Chameleons and the pet trade history ..

Just read this. Here's the link:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/02/26/comic.book.auction/index.html

here's the headline:
'Unrestored' copy of first Superman comic book for sale.

Its a 1938 comic book, btw, the first "Superman", which was also the first comic book superhero. Here's a blurb from the article that caught my eye:

Because the book was published at the close of the Great Depression, it contains advertisements that may appear quaint and quirky to 21st century readers. For only $1.25, one could buy a blonde wig, a live chameleon, a whoopee cushion, a Bible "the size of a postage stamp" or hypnosis lessons.

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I don't have $400K to see what the nature of early chameleon retail advertising was like. I also never thought live chameleons were offered back then, but I also was not yet a twinkle in my Dad's eye, so what did I know. If anything, knowing now that live chameleons were part of the advertising income that brought the first Superman comic to print makes me smile.

wow a live chameleon for 1.25 what a deal.lol. i wonder what kind of chameleon it was and who had them.

I'd be curious to see what it was they were advertising for sure but I suspect it was probably an "American Chameleon", not our type of chameleon. The old boyscout magazines used to advertise chameleons as well but they were actually Anolis.

Chris

I know that in many parts of the country, anoles are called chameleons, as Chris said, but I have spoken to a few people that have told me it used to be fashionable around that time (1930's-1945ish) for women to wear a live chameleon instead of a broach. I wonder if it was an anole instead? That seems much more likely.

I'm wondering what was the success rate on keeping chams at that time since I'm pretty confident that they didn't have most of the technology we have today.

When I was little we used to catch anoles and let them bite our ears and just hang from them lol. I dunno how fashionable it was, I think we just did it for fun (although we always preferred the more rare (at least in Miami) green ones).

desultadox said:

When I was little we used to catch anoles and let them bite our ears and just hang from them lol. I dunno how fashionable it was, I think we just did it for fun (although we always preferred the more rare (at least in Miami) green ones).

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Haha, that makes me think of my childhood. I lived in Kansas and we would catch lightning bugs (fireflies) and rub the glowing goo from them on us as facepaint. Looking back, I have regrets about that for multiple reasons. :\

kenya said:

I know that in many parts of the country, anoles are called chameleons, as Chris said, but I have spoken to a few people that have told me it used to be fashionable around that time (1930's-1945ish) for women to wear a live chameleon instead of a broach.

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My mother told me the same thing. They used to get them at fairs and carnivals, and wore them as accessories. They were definitely American chameleons. Glad times have changed since then.

desultadox said:

When I was little we used to catch anoles and let them bite our ears and just hang from them lol. I dunno how fashionable it was, I think we just did it for fun (although we always preferred the more rare (at least in Miami) green ones).

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The green ones were the common ones, albeit not overly stressed. Blue-phase green anoles are rare, but they look awesome.

I was just going to say the same thing. My mom said they got them at 4H fairs, they would come with a little harness made of string and they would clip them to their shirts. They would also get a little cup of food. When the food was gone, they were directed to let it go.

Poor things, none of them had a shot to survive a MI winter....

Kent67 said:

My mother told me the same thing. They used to get them at fairs and carnivals, and wore them as accessories. They were definitely American chameleons. Glad times have changed since then.

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Certainly an anole. My father said that his friends would buy them out of catalogs, or get them at the circus, in a small cardboard box with a cellophane window.