Video Martyr

The Popular Science of Stork choking?

2013-05-14T00:25:00.002-04:00

Face it, Storks love the smell of fine tobacco. So, save a baby's life and switch from those leaves and twigs you've been smoking! Other than the physical property of heated smoke being lighter than air...this ad just makes no sense. However, if it did make sense I couldn't post it, so thank you mad men of the early 20th century ad agencies.

Busy Day - Louis Armstrong and George Raft in Person!

2013-05-08T22:04:00.000-04:00

Though I do wonder where his right hand, and her right leg have gone?...I don't collect postcard for the pictures, no! I collect them for the great messages on the back. See.

Either John was all talk or he was somebody who knew some of the coolest people of the day. More than the Brooklyn stamp, I think the Coney Island Station cancellation is a gem.

Ad Quiz #26 Dad can't get to first base with who? (SOLVED!)

2013-04-28T01:16:00.001-04:00

The advertising geniuses strike again! Look at this latest ad quiz below and see if you can guess the product (hint: it's a service). Now, because I believe that no ad was just thought up, designed, and then rolled it out on a lark... I have to wonder who came up with the lead text?:

I'll reveal the company soon, in the meantime, do you think the bottom half of this ad will make the lead text acceptable?

SOLUTION
Is it the titillation of the double entendre? The girls against the guys theme, the image of a dad you don't want to be? - that was supposed to make this ad memorable beyond the glance from dentist's office waiting room? Or maybe there was no double meaning at all? Seems odd that if dad is the target why would he need to get to first base? Just because he's the "OACH?" No, jimmy needs to get to the field so he can get to first base.

When did "First Base" become a metaphor for the early stages of courtship?

They emphasize the rest of the pattern of their use of baseball terms as a metaphor for getting things done with a busy family. I would argue that the baseball metaphor for sexual conquest has been around as long as baseball and the ad executives knew exactly what they were doing.

Can you find the hidden images from 1890?

2013-04-24T23:03:00.000-04:00

This is a great advertising card from the 19th century. In Pittsfield, MA on North street was Nugent's store. If you were a kid growing up in that era, this would have been a true daily destination.

I have no idea why it would be important to know why this store is 1.5 miles from the Pittsfield Cemetery.

I thought briefly that the phrase "Stop the Car" on the face of the card indicated that this was maybe from the 20's or 30's until I discovered that street cars were common on North Street.

Bacon Cures Everything! Proof!

2013-04-21T23:13:00.000-04:00

I saw this curative from the early 19th century and I had to have it. However, being that I don't have room to store everything I see, the booth owner at the flea market was nice enough to let me take a picture of it.

So I took a little poetic license with Bacon's product, still a great moment in marketing history.

A Quick Look at Scanty Panties-1950

2013-04-10T21:38:00.002-04:00

Gossip and Hollywood profile magazines have been around as long as Hollywood (and longer) but if you were too busy to look at a full-size magazine in 1950, you could always turn to Quick.

This was a short-lived pamphlet sized publication (though it sported about 60 pages) and featured the starlet of the week and other random tid-bits. Some titillating (Shelly Winters - Hubba! Hubba!) or Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. Click each for a larger image and don't miss the scanty panty scandal in the final image below.

Subliminal Advertising - Can you find the drunken Yeti?

2013-04-03T21:34:00.000-04:00

When this topic has been discussed before, I have to admit, I always feel left out. Before you say "Awwww!" Let me explain. I took plenty of marketing classes in college and remember the controversy over the use of suggestive imagery and/or text, (Enjoy Coke) or (go buy a dumpster full of popcorn). Ad agencies have always created ads that would elicit a certain emotional response from the correct demographic, intended to lead to a sale of course. However, from the looks of many ads (since the dawn of time) most of us look at these and say "I don't even know what they are selling." or, "What the hell is that?" Maybe they are looking for the watercooler factor, or maybe zapping the right neuron will sear their product indelibly on your psyche. Here is an ad from a 1967 Life magazine. See if you can find the implanted imagery I think I see.

Seems pretty obvious, doesn't it? If you do not see it, maybe this is the UFO factor at work here. Meaning: We see something we're not sure of and then doubt or deny we've seen it because we either don't understand it, or are concerned that anyone else we show it to will dismiss it or just not see it. We are then left with a dilemma unresolved but imprinted and still there a week later on the mind. Here take a closer look:

Do you see it now? Well, here is the question of the day....What is it? What do you see staring back at you? Leave your guess in the comments. Me? I'm going out for a bottle of Johnnie Walker Yeti.

