1960s Face Hangers

As they say, more than three of anything is a collection, so I guess I have a hanger collection.  These were popular with the Junior High set in the late 1960s, so that means, of course, that they appeal to me today.   These all seem to be made by the same manufacturer, and are screenprinted on plywood.  I love that the hangers have a front and a back.

These are really hard to find today.  I’ve been collecting them for around 10 years, and I only have the six you see here.  But even harder to locate are the ones showing old screen stars.  The late 60s heralded the beginning of a wave of nostalgia among the young, and one manifestation of this was a fascination with the stars of the 30s and 40s.   Two of these are copyright 1967, and the Clark Gable one was featured in a gift guide in Seventeen magazine that Christmas.  They are printed on heavy cardboard and have plastic hooks.

The two companies that made these were Henderson-Hoggard and Famous Faces.    Besides the three I have, there is another Bogart,  WC Fields,  Oliver Hardy, Ben Turpin, Jean Harlow,  Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando.  I’m sure there have to be others, and searching for these online has proved to be difficult.  According to Hake’s, there were hangers showing the Beatles, the Monkees and Jimi Hendrix, most of which I did manage to find.

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who knows more about these hangers.  I did learn that Famous Faces was primarily a poster printer.  That makes sense.