Table game, 'Cuebridge A New Game' by J. W. Spear & Sons Ltd., card, printed in colours, wood and painted clay, Germany, England, 1925-1935

A card box, covered with red paper and with a label printed in colours to show the title, maker's details and an illustration of children and a grandmother playing the game; instructions are printed on the inside of the lid.

It contains a bridge structure of blue card with a printed front and three arches, a wooden cue and six clay marbles painted black, red, blue, white, green and yellow, and one small marble painted green. The bridge is the target and made of two curved blue card panels separated by four blue card blocks stapled on. The front top edge is also shaped with outline figures and the bottom edge is cut with three arches, the middle one numbered 1 and the outer ones 3. The front is covered with paper printed in colours to show a brick bridge with three groups of children, one with a dog, four together and one with a golly.

Given by Susan Heads on behalf of Edna Lewington (deceased)

The original golly was a central character in a series of books published between 1895 and 1909. Bertha Upton (1849–1912) wrote the books and her daughter, Florence Kate Upton (1873–1922), illustrated them. They based the character ‘Golliwogg’ (as it was originally spelled) on a doll Florence owned as a child growing up in 1880s America. The appearance and clothing of the doll (see B.493-1997) is based on the ‘blackface minstrel’ figure, a 19th-century racial caricature of African Americans. Blackface minstrel shows were performed by white actors and singers, who parodied African Americans by darkening their skins with shoe polish or burnt cork. These portrayals perpetuated many negative stereotypes and were steeped in racism. The shows originated in the USA, with the first widely known blackface character, ‘Jim Crow’, appearing around 1830. Soon after it became popular in the UK, which developed its own blackface traditions.

Florence moved to the UK in the 1890s, where the Uptons’ books became very popular. Their Golliwogg character was not copyrighted, allowing multiple representations of the golly to enter the public domain. The character featured in British toys, games, textiles, ceramics and children’s books, and was used as a mascot by the food manufacturer, Robertson’s, from about 1910. From the 1980s the character’s popularity began to wane as campaigners fought against the racist stereotypes that the golly represented. Robertson’s continued to promote the figure as part of a British ‘national tradition’ until 2001, when they stopped using the golly in their branding.

This is most interesting as the game is for family use both as a table version and a floor version. The illustrations shows three children and an older woman with dark grey hair. At the bottom of the label it states GRANNY HAVING THE FIRST SHOT. It is very rare for such a comment to be found on any game.

Attribution note: published
Reason For Production: retail

B.244:1 to 5-1999