Taxi Driver - Tell 'em "Stacks" sent Ya

2013-04-02T00:51:00.001-04:00

Cab stand business cards are one of things that say a whole lot more than regular business cards, especially when something is written on the back. I am trying to guess the age of this one, but the number with the suffix (as opposed to prefix) is confusing me.

Thanks to another ephemera site I am closer. The 59-M refers to a party-line number, it exists somewhere in the transition period from manual to rotary dialing, If you had any shady business to conduct - better wait until the other "partys" were if the line.

Forhans and one eye -Strange ads from 1926

2013-03-30T00:38:00.000-04:00

This is just a one column strip that I really wanted to post just for the Artificial eye ad alone, but the whole column is worth reading.

Found Photos: Empowered Victorian Women

2013-03-27T22:00:00.000-04:00

All these photos came from the same pile. Several of them look like different scenes with the same woman. However, to me all old photos begin to blur and I start to see just the Victorian clothing and all the people begin to look the same. Can you see anything in these photos? Let me know in the comments.

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All your 1933 mixing needs - lady of the house

2013-03-20T21:56:00.000-04:00

Old cookbooks from manufacturers are pretty common and I won't pick them up unless there's a really good looking ad right in the center fold.

I realize this was a complementary give away for an appliance store or department store, but if you bought it don't you think this ad would be really loud and redundant? "I know already! I bought the damn thing!"

There was an updated price sticker that had a really great fine print notice to it:

If you're West of Denver...sorry. It's gonna cost you more to have us ship this over the Rockies.

In all I'd say this is a handsome mixer, but I think they should have hid the name of the manufacturer completely - Chicago Flexible Shaft Company? Really?

Before Bazooka Joe there was Dub and Bub

2013-03-18T21:12:00.000-04:00

When it comes to treasure hunting you have to be a "Nook & Cranny" kinda guy (or gal). The reason I can find these things is that I will look in places no one else will. Floor boards in an attic? No problem. Under carpeting or linoleum in an old closet? No problem! I don't always get lucky, but sometimes...

That is, if you call this getting lucky. I can't quite peg the year on this. Fleer Double Bubble cartoons wrapped around a piece of gum goes back to the 1930's. This could be 60's or maybe 70's. There is more information on these and Bazooka Joe here.

Other People's Mail (Rated R)

2013-03-13T21:24:00.002-04:00

I don't often find good examples of WWII era letters. When I do it's usually "V" mail photgraphed and copied and reviewed by censors so it doesn't contain any breech of security. This also scrubs all the value of why you would want to read other peoples' mail in the first place. Fortunately these sample provide a little more real view into the experience of folks during WWII.

This letter from a female cousin of the addressee gives a good view of what it was like live in the 1940's

Good references to Connecticut amusements and events during wartime. I especially like where she asks if "...you've met any cute W.A.V.E.S. or bathing beauties." (WAVES stood for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service)

Scientific American 1880

2013-03-06T21:23:00.001-05:00

Just the condition of this 1880 edition of the:

Was enough to make me feel as though I'd found a treasure, but the cover had a series of the inner workings of a local business:

The best part about this 130 year old business is that the building is still there. This is what it looked like in at the last part of the 19th century: (Thank you to the CT Historical Society for this image)

This is a top view (Updated image coming soon) of how it looks today:

I was equally impressed with the terrific ads in the back pages of the scientific American

While my favorite may be the urging of Andrew Carnegie to consider the safety and cost effectiveness of Steel over Wood, I have to say, that cigar fan is an odd novelty.

Overall, not a bad purchase for $7.

70mpg Breakthrough!!! But you'll never see the kids again.

2013-03-02T22:45:00.000-05:00

Of all the little border ads I've ever seen in in back pages of major (and minor) magazines - this ad has to be one of my favorites.

It's an Eshelman! Soon everyone will be driving an Eshelman. Eshelman will be a household name, or at least a garage-hold name. This is a gem from 1954 Collier's and there are a few questions I have to ask. 1) Was there really a problem with kiddie cars being gas guzzlers? and 2) Exactly how many gallons of gas does this car's tank hold, and 3) Where the heck do these kids plan to go? and finally, I just notice the best claim made by this ad:

Wha....? Well with offices in Maryland, Chicago and LA they really must be going places, well at least 70 miles from here.

