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A N N O T A T I O N S
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PASTELOGRAM is named in honor of the poet Marianne Moore, who was
commission- ed by Ford Motor Co. in the 1950s to come up with names for its new mid-priced car.
Among her suggestions: “Pastelogram,” “Turco- tinga,” “Silver Sword,” “Resilient Bullet,” “Utopian Turtletop”
and the especially cryptic “Mongoose Civique.” Ford declined to use any of these and instead went with “Edsel.” The rest is history.
WE’VE HAD LOTS
of requests asking
the Curator: “You’re so darn modest, we don’t know much about
you. How about posting a picture or some biographical info? And
have I told you about the time I was abducted by aliens?” Well, you get the idea. So here’s a little about our
history.
FUN A LA MODE
The old Patent Office applications in the PatentRoom
are a soft- serve lesson in history. New on the menu:
Tees.
COME FLY
WITH ME
The early aircraft designs on view at AdventureLounge
will take you back, though maybe not all in one piece.
THE ART
of Josh Agle.
Martinis, girls, guns. Think James Bond meets Jetsons at a
tiki bar in Palm Springs.
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L I N K A T O R I U M
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PRELINGER ARCHIVE
CAR MANUAL PROJECT
AVOCADO MEMORIES
TV LAMPS
KITTY GIRL VINTAGE
IMPERIAL CLUB
1950s CARS IN NORWAY
WALTER MILLER
McLELLAN’S
IMAGINARY WORLD
RAY PATIN STUDIOS
LILEKS I.O.O.C.
SHAG ART
BUICKS.NET
PALACE OF CULTURE
KING OF THE ROAD
BROCHURES ON EBAY
STARBURST
FRANCISCAN OASIS
FRANCISCAN TRIO
SILVER PINE
SOCIETY of
ILLUSTRATORS
ADVENTURELOUNGE
PATENTROOM
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2006
≈
The Swinging Milkman
Printed in July 1959, this
illustration by an unknown but very groovy artist of the 1960 Dodge
Forward Control route delivery van calls to mind not just clinking
glass bottles but L.A., David Hockney, swimming pools and families
named Manson.
TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2006
≈
Home Delivery
Quonset Huts are “home” to
service men in many theatres of war. Their delivery to ports of
embarkation is an exacting, heavy-duty job. So W.J. Halloran,
Providence, R.I., relies on Autocar heavy-duty trucks to deliver
Quonset Huts on time. “They have not let us down.” Performance of
this sort, the Nation over, presages big trucks . . .
more powerful transports . . . Autocar Trucks . .
. in the days to come.
From 1944 and the latter part of World War II, another of William Campbell’s
storybookish illustrations for Autocar Trucks.
MONDAY, MAY 29, 2006
≈
La Dolce Pepsi
They find fun in many things and
Pepsi-Cola is always a part of their fun. Why not join The Sociables
— and start enjoying the modern taste of Pepsi-Cola now.
The subject of this 1959 illustration by
Lynn Buckham is hothouse flowers —
one in a clay pot and the other in a wool sheath. You really can’t get much
more soignee than this, especially when your libation is a glass of soda pop
and the strongest drink in the house is fish emulsion.
SATURDAY, MAY 27, 2006
≈
Jumbo-Format Prints
If you’re a Printer Project II
subscriber, your jumbo-format print has been made and will be
shipped in the coming week. Thanks to all who participated! Our
order pages in the Gift Shop have been updated to include
extra-large-format prints.
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2006
≈
The Beer Refreshing
From 1953, two nice
billboard-style illustrations for Hamm’s Beer, brewed in “the land
of sky blue waters”: A cold one on ice
(or in ice), and also under a full moon.
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2006
≈
The New Step-Down Ride!
Most Room! Best Ride! Safest!
Your own eyes will tell you in short order that the sleek,
low-built, streamlined Hudsons achieve a measure of beauty long
sought by automobile designers the world over, that here is the
lowest built car of all. It’s the new “Step-Down Ride” . . .
a luxurious, infinitely better way of motoring that makes the new
1950 Hudsons the sensation of the motor-car world.
Cover of the 1950 Hudson brochure,
illustrated by Dennis Chase. And speaking of the Step-Down Hudson, there’s a
great
article in today’s New York Times about the making of the Pixar movie
“Cars.”
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2006
≈
Honestly Described
From 1957, an illustration by one
G. Brusstar for GM’s OK Used Car dealers shows what looks like a
Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington being loaded ino a 1955
Chevrolet Nomad. Either of which would be worth quite a bit today.
