Silly Is As Silly Does

Topps earnestly began making sure the bedroom walls, books, school lockers, etc. - let alone almost uncountable "unapproved" areas of houses and various institutions - of young America (and Canada) could be festooned with smart-alecky stickers starting in 1965. It didn't take long for them to master the sarcastic and snarky style that had been steadily dripping into the zeitgeist via MAD magazine over the past decade or so and they unleashed Silly Stickers onto an unsuspecting populace that very same year. This colorful 55 subject set used a tiny misdirect to land each of its gags.

Here's some typical examples:

So your friends would have to really lean in close to see what you had stickered!

This one contemplates Irwin Corey perhaps:

There were some travel-themed ones as well:

Chris Benjamin had mentioned in his Sport-Americana Non-Sports Guides that the 1967 Funny Travel Posters set used images from Silly Stickers but that's incorrect.  Topps did use similar themes and locales for the poster set but none were direct lifts.

The pressure-stock backs can be found in either white:

Or tan:

I find this interesting as the ur-Wacky Packages set in 1967 required the stickers to be moistened. Maybe there was a cost issue with those?

There are also two types of wax wrapper for the set.  One can be found with a line indicating Bubble Gum could be found within:

While the other has no such line, although Friend o'the Archive Lonnie Cummins advises these seem to have held the sticky stuff:

I am getting a distinct Bobby Hill vibe from that kid!

The retail box is a hoot and it sure seems like you can see gum in the "no gum" packs here, even with no indication of such on the flap:

Silly Stickers are a fun little set from the Topps classic era that can be found with relative ease. .