Eat your heart out, Janis Joplin

Submitted by Douglas Wood February 20th, 2013
Certifikitsch Winner

Ok, so maybe the pairing of celebrity to product isn’t as perfect as Bill Cosby and Jell-O, Brooke Shields and Calvin Klein, or June Allyson and Depends, but you gotta give American Greetings credit for letting Hallmark nab the Peanuts gang for their cards and going instead for the most influential electric guitar player of all time– just two years before choking on his own vomit in a drug overdose– Jimi Hendrix!

I nearly passed out when I came across this pop culture hybrid-from-hell at an estate sale.  How a creative exec in 1968 managed to convince his boss that Jimi Hendrix lyrics and photos would look great on romantic greeting cards is beyond me.  Perhaps they were all in a Purple Haze?

The cards have the first part of a lyric on the front and the rest inside.  This one says…

…and continues with…

The others say:  “I have one burning desire… let me stand next to your fire,” and “Is this love, baby… or is it just confusion?”  Ah, the summer of love.

5 Responses to “Eat your heart out, Janis Joplin”

  1. Allee Willis

    Wow, you scored!!! Each ANOTHER little piece of your heart out, Janis!

    I went to see Jimi Hendrix at Madison Square Garden in 1968. He came on stage 2 hours late, stood up in front of the microphone, stood there for about 2 min., slowly slid down the front of it, and they hauled him off and that was it. Same thing happened in 1986 when I went to see Sly Stone at the Comedy Store. I went with Ashford and Simpson. Sly came on 2 hours late, set down at the keyboard, slumped over for a couple minutes, eventually his head crashed down into it, and they hauled him off stage. This is why I don’t go to a lot of concerts. But finding greeting cards like this is why I do go to a lot of garage sales!

  2. BRBill

    Wow, what a find. I think you just paid for any children of yours college educations or at least a semester or two. I would imagine that these are rarer than the proverbial hens teeth.

    • Douglas Wood

      Surprisingly, I listed them on eBay months ago and they never got a bid, so my wife wound up giving them to a friend who’s a Hendrix fan. I think there are some up on eBay right now if you want to grab them!