Jeff Nelson shares my admiration for the wildly creative advertising work of Virgil Partch, or Vip. Jeff writes:
A few weeks back I happened to be browsing through a microfilm reel of Downbeat magazine, looking for something completely different, when I was surprised and delighted to find a long series of Vip ads, running irregularly from 1953 to 1960, for Jensen record needles. They are outstanding! The problem is that the microfilm itself was in poor condition—I doubt that anybody had looked at it in decades, if ever. So the images are dark...
A few of the same ads also ran in Esquire in 1958, so I have added them...
As you can see, Jeff has put together the most comprehensive portfolio you will find anywhere of the Virgil Partch advertising campaign for Jensen phonograph needles. If I still had a turntable, I would go out today and buy some.
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Downbeat, April 22, 1953
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| Downbeat, May 20, 1953 |
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| Downbeat, June 3, 1953 |
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| Downbeat, July 15, 1953 |
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| Downbeat, August 26, 1953 |
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| Downbeat, May 2, 1955 |
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| Downbeat, May 30, 1955 |
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| Downbeat, June 27, 1955 |
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| Downbeat, September 19, 1955 |
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| Downbeat, October 17, 1955 |
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| Downbeat, November 14, 1955 |
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| Downbeat, December 2, 1955 |
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| Esquire, March 1958, page 150 |
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| Downbeat, March 7, 1956 |
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Downbeat, April 4, 1956
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Downbeat, May 2, 1956
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Downbeat, May 30, 1956
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Downbeat, September 19, 1956
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Downbeat, November 14, 1956
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Downbeat, December 12, 1956
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Downbeat, January 9, 1958
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| Downbeat, February 5, 1958 |
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| Downbeat, March 6, 1958 |
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| Esquire, April 1958, page 158 |
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| Downbeat, April 3, 1958 |
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| Esquire, May 1958, page 150 |
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| Downbeat, May 6, 1958 |
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| Downbeat, May 23, 1958 |
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| Downbeat, June 26, 1958 |
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| Esquire, September 1958, page 144 |
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| Downbeat, March 19, 1959 |
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| Downbeat, April 30, 1959 |
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| Downbeat, May 28, 1959 |
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| Downbeat, June 25, 1959 |
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| Downbeat, July 23, 1959 |
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| Downbeat, August 20, 1959 |
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| Downbeat, January 31, 1960 |
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Downbeat, February 18, 1960
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Downbeat, March 18, 1960
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Note: My sincere thanks to Jeff Nelson for doing his homework. This is his eighth contribution to this blog and it has the highest fidelity of any to date.
Often I ask readers to contribute scans or photos of original art, but published rarities, such as these Vip ads hidden away in obscurity for the past sixty-plus years, are also highly prized here.
For the record—no pun intended—I believe the year 2007 was the last time this advertising campaign by Virgil Partch was given any real play. That was on a blog called I'm Learning to Share. Go ahead, give it a spin here. To be sure, only two Jensen ads appear in the post, but one of them is not a part of Jeff's trove.
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