Showing posts with label 1951. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1951. Show all posts
5/7/19
11/14/18
10/27/14
Chesro Frocks - Tootaly raging.
Sometimes I come across an image that makes me really miss making album covers for my CDs.
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10/9/14
Beer is best.
Here's a weird thing. Picture Post Magazine, 1951. An anonymous advertiser buys a quarter-page ad for beer. Not any particular beer, or any particular pub. Just the idea of having a beer on the way to wherever you're going. A beer. Not a bunch of beer. Forget idiot college bros who start out as jackasses and turn into willing felons after a few. A chap can have a beer and still be a "gent".
In a city like London, where you can get around without driving, it's not such a scary idea. It's more of a public service announcement. Please enjoy.
This ad makes a strange combination of two fonts. The first one is a simple sans-serif that's a lot like Two Cent MT (but not exactly), which is a favorite of mine. It's a classic Fifties font that you see a lot in pamphlets and informational materials from the era. "have a beer on the way" No capitalization or punctuation. Odd. The second font is Cooper Black, which, as it turns out, was released by Barnhart Brothers & Spindler type foundry in 1922. But Cooper Black is usually more associated with The Hated Seventies, as it was used heavily on everything from T-shirts to posters at the time.
Companies that developed fonts weren't calling themselves "foundries" as an affectation back then, like they do now. In the days of offset printing, the letters of a font were cast in steel and arranged by hand to spell out the text. So, if you were a font company, your product was designed in-house and distributed in the form of little steel letters, which were cast in your own foundry. So, the word "foundry" applies. Pretty cool.
There's a novel that uses a set of offset letters as a critical plot point, if you're into that sort of thing. Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Book Store sounds like a young adult genre novel, and I guess it kind of reads like one, too. I've read it, and it's fun and light. Just not great. It's definitely got interesting things in it. A secret society and a global puzzle with a fortune at stake. There's thing thing about a famous typeface called "Gerritzoon" being a precious, long-lost artifact that must be located. It's about technology and new media, and it uses the worn-out plot device of potential immortality, which is kind of lame. I won't spoil your disappointment by telling you what makes a person immortal. I'll let the book disappoint you. Hint: It's something an eighth-grader would have come up with, thinking it was savagely clever. It's not. Here's a review by the NYT on the book.Bottom line, if you're a fontophile, go and read it. Or, just spend the money on a decent twelve-pack of something brewed in small batches.
In a city like London, where you can get around without driving, it's not such a scary idea. It's more of a public service announcement. Please enjoy.
This ad makes a strange combination of two fonts. The first one is a simple sans-serif that's a lot like Two Cent MT (but not exactly), which is a favorite of mine. It's a classic Fifties font that you see a lot in pamphlets and informational materials from the era. "have a beer on the way" No capitalization or punctuation. Odd. The second font is Cooper Black, which, as it turns out, was released by Barnhart Brothers & Spindler type foundry in 1922. But Cooper Black is usually more associated with The Hated Seventies, as it was used heavily on everything from T-shirts to posters at the time.
Companies that developed fonts weren't calling themselves "foundries" as an affectation back then, like they do now. In the days of offset printing, the letters of a font were cast in steel and arranged by hand to spell out the text. So, if you were a font company, your product was designed in-house and distributed in the form of little steel letters, which were cast in your own foundry. So, the word "foundry" applies. Pretty cool.
There's a novel that uses a set of offset letters as a critical plot point, if you're into that sort of thing. Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Book Store sounds like a young adult genre novel, and I guess it kind of reads like one, too. I've read it, and it's fun and light. Just not great. It's definitely got interesting things in it. A secret society and a global puzzle with a fortune at stake. There's thing thing about a famous typeface called "Gerritzoon" being a precious, long-lost artifact that must be located. It's about technology and new media, and it uses the worn-out plot device of potential immortality, which is kind of lame. I won't spoil your disappointment by telling you what makes a person immortal. I'll let the book disappoint you. Hint: It's something an eighth-grader would have come up with, thinking it was savagely clever. It's not. Here's a review by the NYT on the book.Bottom line, if you're a fontophile, go and read it. Or, just spend the money on a decent twelve-pack of something brewed in small batches.
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10/8/14
Aero Bar - Less is more.
