The Little Colonel Game – The Little Colonel

The Little Colonel Game
This game board corresponds almost exactly to the 1930’s map of Lloydsboro Valley done by residents
of the valley to assist Hollywood for the 1935 Little Colonel movie.

Click for a large view

While we’re at it, we thought you’d like to know this particular game board pictured above currently resides at theLittle Colonel’s cottage (Home of the Little Colonel) and was sent to us by its current resident, Sally Tanselle.

At one time, Selchow & Righter, the makers of Parcheesi, Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit, ranked with Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley as one of the nation’s top three game board companies. They introduced The Little Colonel game in the mid-1930s to capitalize on the popularity of Fox Film’s “The Little Colonel” movie. The game board was one of many Little Colonel merchandise spin-offs after the film premiered in 1935. Little Colonel dolls, clothing, cards, paper dolls and handkerchiefs were some of the other items produced that are highly prized by collectors today.

The Little Colonel game board was drawn by Hattie Cochran’s first cousin, Louisville advertising man Karl J. Smith and depicts “Lloydsborough Valley, its homes, churches and other points of interest,” according to the explanation inside the box. We know that many of these “points of interest” were actually part of the stories, including Locust,Tanglewood, Oaklea, the Episcopal Church, the Home of the Little Colonel, Undulata, The Beeches, the Gables, Edgewood, Spring Glenn, Beechmore, “Stumptown” Baptist Church, the Home of Gay Melville, the Post Office, the Inn, the Presbyterian Church, Lloydsborough Seminary, Clovercroft and the R.R. Station. Delacoosha was important because it was while staying here that Annie Fellows Johnston met the inspirations for her very first book in the series, “The Little Colonel.”

Game pieces, shown below, were based on characters featured in the movie and included Fritz (5 points), the Little Colonel’s Scotch and Skye terrier; The Little Colonel (35 points) Lloyd Sherman; Old Colonel Lloyd (30 points), her grandfather; the Little Colonel’s mother (25 points), Mrs. Sherman; Walker (20 points), the Old Colonel’s man-servant; Mom Beck (20 points), the Little Colonel’s nurse; May Lilly (10 points), the Little Colonel’s playmate; and Henry Clay (5 points).

The Old Colonel and Walker game pieces were drawn by Eleanor Beckham, the daughter of a Kentucky governor.
The rest were created by New York artist Joan Poppe.
Photo by Amber Druen.

[Above] This is the cover of the box the game came in

Rules of the game (reverse side of cover/box lid) Click to see enlarge version.

Two of Selchow & Righter’s most popular games during their 119 years in the business were Parcheesi (1918 version above)
and Scrabble (1953 version below). Their other big hit was Trivial Pursuit in the 1980s.

When demand for Trivial Pursuit fizzled, overproduction led to the company’s financial downfall.