [A7] still feel like I am [D] poor

'Cause my money won't [G] spend

And my [D] marbles won't roll

And my [A7] chalk won't write any-[D] more.

While you were here I was happy and gay

Your presence made me feel so proud

But you - left me for another one day

Now I feel alone in a crowd.

Chorus:

TALK: (same chord progression)

You know folks, money is a funny thing

Just like marbles, it rolls both ways; to you and from you

Strange isn't it? how all your friends will pass you by

When you havent got a dime; When you got money, hah!

There isn't enough chalk in the world to write down

The names of all of your so-called fair-weather friends

Many of us have been up and down many times

And our friends keep rolling back and forth

Just like a handful of marbles on a teeter-totter

And my [A7] chalk won't write any-[D] more.

Money, marbles and chalk is all right

For misers who love only gold

But give me a chance to save our romance

For I love you with all of my soul.

Chorus: (2x)

And Jimmy Rogers recorded a blues song called Money, Marbles and Chalk in the early 1950s (with Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica).

Lastly, the rock band Marillion put out a disc called Marbles several years ago. It features four songs with the title Marbles (I-IV). The disc jacket also has

digital images of marbles. You can find it on their website at www.Marillion.com

I saw a Leave It to Beaver episode where the Beaver was playing marbles with his friend Larry. Couldn't tell what kind of marbles they had. I think it was in the second season.

Tabletop croquet games with unglazed white clay marbles. Each marble has a different color ribbon. One has a gold ribbon.

One of the boxes says "Germany."

(click to enlarge)

Those Czech marbles got me thinking about the transitional Tornado pics (Charley Hix Jr. collection) in Block's "Collecting Early Machine-Made Marbles" (pp22 and 30). -- Maybe the pics from Sport's Illustrated are loosely assembled as a chronology and the whirled cats are transitionals.

We should probably not overlook the fact that these marbles -- and perhaps the comments about them -- came from Sellers Peltier and Berry Pink. See how the "whirled" cats eyes are placed pictorally just below the handmades, almost as if they are saying "these are quite sad by comparison". I can't help but think that these old marble guys -- who had lots of exerience using the media to their advantage -- were laying the ground work for their venture into the cats eye market. Could these have been experimental marbles by Peltier for instance; and might the comment "not favored by mibsters" relate to their own extensive research into what children wanted in a cats eye? All speculation for now.

1). Any info in that Vitro book (or other sources) about Parrots? I assume they were made around the time of Tiger Eyes but don't know for sure (my reasoning has to do with incremental evidence, including the presence of lavender -- see below). Anything on Phantoms (1950s?)?

2). When you say "old" All-Reds (meaning pre-1959), do you mean the black band All-Reds? It would make sense that the black band All-Reds, Blackies and Whities were made around the same time -- 1950s?

3). I notice in my collection that lavender was used in Tiger Eye types and 4 vane cats eyes. Yet, I can't find it in All-Reds, Blackies, Whities or 5 vane cats. Granted, my collection is meager. (Six, et al, says they found only one example of a Blackie with lavender -- American Machine-Made Marbles). Do you have any of these marbles with lavender?

Of the basic colors found in Tiger Eyes and Conquerors (yellow, orange, red, lavender, green, light blue, dark blue, green, brown (or is this really a dk shade of orange?) and black -- it seems only lavender is lost (by the 1960s?). Or was it? I wonder if the restrictions on lead crystal glass, metals and uranium (around 1960) is related to the loss of this color from the Vitro palette or if it is just coincidence. What happened to Vitro and Gladding lavender?

Similarly, I have Helmets, Tri-lights, Conquerors and Phantoms that glow under blacklight (presence of Uranium). No TigerEyes, All-Reds, Blackies, Whities, or hybrid Cat Eyes that glow.

On a related topic, I once asked a university professor (chemistry, molecular physics) if it would be possible to discern the chemical composition of certain marbles by crushing them and separating out their chemical compositions (in some cool scientific way). He said, yes. But it would be a very expensive experiment involving complex machinery. Oh well. We'll have to wait until advancements in science allow for a home version! He thought it was intriguing though.

It would be great to get a scientific account (i.e. chemistry) of the change in colors in the 1950s and 1960s due to federal restrictions.

Joe

modularforms said:

So do you think these are American? They remind me a little Czech corks but I trust the author wouldn't have pulled the scrap glass idea out of thin air.

And what year DID Peltier and Marble King come out with their own lines of what we recognize as cat's eyes? I just read in the Vitro book that theirs were introduced in Sept. 1954.

According to American Machine-Made Marbles, 2006, (Six, et al), Marble King began producing cats eyes in June 1955 and Peltier in 1955. The MK date comes from an interview with MK's Roger Howdyshell. Pelt year comes from interview with Gino Biffany.

Based on the pics, "moonstones" appear to be the opalescent (fire opals) and/or the translucent, milky types that glow a bit with light behind them. Still a favorite, especially those Akro Agates that have oxblood!

Here's the 2nd page. Pics with captions. Interesting comments about the marbles -- from a 1955 perspective.

It looks like they are referring to Onionskins as the "first American glass marbles" and "poor imitations of imported candy stripes".

And check out what they called Cats eyes! Marbles with "colored whirl design" -- are those corks?

(Hey Steph -- check out the name of the dyed clays -- "miggles" -- !)

An article from Sports Illustrated on June 20, 1955.