≈
Refresh Without Filling
This 1959 illustration for Pepsi
is by Bob Peak, often described as the father of the modern movie
poster. At Plan59 he’s also represented by his artwork for the
Comet.
MONDAY, MAY 22, 2006
≈
Come Closer, My Deer
The regal 1961 Cadillac Sedan de
Ville pauses on a side road in the snow-clad Colorado Rockies, and
some admirers come up to visit and beg for food.
The 1961 Cadillac as portrayed by Stan Galli. Observation by our friend the
illustrator Joan Auclair: How creepy that the woman is wearing predator
fur. Those deer should be afraid, very afraid.
FRIDAY, MAY 19, 2006
≈
Ekmania!
Two from Stan Ekman:
Dishwasher Daredevils (1959) and the
Angry Angler (1958).
≈
PowerFlow PowerFlite Plymouth
The beautiful new Plymouth enjoys
an enviable reputation with discriminating motorists because under
its beauty they discover solid value. They find the unsurpassed
driving ease of the new PowerFlite fully automatic transmission
combined with the 10% higher horsepower of the new PowerFlow engine
. . .
The 1954 Plymouth Belvedere in Ugly Duckling Yellow. Three years later it
would turn into a beautiful swan.
TUESDAY, MAY 16, 2006
≈
The Bakelite Motorbike
From the drawing boards of Bohn
Aluminum in 1947, a “future motorcycle” that never saw the light of
day. We wonder how this would go over in Daytona Beach.
MONDAY, MAY 15, 2006
≈
The Mighty Relssler
From late 1958, an ad showing
half of the ’59 Chrysler. Through the
magic of Photo- shop we’re able to show you the
entire car, which amazingly has two
steering wheels.
≈
Brimming With Beauty!
The 1954 Chevrolet, giant
butterfly notwithstanding, was something of a styling frump and did
not become truly beautiful until the 1955 model year.
FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2006
≈
It’s That DIAL Feeling
Two renderings by the children’s
book illustrator Winnie Fitch.
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2006
≈
The Light Refreshment
Sure, they enjoy life, these
modern people. Their good looks and slender figures are a pleasure
to each other — and to everyone around them. Active men and women of
’56 keep slim and fit through their sensible eating habits. Their
up-to-date taste is for the lighter, less filling foods and drink.
Today’s Pepsi-Cola goes right along with this wholesome trend in
diet. Reduced in calories, never heavy, never too sweet, Pepsi-Cola
refreshes without filling. Have a Pepsi — the modern, the light
refreshment.
In the olden days of 1956, “modern” was a selling point, worth mentioning
twice in this ad for Pepsi-Cola. Pass the
mustard.
≈
The Allegorical Picnic
More franks on the beach from
1956, when weenies were
evidently very big.
≈
Tractor Tot
Cover illustration from an early
1950s Massey-Harris brochure. If anyone knows the exact year, please
drop us a line.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2006
≈
Bigger Prints
The equipment for even bigger prints
arrived this afternoon. Some assembly required. Printer Project subscribers should receive their prints starting next week and continuing through to the end of the month.
MONDAY, MAY 8, 2006
≈
Cleanup on Aisles 1, 2, 3 . . .
Anybody checking the shopping
habits of artist Pete Hawley’s young bombardier and his pilot will
find the job’s an easy one. All stops are plainly marked by the
heaps. All, of course, except the last one — where she’ll have to go
get a new box of sugar!
Wonderful 1957 artwork by Pete Hawley,
house artist first for Jantzen in the
1940s and 50s and then AT&T (Betsey Bell) circa 1959-1963. Then he seems to
have dropped out of sight.
≈
Who’s Got the Greatest Getaway?
The 1956 Buick CENTURY can go
from standstill to 25 miles per hour in 3.7 seconds flat. But that’s
stunt stuff. All by itself, it doesn’t tell you who’s got the
greatest transmission for day-in, day-out driving. It’s when you try
today's advanced new Variable Pitch Dynaflow that you find all the
answers to a superlative degree . . .
FRIDAY, MAY 5, 2006
≈
Three Cars, Three Cities
The new printer arrives this
weekend, so not much time for bloggerel.
