William Steig: The Time Reader

The Time Reader as Seen by William Steig was apparently created for a Young & Rubicam Time magazine ad campaign aimed at procuring and encouraging more advertising. The ad may not have run in Time itself, but possibly in an advertising industry trade journal. The Time reader, who is distinctly depicted as white and male, is described as a college man, traveler, community leader, good provider, and a decision maker. As a news magazine, Time could be enjoyed by the whole family and by all families, but it is only the white male reader who is actively being promoted by Y&R to the advertising community back in, apparently, the 1950s. The framed original artwork sold last week in Providence for $100, the minimum bid.

William Steig
Vallot Auctioneers listing accessed May 1, 2022

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/William-Steig-American,-1907-2003-58-c-C2C4B96964?utm_source=alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=artistalerts&utm_content=default

Note:  No harm would come to anyone revealing to me the date and place of publication. Probably.

03966

J. D. Salinger Signed New Yorker Short Stories

An eBay listing from a year ago included two copies of The New Yorker containing short stories by J. D. Salinger, each signed by the author. The stories, "Just Before the War with the Eskimos" (June 5, 1948) and "Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes" (July 14, 1951), were both later collected in Nine Stories (1953).The magazines come from the 2008 Princeton estate sale of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Murray Gell-Mann.

Magazine covers by Leonard Dove, Arthur Getz, and Robert Vickery

Salinger signed both magazines "with best wishes[,]/J. D. Salinger" above the story title. 

It's an apparent coincidence that the title page of each story is decorated with a spot drawing by Abe Birnbaum.

Too bad the eBay seller wasn't a better photographer.

J. D. Salinger
eBay Listing Ended June 19, 2020

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1948-amp-1951-J-D-SALINGER-SIGNED-INSCRIBED-SHORT-STORIES-NEW-YORKER-MAGAZINES-/184325551854?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc

J. D. Salinger
eBay Item Description

J. D. Salinger
eBay Bid History
Only one bid in the final two minutes

0000

Robert Day for Pepsi-Cola

In the 1940s as America entered the postwar period, Pepsi-Cola's advertising included radio jingles, skywriting, and a vigorous print campaign using a number of popular cartoonists. There was an extended series of print ads by New Yorker cartoonist Robert Day which echoed Pepsi's radio and skywriting promotions while also reflecting many of the extensive social and political changes taking place in the world. These ads appeared in Time, The New Yorker, and no doubt other publications. But first off, here are two examples of the jingle, which is referenced in more than one print ad:

"Pepsi-Cola Hits the Spot"

Radio ads from 1939 and 1950 with the jingle

American troops liberating a European village are greeted with the unlikely news that the populace is familiar with the Pepsi-Cola jingle.

"They want to know if we've got any Pepsi-Cola. Seems they heard the Pepsi-Cola jingle on the underground radio."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
1944

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmuseumofamericanhistory/6303568376/

Postwar inflation was a real concern, but Pepsi could boast that its price was a stable five cents.

"No doubt about his ceiling prices being posted."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
1944

https://www.popscreen.com/prod/MTMwNzcwNDU1/1944-PepsiCola-hotdog-stand-wagon-Robt-Day-cartoon-ad-eBay

Victory Gardens allowed citizens to grow extra produce locally. Robert Day's ad suggests vegetables could be bartered for ice cold Pepsi-Cola. 

"Since Joe put up his stand, the Victory Gardens are booming."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
1944

https://picclick.co.uk/vintage-1944-Cartoon-Art-PEPSI-COLA-time-magazine-print-352635943538.html

Detail

https://picclick.co.uk/vintage-1944-Cartoon-Art-PEPSI-COLA-time-magazine-print-352635943538.html

When caddies are in short supply, golf clubs are expendable but Pepsi-Cola is not.

"They could only get 4 boys—so J.V. said the heck with his golf clubs."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
1944

https://picclick.com/1944-Pepsi-Pepsi-Cola-soda-pop-cartoon-art-Ad-323723367729.html#&gid=1&pid=1

The 1944 Presidential election pitted incumbent Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt against Republican Thomas E. Dewey, both New Yorkers. The words to Pepsi's jingle may be spotted on a convention sign. Was either convention this unconventional?

"...It was his postwar plank of plenty of Pepsi-Cola for everybody, that touched off the demonstration."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
1944

https://picclick.com/1944-Pepsi-Pepsi-Cola-soda-pop-cartoon-art-Ad-323723367729.html#&gid=1&pid=1

A 1945 wartime ad, no doubt meant for national consumption, suggests a midnight curfew in New York City. But Sam Roberts, writing in 1995 for the Times, noted, "The national curfew was midnight, but Mayor La Guardia insisted that New Yorkers be allowed to drink, legally, until 1 A.M."