The Story of Beer (not watered down)

2013-02-27T22:08:00.001-05:00

In light of the recent lawsuit against Budweiser, who is accused of watering down their brew I thought this wonderful drawn (or is it drought) story of "How beer got Bob that promotion!" from 1954 would be a fitting salute to the mega-brewers of America. #93 in a series from "Home Life in America"

"Hope you bought enough beer."

"Honey? Do you think they'll notice we have no walls?"

"Poor dear, you have no walls, do you have enough beer?"

"Try the beer, it's like water...with a kick."

"If it weren't for the beer I'd wonder why we were staring into this eternal light."

"More beer for the trip home?"

"He didn't know what he was promoting...he kept referring to the cheddar as "The new big cheese!"

Could you pass this gas under glass?

2013-02-26T00:09:00.000-05:00

I guess I may be a little dangerous when it comes to treasure hunting. Well, this site is called "Confessions of..." I enjoy finding the odd and peculiar and then somehow trying to translate out the humor or the human drama. It got to be one or the other, right? Take this paperweight for example:

I found this at an estate sale in Westport, CT. This sculpture was trapped in lucite and I wanted to know more about it. I wondered if I could break the plastic or melt it down just to get at the art work. I thought it would help me figure it out. Then I just decided to turn it over:

Well, that explains it! But not really, because there is no information about the magazine called "GAS" (Which I must get a copy of for the coffee table). There is no liquified natural gas facility in San Diego, and if there is I don't think the larger version of the sculpture is there anymore. You call that progress? I can only hope a reader from San Diego will find this post, head down to the gas plant, and snap a picture of it...any takers?

Puzzle (SOLVED) Warning: There are no longer strings attached

2013-02-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

(SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM FOR THE SOLUTION TO THE PUZZLE)This may be more of a question of semantics. The study of which was the strength of the previous owner of this puzzle who used it to get newbies and students thinking about the importance of linguistics and communication. Search "General Semantics" and you may be in for a mind bending experience...but solve this puzzle first!

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Harry Maynard rubbed elbows with some of the great thinkers of our time. Some of it definitely rubbed off on him as he devoted the better part of his life to the study of General Semantics. Was he headed in the right direction? Teach me something I don't know about GS and I will thank you heartily in the comments.

Straighten the ends of the string

Fold the card and pull the string and paper loop through

Set the string free!

Local History for Sale!!

2013-02-16T10:17:00.003-05:00

(Note: The following article appeared in Patch.com as one of the first articles I submitted to them)

I came up with the title “Urban Archeology” years ago. The pleasure I get from sale-ing doesn’t usually come from items neatly arranged on the tables. I look for the box, the cluttered shelf, or the piles of things that haven’t been disturbed, possibly since they were originally placed. True archeologists look at a “dig” the same way. The longer an item has been left alone (in its “pristine” state) the more information and clues of its origin and purpose can be determined. Sometimes, the messier a sale is - the better. For me, it can take a lot of sales before I find one I consider a “dig.” When it happens, I can come away with something really unique.

When a local estate sale service opened up a 19^th century Brookfield, CT farmhouse to the public in order to clear it of its contents my radar started “beeping”. A side benefit of sale-ing it the opportunity to explore an old house, as well as a chance to uncover some local history. After searching most of the main floor rooms, the first item I noticed was a framed reprint of a Brookfield town map from the 1850’s.

Even a print copy of a map from the 1850’s is a wealth of information. Old homesteads, businesses, names of prominent people, and forgotten landmarks make this an interesting and possibly important find. A closer inspection revealed a surprise detail on the back

The last homeowners had managed to discover and document (to the best of their ability) all the names of the previous owners of the property back to the original owners. My first thought was that this map should not be in the sale; it should stay with the house. Unfortunately, I was alone in my opinion and when I returned from exploring the upper floor I found the map was gone. Quickly scanning the few other shoppers I was relieved to discover that a caring and conscientious Brookfield couple had purchased it. I don’t often quiz people about their purchases, but this couple was nice enough to tell me they would turn the information over to the historical society and allowed me to take the photos attached to this article.

It’s good to know there are other Urban Archeologists out there as well.

My question for this week is: What are some of the interesting pieces of local history you have found or kept safe over the years?