When the Phil Are GO! Junior Food and Ingestibles Correspondent dropped this ad on my desk, I barked out a laugh and patted him on the head. First, because his hair feels like a puppy, but second, because I had forgotten about Choco'Lite candy bars, from 1975. More on that later.
If there's one thing we all love, it's getting less for our money, right? Guess who had the idea of a chocolate bar full of air bubbles. Go on and guess who looked at a perfectly good chocolate bar and thought "Something's wrong here. There's too much chocolate in it." It sure as hell wasn't a consumer.
Enter the foamed chocolate bar. This 1951 ad is for Rowntrees Aero, which is a British candy bar, apparently marketed primarily to the Virgin Mary all over England. Please make you own lame puns about "holy" candy.
Foamed chocolate is that greatest of all food manufacturer's dreams - selling you air for the same price as actual product. See, if you whip the chocolate full of air bubbles and then pour the mold, you can use words like "light" and "delicate", all while charging the same price... or maybe even a little more. Nothing could be better. It's a very profitable idea that gently screws your customer in a light, delicate way.
A quick check on Amazon shows a couple of different candy bars like this. You can buy regular Hershey bars on Amazon all day long for 46¢ per ounce. Let's find some foamy options.
Here's the commercial I remember seeing on TV in The Seventies. The girl reeeeally seems to like Choco'Lite. Maybe a little too much. Careful, miss. What would Mary think?
If there's one thing we all love, it's getting less for our money, right? Guess who had the idea of a chocolate bar full of air bubbles. Go on and guess who looked at a perfectly good chocolate bar and thought "Something's wrong here. There's too much chocolate in it." It sure as hell wasn't a consumer.
Enter the foamed chocolate bar. This 1951 ad is for Rowntrees Aero, which is a British candy bar, apparently marketed primarily to the Virgin Mary all over England. Please make you own lame puns about "holy" candy.
Foamed chocolate is that greatest of all food manufacturer's dreams - selling you air for the same price as actual product. See, if you whip the chocolate full of air bubbles and then pour the mold, you can use words like "light" and "delicate", all while charging the same price... or maybe even a little more. Nothing could be better. It's a very profitable idea that gently screws your customer in a light, delicate way.
A quick check on Amazon shows a couple of different candy bars like this. You can buy regular Hershey bars on Amazon all day long for 46¢ per ounce. Let's find some foamy options.
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| Hershey's Air Delight. 64¢ per ounce. Hershey's would be truly delighted if you're dumb enough to buy this. |
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| Hey! Aero bars are still around! Looks like Nestle bought them out. If you want these, you'll have to import them from England , and it'll cost you $1.30 per ounce, luv. In both cases, the art on the wrapper is careful to show you lots of chocolate spheres, as if it's really important to Hershey's that you see what they're taking away from you. |
Here's the commercial I remember seeing on TV in The Seventies. The girl reeeeally seems to like Choco'Lite. Maybe a little too much. Careful, miss. What would Mary think?
9/15/14
Quix Concentrated Suds - Blame the messenger?
Today we have another mysterious artifact from The Ancient Land. It's an ad for Quix Concentrated Suds, which apparently was a brand of dish soap you could buy in a distant land ever such a long time ago!
You can tell this ad came from England, even though it doesn't make any mention of their nutty currency in one of dozens of denominations of coins, each of which has five different names. For one thing, you can tell because they say "washing-up" instead of "doing the dishes". Then there's their use of the word "crockery". Psst - That means "the dishes". So now you know.
The shrewd observer may notice that in this little cartoon, the implication is that the woman does the dishes and the man approves her work. Don't be mad at advertising. The ad business always just does it's best to reflect the state of popular culture. It never drives it or dictates cultural morays, despite it's ardent wish to do just that. Advertising is like the pathetic loser kid that does whatever he thinks will make him "cool". He's doing his best to be liked by everyone. The lady in this ad is a housewife because this was 1951 and, well, you know... 1951. Actually, I'm guessing that, in '51, the English were still pretty happy to not get bombed by the Germans every night. Gender equality could wait a few more years.
How bout some strange clip art to start your week off right? These illustration, taken out of context, become strangely specific, yet vague. They're the kind of thing that's not very useful until you absolutely need it for the perfect party invitation or love note, you know?
