Fun Characters from Pageant

Here are some fun characters by a mysterious "Greenwald R." They're from Pageant Magazine, a smaller, "digest" size magazine for the "gentleman." Bordering on the cheesecake from time to time, the magazine actually has an interesting connection to Mad Magazine. Well, I wish I knew more about "Greenwald R." I've seen similar work done by this artist, but never have been able to find anything more about him/her.

You know, Santa Claus and ho-ho-ho, and mistletoe and presents to pretty girls...

I would say that about a third of my old stuff collection consists of little booklets, pamphlets, brochures and various forgotten bits of ephemera that were printed as some sort of promotional insert or handout for companies, obviously trying to get in good with your typical consumer at the time. Most would include fun illustrations, which, of course, is the reason I collect them. Here are a few Christmas-themed ones, perfect to get you in the Christmas-y mood:

A Treasury of Christmas Ideas: Not sure who put this out, but it says on the inside cover "Published by Raymond A. Sholl & Co., Upper Darby, PA." Everything is based on electricity - electrical gifts, lighting, appliances. With some recipes thrown in for good measure. No date, but guessing late 50s to early 60s:








It's illustrations like the woman with the present that make me grin like a fool.


Always a good thing to include all the latest stereo equipment and consoles.

Rit® Fun Fixings for The Holidays: Now, here's a fun little booklet from 1962 on holiday trimmings and whatnot printed up by Rit Dye. Cute illustrations. Yeah, I said cute:






Candles! More candles!



More great illustrations to share with you soon.

At least you've got the spirit

If you never saw a white Christmas back in the day, you didn't have to fret. The stores always carried some instant snow for you to spray on your windows, right? To make it even more festive, you could also grab some stencils and make some pretty nifty snow decorations up on the windows themselves. Nice. Here's a couple of packs of Christmas stencils from the 50's for you to check out:


All the stencils in this Paas Christmas Stencil Kit are intact and have never been punched out.


I think this is the time when you say "How jolly!" Because that's what we say when we see a Santa Claus face. He's a jolly fellow.


All the stencils are still in this one, too, but have been punched out—two with some paint residue. Guess they didn't want to use the fake snow. Love the cool illustration on the cover of this kit. Dig the kids.


The ones that have paint on them are the "Merry Christmas" one (they used red AND white) and the angel praying.

And here, you've got a can of Instant Snow:

I took this photo last year, during the freak massive snow storm that hit Portland around Christmas time. There's a winter wonderland right behind me when I took this shot.

On the back there's a warning:

CAUTION

Contents under pressure. Do not puncture. Do not throw into fire or incinerator. Keep out of the reach of children. Do not allow children or pets to eat snow.

Gotta remember that last one.

Some Seasonal Ephemera

Howdy, kids. Hope you're getting into the Christmas-y mood. I know that there's snow on the ground over half of the country right now (well, I'm pretty sure it is, I think), so that's a good thing, right? Unless you're having to go out in said weather and get stuck in parking lots and long lines at the Post Office. In that case, sorry.

Well, to help you get in the mood, I've been saving these things for you. A couple of booklets, one from 1958, the other from 1954:


KVP Season's Greetings: Christmas 1958: a booklet of carols for Christmastime. Illustrator: Hank Kolodziej.

In case you want to know, KVP stands for Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment Company. You're welcome.

By the way, I did a little research on Hank Kolodziej, and all I could find was this item on Ebay and a mention in this exhibit on automobile ads during the 60's and 70's, called Drawing Power: Motor City Ad Art in the Age of Muscle and Chrome. Awesome. Sounds like my kinda guy.

Here's some of the other spreads in this booklet (there's more in my Flickr):














The image above is the inside cover, front (on left) and back (on right).

The following is a little book on Christmas Trees, barely 12 pages long. Something I found in a bundle of various ephemeral items at some antique shop. Didn't really know what it was, but once I opened it up and saw all the wonderful drawings, I had to get it. Plus, the text is by T. S. Eliot. I mean, c'mon! Great stuff.


The Cultivation of Christmas Trees, by T. S. Eliot. Typography, binding and decorations by Enrico Arno. ©1954, 1956.

Enrico Arno has a great style here. This book looks pretty interesting. I might have to buy it.


The note in the corner says: "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - Ward Taylor 1956." Now, what are the odds that a guy named "Ward" actually gave this as a gift over 50 years ago? And that another Ward found it? Boggles the mind.










Oh, and one more thing. Thought I'd get into the spirit of things by creating a new icon for Flickr & Twitter. 'Tis the Season! Here's to a great and wonderful Christmas Season, guys.

Wednesday Ephemera

Funny how time flies. Didn't even realize that it's been about two weeks since I've last posted something. First off, I'm happy to say that both Pasha and Diana received their Ward-O-Matic Etsy prints. We tracked down Diana after a couple of days of searching. I'm happy that they both seemed happy to receive the prints. It's a great thrill to know that your work is hanging on the walls of complete strangers' homes. I guess it's an aspect of being an artist to have your work shown and presented in a manner that's out there, and not laying around in your basement or buried deep within the confines of your hard drive. Enjoy your prints, Pasha and Diana! I had a lot of fun making them!

Okay, now onto some serious vintage ephemera. I have to come clean here: I've been holding out on you all, so to make it up to you, here's a bunch of old stuff from my collection (Click on each to view Flickr page):

Let's start of with a cool book cover for The Plague And I, by Betty MacDonald, who also wrote The Egg And I. Published in 1948. No mention of illustrator:



Next, Damascus Cook Book cover, illustrated by "Butte":



No mention of date, but probably late 40's to 50's. Inside, there are some sweet two-color illustrations:







Next: Gordon's Vodka booklet cover (probably late 50's to early 60's) illustrated by Kelly Oechsli. Kelly gets instant street cred for illustrating Muppet and Fraggle Rock books for kids later on:



More nice illos by Mr. Oechsli inside:



I love this wraparound illustration for this Carnation Easy-Does-It Cook Book. Great characters, great color:



Inside, there are tons of wonderful ink illos. Here's but a small sample:



More wraparound goodness on this Creative Cookery brochure from Swift's Premium. Again, no mention of artist:



Of course, it's much better to see it larger.

Fire Safety Suggestions brochure from the 50's:



This is a fun one from 1958. Fire Chief Hook'n'ladder fire prevention pamphlet illustrated and designed by the incredibly talented Albert Aquino:



This pamphlet opens up in the middle. Notice that you can see the slight dark silhouettes of the Fire Chief in the house, pointing to areas where a fire could start in each room. Actually, that's what they want you to see when you hold the pamphlet up to the light. Man, I love that lettering:



Here's the back to the pamphlet, with all the Fire Chief silhouettes in the house. Problem is, the white emblem on his cap makes it look like his eye, and the bill of the cap looks like his nose (in the silhouettes):



Last, but not least, we have Mothers At Work, a pamphlet on, well, mothers at work. Around the house. 1960's. Part of the MetLife Insurance pamphlet series. Oh, yeah. No mention of artist:











I have two others from this series. Some day I'll get the entire set. (Like I have the time.) The other two:



There. How's that for a bunch of old, musty ephemera for this fine Wednesday! Enjoy.