Deck of stars
Playing cards are becoming flush with celebrities.
Glen Campbell? A picture of the country singer after his drunken-driving arrest adorns the ace of diamonds on the Celebrity Mug Shots deck.
Dixie Chick Natalie Maines? She’s the six of hearts on Deck of Weasels, which pokes fun at critics of the Bush administration.
Conservative political commentator Ann Coulter? Queen of clubs in the liberal-leaning America’s Least Wanted deck.
Last year’s Most Wanted Iraqi playing-card decks — designed to help the U.S. military identify key members of Saddam Hussein’s regime — have inspired similar decks featuring athletes, actors, politicians and CEOs.
The latest: a fresh edition of Starz Behind Barz, featuring the police mug shots of busted celebrities ranging from Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant to rappers Eminem and 50 Cent.
A trend run amok? Perhaps. But priced at $4.95 to $9.95 a deck, a profitable one.
“The Iraqi deck really energized the playing-card business,” says Jim Esteph, an avid collector and owner of Columbus, Ohio-based Newt’s Playing Cards, which markets novelty decks such as the just-released 52 Reasons to Re-Elect George W. Bush deck.
Starz Behind Barz initially planned to sell 10,000 decks after launching in January. Sales have surged to more than 30,000, says Smokey Burns of Las Vegas-based marketer Starz Behind Barz, LLC. So far, they’ve received no complaints from featured celebrities.
The celebrity cards hold appeal largely because they portray former A-listers in unflattering, out-of-character settings. Wild-haired and grimacing, actor Nick Nolte, who was photographed after a driving-under-the-influence bust, is particularly scary. And Paul Reubens, charged with possession of pornographic images of underage kids, looks more like a gang biker than Pee-wee Herman.
The Starz Behind Barz deck was inspired by domestic doyenne Martha Stewart’s arrest on insider trading charges, Burns says. Stewart’s mug shot, however, is unavailable. The U.S. Attorney’s office in New York says mug shots of accused federal felons are released to the public only if they are fugitives.
Starz Behind Barz and Celebrity Mug Shots both have Michael Jackson, O.J. Simpson, Lil’ Kim and Anna Nicole Smith gracing their decks. The new Starz deck drops Joey Buttafuoco and Sid Vicious, replacing them with White Stripes frontman Jack White, busted for assault in December, and rapper 50 Cent, charged in 1994 for selling heroin and crack.
There also are multiple offenders, such as “Home Improvement” star Tim Allen. His photo from a 1978 arrest on cocaine possession adorns the jack of hearts on the Celebrity Mug Shots deck, while his 1997 mug shot for drunken driving is Starz’ seven of clubs.
Of the two decks, Celebrity Mug Shots is more topical: Hussein is its joker. Presidential niece Noelle Bush, bleary-eyed after an arrest on prescription drug fraud, is the queen of diamonds. Mop-topped Microsoft founder Bill Gates appears as the king of diamonds for a 1977 traffic violation.
“I initially wondered if there were enough to fill a deck,” says Celebrity Mug Shots creator Wayne Fisher, a software engineer from Santa Clara, Calif. “But every time I turned on the news, I realized I had more than enough. There are probably a couple decks more of celebrities worth doing.”
Moreover, with countless others getting their 15 minutes of fame, the celebrity niche of the novelty card market could continue to flourish.
“American Idol” reject decks, anyone?