Australian Toy cards 3: Old maid

"Old maid", anon. 36+1+ instruction card.

This particular deck of cards is for playing the game of "old maid". Like the other cards in this series, they were purchased in a remote australian town, near Phillip island.
 These cards are entirely typical of their genre, featuring cartoon images as their subjects. The names of the personages are altilerative, something that might appeal to their young users.

   This deck seems to be a fairly egalitarian one. With the exception of old maid, there are precisely nine female subjects and nine male subjects. 

  The inclusion of a "Running back Randy" suggests an American origin of these designs, as does the legend "US MAIL" on Mailman Manny's bag. The caricature of the old maid, meanwhile strikes me as more vicious than other examples of the genre. 

"Old maid" ( anon)

"Old maid" ( anon) 27c. ( of 28?)
This deck by an Anonymous maker represents one of the idle childhood amusements of singaporean children during the 1970s. The game of  "old maid" ,and the cards for playing it, are still sold to this day in the country, with very little change.
The deck we know of today has 36 cards, but the deck that is shown here only has 27 cards from the "old maid"deck, and one other "Mrs. Dauber", ostentatiously from a "happy families" deck.

The intresting thing, is, that this deck appears to be inspired by [?] a deck produced bt Tower press , "Old Maid, no. 5862" with similar illustrations.  [see http://www.wopc.co.uk/uk/tower-press/index.html]- go figure