≈
This Is Your Future
Your home will be a
push-button miracle . . . electronic “maids” will cook
and clean by magic. How would you like to be able to bake a
two-layer cake in a cold oven in six minutes? Press a button and
have ultrasonic, or silent, sound waves wash the dishes? Turn a knob
and see an electronic jigger iron your little daughter’s dress? It’s
all in your future — all in the house that’s going to be a reality
at a time not very far away. With push-button control, you’ll make
your rooms any size you wish any time. Perhaps your house will be
all plastic. Smaller homes will combine living room, dining area and
kitchen area in one space, with your 3-D color TV set on one wall
and a phono-vision device allowing you to see the person whom you
are telephoning. The microwave oven, a piece of electronic magic
already in production, will be growing in use. You’ll mount it in
the wall. Your push-button refrigerator will pop out ice cubes,
crushed ice and ice water; it will carbonate water and, of course,
thaw and dispense frozen foods. The development of hybrid varieties
of fruits and vegetables offers enormous possibilities — new species
will come about through atomic radiation of seeds. You can look for
grapes as big as plums, strawberries the size of apples . . .
Some of the items in Fred McNabb’s wonderful 1956 illustration
and accompanying text were right on the money while others were the stuff of
the Jetsons (and we wonder if his mid-fifties artwork had any influence on
the creators of that cartoon). The closest it comes to anything like computers or the Internet is
“phono-vision.” They promised us the future, but what we got instead was the
1970s.
THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2006
≈
Tomorrow’s Patio
You’ll still be young at 90, live
in push-button homes, wear air-conditioned clothes, drive jet cars
and ’copters, and rocket to Europe in an hour. You’ll have microwave
cookstoves, a telephone in your purse and atomic pills for what ails
you . . .
A 1956 illustration by Fred McNabb, who
also did the future-themed New Departure ball-bearing ads for GM. Note the
flat-panel TV.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2006
≈
Knit Wit
Or, The Boy With Socks Appeal.
This 1952 cover illustration by Arthur Sarnoff was based on an idea
by his wife Lillian, “who came home one night and reported she’d
seen — of all things! — a MAN knitting” a pair of argyles. Will
wonders never cease.
TUESDAY, MAY 2, 2006
≈
The Rake’s Progress
October 4, 1953: This was a good
week for you non-baseball fans to head for the hills. The offices,
schools and kitchens of the land have been a-chatter with bloopers,
sliders, liners, RBI’s and bobbles — and other foreign-sounding
noises. This kind of thing goes on all summer, but since the World
Series started, it’s become the mother tongue from coast to coast.
Except at Ebbets Field or Yankee Stadium, life’s been at a
standstill. Cakes go unbaked, homework undone, and — as artist Carol
Johnson shows here — lawns go unraked. All in all, it’s pretty
wonderful but it would be heaven indeed if the wheelbarrow people
would only make one with a foam rubber lining, a hot-dog dispenser
and a faucet for lemonade!
Carol Johnson’s illustration of a body at rest
graced the cover of American Weekly, a Sunday supplement for the Hearst
newspapers that was similar to Parade magazine in format
but more like National Enquirer in content. At its peak the magazine, which
was published from 1896 to 1966, claimed a circulation of 50 million.
≈
Refreshes Without Filling
Today’s stylists are doing
wonders for the looks of modern woman. But give some credit, too, to
the woman herself. For the modern figure is her own creation. Her
greatest care and pride is to keep that figure young. Her taste,
therefore, is for lighter foods and lighter beverages. This is the
way of living that gives her the slender lines that fashion insists
on, that men admire, that health authorities and insurance companies
applaud . . .
There you have it — drinking syrupy soda pop will help keep you thin. This
unsigned illustration from 1953 came near the start of a years-long Pepsi
campaign that culminated with “The Sociables.”
≈
It’s What’s for Breakfast
Eggs. Bacon. 1958. We are hungry
and highly suggestible. Must find . . . parsley.
MONDAY, MAY 1, 2006
≈
Painted Love
Another American Weekly cover by
Bob Hilbert, this one from Feb. 14, 1954.
≈
Chevrolet Styleline De Luxe
Extra prestige! Make your
choice America’s choice. Own the car that leads in
popularity, year after year. Extra beauty and quality! With
graceful, flowing lines of Body by Fisher. Extra quality,
finer workmanship in every detail.
≈
More Horsepower Per Dollar!
What the motoring public wants
today is power. Power for performance! Power for safety!
Power for thrilling new driving ease! That’s why Oldsmobile’s Super
“88” — with more horsepower per dollar than any other car you can
buy — is such a sought-after value. It brings you the eager
action of the famous 160-h.p. “Rocket” Engine. PLUS! . . .
Hydra-Matic Super Drive . . . GM Hydraulic Steering
. . . the revolutionary Autronic-Eye . . . and the
smartest, sleekest lines you ever saw. Make a date with this “88”
. . . soon!
From July 1952, it’s your grandfather’s
Oldsmobile.
PREVIOUS POSTS (APRIL 2006) • SITE © 1999-2020
PLAN59.COM
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