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Take this for example. A simple kid’s game printed on a big piece of paper, with a cheap metal spinner and pop out paper tokens. Not very impressive, right?

Wrong!

This, my friends, is not only an example of glorious artwork and design, it turns out to be a roadmap through fabulous icons of cultural and entertainment history.

This is “RCA Victor’s Little Nipper Game.”

I learned all about RCA’s famous logo featuring a dog named Nipper when I got my nifty “Little Nipper” radio for Christmas. I’m not surprised to learn that Nipper ended up with his own game at some point in time. Just run a search for the little fella in eBay and you’ll find everything from figurines, to money clips, to satin jackets.

Still, the game looked different from all of these other collectables. Filled with people and creatures of all different shapes and sizes, I began to suspect that there was more to this object, than just traveling a path from Nipper to Santa. After a little digging I found some fascinating answers and a few lingering questions.

A search for “RCA Victor’s Little Nipper Game” didn’t come back with information about the toy. Instead I saw many posts about something called the “The Little Nipper Record Club.” This is one of my lingering questions. While I couldn’t find an article about the club itself. I did discover a link to a page at: antiqueradios.com which posted a few pictures of club memorabilia.

Apparently if a kid joined, they got a welcoming letter and a membership card. I’m guessing this club existed sometime in the 1950s, but if any of you have more information please let me know.

Anyway, there seemed to be no direct link between the club and my game, but if they had nothing to do with one another, why did the club’s name appear in my original search?

It was then that I took a good, hard look at the drawings across the board and discovered the truth. Each figure represented either a mythical character in children’s literary lore, or a famous entertainer from the 1950s.

Amazing.

I decided to travel down the yellow brick trail to see what I could discover. Want to know what I found? Then come along.

At the beginning of the game, Little Nipper jumps up on his hind feet, ready to see us off. The “Start Here” sign is poised over the drawing of a record. Imagine that.

Our first encounter is with a classic villain. After twirling the spinner, you land on space three where you get to meet a delightful animal named J. Worthington Foulfeather. He’s arch-nemesis of Pinocchio in the famous Disney movie. He’s also the perfect example of someone who is “Sly as a Fox,” which is defined by Wonderopolis.org as a “person who is crafty or dishonest…” who “…can usually get whatever you want, sometimes by underhanded means.”

Mr. Foulfeather has sophisticated villain written all over him, despite his quite dapper look.  He’s decked out in a top hat, with a string tie and orange vest draped over a white shirt. Yellow pants and a grey coat complete the ensemble. His demeanor made all the more menacing since he holds a lollipop in one hand and has a malicious smile on his face.

On space 7 you’ll find Roy Rogers, King of the Cowboys. It comes as no surprise that Roy would have a record included in the “Little Nipper Record Club.”

This one looks to be a rip-roarin adventure called “The Masked Marauder” and it turns out that our Marauder has his own space in the game, 16.

A deliciously nasty looking fellow, the Marauder and his back horse seem set on a mission. With teeth clenched, they stride forward toward one, evil purpose. The marauder is dressed in yellow, but his mask is black. His six shooter is drawn and he’s ready for action. If you land on his space you have to go back 2.

Back on space 7, Roy is decked out checked shirt, yellow hat and twirling a lasso. It’s a miracle that he can hang on to his horse, considering the way it’s bucking. The horse is a bright yellow color. Not exactly realistic, but cute. If you land here you get to go forward three spots, not back. Good things happen when heroes like Roy are around, even in the “Little Nipper Game.”

Moving on to space 11 we find the Witch from Snow White. She is delightfully evil with her toothless (mostly) smile. She looks really scary in her green robes and has a wart on her nose. She holds a broom in one hand (what witch would be caught without one) and an poisoned apple in the other. The hand holding the apple is outstretched, almost beckoning.

Next up is Peter Pan’s nemesis, Captain Hook. In this game Hook doesn’t rate a space of his own, but his drawing is larger than some of the other characters, so that’s something. He sails the blue sea on the left side of the board, as the yellow track snakes around him. Hook stands on the deck of his ship, although in this case he’s at least twice as big as the vessel. If his weight really pressed down upon those decks, he’d probably sink the whole thing in 30 seconds. Again, details, details.

Anyway, he looks splendid in his orange-brown coat, with its black trim. His black hat has a feathered plume that shoots up at least three feet. On his face he sprouts a sinister black mustache and on his hand you find a hook instead of fingers.

Next on space 16 it’s the aforementioned Masked Marauder.

Pass him and it’s onto outer space with Tom Corbett Space Cadet. Land here and you jump forward 1. Tom had a series of adventures on television, radio and books in the 1950s and of course had a Little Nipper record. He sure looks spiffy in his yellow spacesuit, bubble helmet and holding a ray gun. He stands next to a two-stage silver rocket ready to blast off to the stars.

Well, here I’ve run out of room on this weeks post and still 11 characters to go. Tune in next week and we will complete our journey through RCA Victor‘s “Little Nipper Game.” Another Glorious piece of Vintage Stuff!