Happy New Year from the Harvey Mercheum! I would like to start this year with a very rare and unusual bit of Harvey history. Comics historian Mark Arnold recently posted this piece from his personal collection to the Harvey Comics Facebook group, and suggested I post it here as well. This item would not have been sold to the public, so I will post Mark’s photos below rather than making an exhibit page for it.
The item in question is one of at least two “Multi-Media Modules” made by EDL/McGraw-Hill in 1979 using Harvey characters. The other module, mentioned on the word search poster in the photo below, was “You Can Do It!”
“Too Much of a Good Thing” overview. Photo by Mark Arnold.
These modules would have been sold to schools for teachers to use in their classrooms. It would be difficult for children today to imagine how crude technologically these presentations are, but I remember them well. My school had a manual setup of a projector and cassette player, I did not know “automatic advance projectors” had been developed. The teacher would start the projector with the first slide or frame of the filmstrip, then start the cassette playing, then turn off the lights. The narrator would speak for a while about the first image, then there would be a loud beep, signalling the teacher to advance to the next image, and me to wake up!
Today’s children will also not recognize the library card catalog cards in the last image. I am not sure why such cards would have been created, as I would expect this module to be stored in the classroom or with the projector, not the school library. I am also curious as to whether they came with the module, or were created by whatever school owned it.
My sincere thanks to Mark Arnold for letting me share this wonderful item with you. Enjoy!
“Too Much of a Good Thing” box front. Photo by Mark Arnold.
“Too Much of a Good Thing” audio cassettes. Photo by Mark Arnold.
“Too Much of a Good Thing” film cannisters. Photo by Mark Arnold.
“Too Much of a Good Thing” filmstrip. Photo by Mark Arnold.
“Too Much of a Good Thing” guide cover. Photo by Mark Arnold.
“Too Much of a Good Thing” table of contents. Photo by Mark Arnold.
“Too Much of a Good Thing” guide page 2. Photo by Mark Arnold.
“Too Much of a Good Thing” script. Photo by Mark Arnold.
“Too Much of a Good Thing” “Harvey Famous Comics Presents…” page. Photo by Mark Arnold.
“Too Much of a Good Thing” “Reasons Teachers Love…” page. Photo by Mark Arnold.
“Too Much of a Good Thing” components writeup. Photo by Mark Arnold.
“Too Much of a Good Thing” Casper artwork. Photo by Mark Arnold.
“Too Much of a Good Thing” library card catalog cards. Photo by Mark Arnold.