The shrewd observer may notice that in this little cartoon, the implication is that the woman does the dishes and the man approves her work. Don't be mad at advertising. The ad business always just does it's best to reflect the state of popular culture. It never drives it or dictates cultural morays, despite it's ardent wish to do just that. Advertising is like the pathetic loser kid that does whatever he thinks will make him "cool". He's doing his best to be liked by everyone. The lady in this ad is a housewife because this was 1951 and, well, you know... 1951. Actually, I'm guessing that, in '51, the English were still pretty happy to not get bombed by the Germans every night. Gender equality could wait a few more years.
How bout some strange clip art to start your week off right? These illustration, taken out of context, become strangely specific, yet vague. They're the kind of thing that's not very useful until you absolutely need it for the perfect party invitation or love note, you know?
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8/19/14
Oxydol - Cranked for clean.
It's been a while since we've heard from Picture Post magazine. Maybe you're all "WTF is Picture Post?", in which case you maybe should be all "Why don't I type that into Google and find out for my own lazy damn self?". Today, we bring you an Oxydol ad from 1951 from a woman who's really REALLY excited about her wash.
This lady has those giant, overstimulated eyes where the eyelid doesn't tough the iris. There's a few millimeters of daylight between the edge of the eyelid and the tip of the iris. That's code for "super super duper happy", but also for "super duper criminally insane" and for "It's delicious if you snort it!".
To be fair, the Oxydol lady's eyes stop short of Michele Bachmann levels of crazy. She's on a whole other level. Bachman's eyeballs are code for "The Bible says the Earth is only six thousand years old, which means I get to hide under your bed and stab you in the butt while you're sleeping while chanting nursery rhymes at you, tee hee hee." She's terrifying because she's real.
Aaaaanyway, how bout a graphic gift? This wash day wastrel and her urchin can both add a little unnecessary enthusiasm to an email or a note left on the fridge, so why not right click them into your P.A.G. archive folder?
You could write just about anything on that tablecloth she's holding, like "Don't look for me. You can wash out your own skid marks from now on, pig." or "Start cleaning up after yourself or get out."
And what about the boy with all that self esteem? Just imagine him on your fridge with the caption "Guess who shit the bed last night?" That's just a serving suggestion, but having this adorable ragamuffin on your hard drive means you'll be ready if such an occasion comes up. Don't be caught unprepared. You're welcome!
Aaaaanyway, how bout a graphic gift? This wash day wastrel and her urchin can both add a little unnecessary enthusiasm to an email or a note left on the fridge, so why not right click them into your P.A.G. archive folder?
And what about the boy with all that self esteem? Just imagine him on your fridge with the caption "Guess who shit the bed last night?" That's just a serving suggestion, but having this adorable ragamuffin on your hard drive means you'll be ready if such an occasion comes up. Don't be caught unprepared. You're welcome!
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10/28/13
Inventions to make your life worth living, from Science!
6/4/13
News from the The Forefronts of Science - Three newses from the forefront!
Household tip: Placing needles in the cork stopper of poison bottles ends troublesome "too-comfortable drinking" of poison. Also keeps needles handy for poison-related sewing projects. Also also reminds poison drinker to remove stopper before drinking with unpleasant "nose prick". Also also also improves reception of tiny poison-bottle-stored television.
Finger vise aids clamping of fingers by clamping fingers in vise. Keeps surplus fingers from rolling away, getting lost under workbench and being carried away by finger-starved woodland creatures. May also be some other kind of thing or whatever. Possibly holds other things.
2/15/13
Chicago Automotive Disappointment Parade lack of coverage, Day Number Final - Some more!
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| The 1950 Nash NXI, surprised by an unannounced visit from the company brass. |
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| Despite the rather more conservative air of 1951, you can tell she's a booth babe because no human would ever voluntarily hitch up their knee so awkwardly on a car high as her belly. A double-jointed hip was an asset on the resume of a 1951 Crosley booth professional. |
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| Design genius Harley Earl's visual opus of restraint and minimalism, the 1953 LeSabre concept car. A design so ahead of it's time, we wouldn't see anything like it again for another forty years (see below). |
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| A scandalously-clad booth babe in the Muntz booth, 1951. You can see her ankles! |
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| 1956 Packard Predictor, still can be seen at the Studebaker National Museum in Indiana. I'll just remind you that Studebaker also brought us the oddly displaced-in-time Avanti. Why do the good ones die, while the survivors are nearly indistinguishable? |
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| Hey! a '59 Toyota! It may have been a little early for Japan to push their Japanese-ness so hard with the kimono and all. According to Steve Miller, "In 1960, the kimono was gone, replaced by a typical American girl-next-door in a typical American girl-next-door gown." |
1/30/13
Tampax - Doubled over with perkiness.
