tadpole-596-918256 Review of The Scarlet Pumpernickel

The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1950)

What exactly is a pumper-nickel, and do they come in . . .

[7/10 · 16 August 2021]

. . . any color besides red? Perhaps there's some sort of typographical error here, and the brief cartoon is SUPPOSED to be entitled as THE SCARLET BUMPER-NICKEL. I've seen many coins that have been partially or entirely splattered in paint, and crimson is one of the most common hues for such tinting. I've also seen gamblers--sometimes including young school kids--bumping coins against the junction of walls and floors, with the coin nudging closest to the wall usually being considered the winning "wager." Perhaps one of the cartoon team had a red-stained Lucky Buffalo Bumper Nickel as a youngster, and this provided the original germ for the story (in which case it obviously got lost in the shuffle, like a soup spoiled by too many cooks).