For no good reason that I can think off, I'm bringing this thread back from the dead. This weekend, I was fooling around with google archives and stumble upon a small 1926 reference to "card flipping" in the Montreal Gazette (of all places). Apparently, it was called "playing pictures" and the debate can now begin on whether card flipping is truly an American icon or does it now join the status of pizza and Halloween.
Here is the link to the full newspaper article (just scroll to the top if you want to read the entire article). Start from the title (Boy Mysteriously Vanished After Playing 'Pictures') or for the condense version, just start from "Auntie Wants You" paragraph:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...ants+you&hl=en
Here is the 1926 newspaper excerpt where the reference is made (the article is actually depressing and is based on a missing boy who was last seen "playing pictures"):
Doc4.jpg