More women's concerns today, from your pals here at GO! Tower! Observe this well-designed ad from Tampax, showing women how normal they can be at the pool, in the company of Tampax! It's one of those tall thin ads, so here's a crop of the picture. The full ad can be found at the bottom of the post.
That's just the picture I would use to show women how normal they can feel at the pool, any time of the month. Look at her, doubled over with perkiness. She can barely stand up, she's so free of discomfort. She's not worried about a thing. The art director certainly earned his three grand a year (this was 1951, after all).
Actually, the true genius of this photo is that the advertiser can also use it to promote their new line of Getting Stabbed in the Belly. Nothing says "I'm enjoying my new knife wound!" like a happy girl bent over at the pool. Belly Knife Wound, available in small, medium, and "teamster" sizes. Don't miss out. get yours today!
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1/29/13
Clip art women, get outta my life.
Today, the Phil Are GO! Graphic Blandishment and Photoshoppery Squad is pleased to bring you some clip art women from the little ads in the back pages of Woman's Home Companion. You'd be surprised how many "sell our crap from your home" and "personal problem" ads there were for bored housewives in 1951. Maybe you wouldn't. I dunno.
Anyway, the PAG GBPS has scanned these greedy ladies at the highest resolution that our Okidata AdequateScan 620 will allow, and crushed their histograms to nice tidy black and white values. The result? Three dames and a toilet (biggest viral video of 1947, btw.) At no extra charge, those jokesters in the GBPS combined the cash and toilet powder art with uproarious consequences.
Click through each one for actual size, then save to your storage thingy of choice. Get your rude finger ready to right-click their brains out in three, two, one, RIGHT CLICK!
First up, this lady looks to be pouring some drain-clearing powder into her toilet, but she could just as easily be getting rid of her stash because The Pigs are knocking on the front door. Please enjoy.
This cash-waving Betty Boop Wannabe is altogether more rough and ready than the previous woman. Netty Noop here has some cash, but I get the feeling she'll do just about anything for a little more. I can't wait for just about anything.
Oh no! Those kooks in the Blandishment Squad have rearranged some of today's clip art! She's throwing money in the toilet! It doesn't go in there! It goes in the In-Sink-Erator! Those nutty jokesters! Right click this mixed-up doll just where she likes it and save her for a future memo to the accounting department. Their bow ties will spin when they see what she's up to! But you didn't get her from me, wink wink. You're welcome.
Anyway, the PAG GBPS has scanned these greedy ladies at the highest resolution that our Okidata AdequateScan 620 will allow, and crushed their histograms to nice tidy black and white values. The result? Three dames and a toilet (biggest viral video of 1947, btw.) At no extra charge, those jokesters in the GBPS combined the cash and toilet powder art with uproarious consequences.
Click through each one for actual size, then save to your storage thingy of choice. Get your rude finger ready to right-click their brains out in three, two, one, RIGHT CLICK!
First up, this lady looks to be pouring some drain-clearing powder into her toilet, but she could just as easily be getting rid of her stash because The Pigs are knocking on the front door. Please enjoy.
Next, this lady loves her money so much, she wants to pose with it. Her expression seems to say "See my money? I have some!" That's right, clip art lady. We can see your money. Now shut up and get on my hard drive.
This cash-waving Betty Boop Wannabe is altogether more rough and ready than the previous woman. Netty Noop here has some cash, but I get the feeling she'll do just about anything for a little more. I can't wait for just about anything.
Oh no! Those kooks in the Blandishment Squad have rearranged some of today's clip art! She's throwing money in the toilet! It doesn't go in there! It goes in the In-Sink-Erator! Those nutty jokesters! Right click this mixed-up doll just where she likes it and save her for a future memo to the accounting department. Their bow ties will spin when they see what she's up to! But you didn't get her from me, wink wink. You're welcome.
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