AD Quiz #23 What's the Main Ingredient

2013-02-13T20:29:00.001-05:00

I have seen a lot of old ads during my digs, but this one must have escaped me. With a name like SPUD, you can't go wrong! The question is: Why is it that college kids in the 1930s should "major" in Spud. There's something wacky in that tobaccy.

Well, I guess it's pretty obvious that there's a mixture of crack cocaine and heroine combined with speed, or maybe it's just menthol - ether way, it's Cram-tastic!

Good Lord Man! Is that a Cannon in your lap?

2013-02-12T00:37:00.001-05:00

This ad from a 1964 American Home Magazine typifies the potential for subliminal advertising. I am not sure what the imagery is actually supposed to convey, but I found it comical.

I was thinking I would pair this with an ad for one of those filter cigarettes just to show how they seem to contradict each other...maybe cotton keeps the flavor of the cushion from escaping?

Irradiated Milk - It does a body glow.

2013-02-06T22:19:00.004-05:00

Okay, so it isn't really Atomic Milk. In the 1940's someone got the idea that if you passed milk over an ultra-violet light it would kill the bacteria and last longer. I don't know where the Vitamin D thing comes in...couldn't you just leave the milk out in the sun? Or, maybe drink it in the sun for the same benefit? Here is a bottle I found at a recent sale:

Forgotten LPs From the 70's

2013-02-03T16:58:00.000-05:00

For today, Superbowl Sunday, I have found a piece of LP and comedy history, history in the way something happened in the past, not history in the way something is historic. But it was Superbowl related, so I thought..what the heck. Why not?

And the reverse...

Patchett and Tarses were a comedy team but very little information exists about them other than some lines in IMDB.com. Tarses is billed as a comedy writer, producer, actor. His name is attached to the producing credits of The Bob Newhart Show and others. He and Patchett performed on the Joey Bishop Show in the 1960's. I can't find any information on this album other than about 10 copies for sale on Amazon.com from different sellers. Would like to see a clip of these guys...anyone have a link?

Imus was a little more known, mainly as a respite for me from my years at high school. WNBC provided a home for morning show and the foolishness over-flowed to an album or 2. I love this album just because Jack Davis (of MAD Magazine fame) did the artwork.

Finding this in the basement collection of an Estate Sale recently I had to snap an image to share.

The Kingston Trio - What a bunch of Folk'n Artists!

2013-01-30T21:12:00.001-05:00

I grew up when there were still Belafonte Calypso, Weaver, and The Kingston Trio albums stacked by the record player in my parents house. It was the music my parents listened to. To me they all looked glossy and posed and clean-cut (except for Bob Dylan. I don't know why I thought that or cared - but this was when buying an album meant buying a record sleeve that had a poster on one side and a book of text on the back. You could see the band and then read about how and why they had formed and written and published and toured.

I found this thin Random House book on the group at a sale last week, and, like the album I had seen in my parents record pile, I had no desire to buy it, but I did look inside...

Hello! Now I'm interested... Are those actual signatures? or just some scribblins from the kids in the house? Well, I was hooked and dropped a dollar to learn more about these three.

Deeper into the book are three more signatures, each matching pretty close the style and pen of the first. Are they the actual autographs...I don't know. Does it matter? It caused me to look more into the bio of this band of 3. Wikipedia has a good rundown of their meteoric rise to fame almost right from college and then the usual trials of success and too many nights on stage. Read all about it here.

Or, take a look at this TV appearance:

Sure they had their critics, and their have been many official incantations of the same trio with new members, in fact there may be one coming to your town soon. Here's a final look at another page in the book - they were sought by many advertisers...

Ad Quiz # 25 Guess this and clean up!

2013-01-23T21:10:00.001-05:00

Here is a vivid ad and a familiar face from commercial breaks from the 1960's. Are you old enough to guess the product? Can you guess who she looks like from advertising today? I can.

Okay, if you guessed (either to yourself) or like the commentators below you may have been waiting for confirmation...well, here it is.

If you can get enough of Josaphine, here is a similarity I noticed (and alluded to above) to another well known spokesperson.

I think both of them are creepy and over the top, but that's really the idea of advertising isn't it? If it doesn't get your attention it won't sell the product. Odd but both are successful brands.

Whoops! Left the Comet covered up on the right side...oh well, Its correct up above. Did you guess correctly?