"Have we time for a couple of Pepsis before the curfew?"
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
1945

Image added May 19, 2019

https://picclick.co.uk/Pepsi-Cola-1945-Print-Advertisement-Getting-Soda-283429391646.html#&gid=1&pid=1

Enough Pepsi could calm the populace, although one shipload might not be enough:

"If we only had two shiploads of Pepsi-Cola we could stop all this unrest."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
1945

Image added May 19, 2019

https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&biw=1440&bih=749&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=q6_TXLX9Bu2H_Qatq6_wBw&q=%22Robert+Day%22+Pepsi-Cola&oq=%22Robert+Day%22+Pepsi-Cola&gs_l=img.3...11572.22051..37827...2.0..0.145.1461.24j1......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......35i39j0j0i67j0i10j0i5i30j0i8i30j0i30j0i24.4xQlDaYW738#imgrc=3CFfPx59oCI8QM:

Pepsi worked hard to get its name displayed in the air and the print ads reflect this major aspect of the soft drink's promotion. The source for this ad says it appeared in Ebony, which would date it to the end of 1945 or later. More concerning, the ad contains racial caricatures, yet it was deliberately marketed to the black community. That seems seriously misguided at best.

"That means mission successful—ice the Pepsi-Cola."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
Ebony, 1945 or later

https://joanneodonnell.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/coca-cola-and-pepsi-cola-in-the-1940s/

Day's art allows us to envision the mass-caffeination of an entire factory.

"Now watch our production jump."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
1945

https://www.google.com/search...

The postwar housing shortage was serious, but perhaps it could have a cola-infused bright side. The bishop's crook lamppost leaves  no doubt that we are looking at New York City. (It's visible in the ceiling prices and curfew drawings above as well.) Pepsi was based in Long Island City.

"What do we care if we have to move in with four or five
other families[?] Look how convenient it is."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
Time, June 3, 1946, page 37

https://picclick.co.uk/1946-Cartoon-Art-PEPSI-COLA-vintage-Auto-Park-print-153460456253.html#&gid=1&pid=1

"Many cities vied for the honor of hosting the UN Headquarters site, prior to the selection of New York City. The selection of the East River site came after over a year of protracted study and consideration of many sites in the United States."

—Wikipedia

"Come, come, gentlemen! At this rate we'll never find a U.N. site."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
Time, November 18, 1946, page 39

http://www.adbranch.com/pepsi-cola-magazine-ads-1940s/pepsi_cola_ad_cartoon_snack_stand_kiosk_1946/

The jingle "Pepsi-Cola Hits the Spot" features prominently in this Time magazine ad. Readers presumably would have been familiar with it.

"Henry says that's the only good news on the radio these days."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
Time, January 20, 1947, page 39

http://www.adbranch.com/pepsi-cola-magazine-ads-1940s/pepsi_cola_ad_cartoon_vintage_radio_1947/

Jingle diplomacy:

"Then it was my turn, and since my repertoire was completely exhausted, the only genuinely American song I could think of was 'Pepsi-Cola Hits the Spot!' which they applauded as loudly as the others, although they said such a wine was unknown in Kazakstan, and inquired from what grape it was made."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
Text from W. L. White, Report on the Russians, Harcourt, Brace and Company, page 211.

http://www.adbranch.com/pepsi-cola-magazine-ads-1940s/pepsi_print_ad_ww2_american_russian_soldiers_1945/

Skywriting diplomacy:

"Look, Ivanovitch, the American Delegation is arriving!"
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
Time, March 10, 1947, page 35

https://picclick.com/1947-vintage-beverage-ad-PEPSI-COLA-neat-cartoon-254184447309.html

Luxury travel requires a luxury beverage.

"The railroads are certainly going after business these days."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
Time, August 4, 1947, page 25

http://www.adbranch.com/pepsi-cola-magazine-ads-1940s/pepsi_cola_ad_cartoon_train_station_1947/

The skywriter up close:

"...she's jet propelled—does 604 an hour and writes Pepsi-Cola in eight foreign languages."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
Time, October 27, 1947, page 41

http://www.adbranch.com/pepsi-cola-magazine-ads-1940s/pepsi_cola_ad_cartoon_pilot_plane_1947/

The Queen Mary stocks up on high-end goods:

"Now I know why they say everyone travels first class on her."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
Time, November 24, 1947, page 41

http://www.adbranch.com/pepsi-cola-magazine-ads-1940s/pepsi_cola_ad_cartoon_queen_mary_1947/

Trains, cruise ships, airplanes, and now helicopters feature in these Pepsi ads. Curiously, Day's bold inking gives unusual prominence to an onlooker's bald spot. It's not an accident; he does something similar in the following three ads as well.

"That's what I call smart merchandising."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
1947
in Bryan Holmes, Advertising: Reflections of a Century
(London:  William Heinemann, Ltd., 1982)

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Pepsi-Cola-Original-Vintage-Advertising-Art-Print-Robert-Day-/323785914200?hash=item4b6324f758

In 1947, there was a new angle to the office Christmas bonus.

"...and in addition to your bonus checks, on account of the many deductions for taxes, social security, etc., etc."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
Time, December 22, 1947

https://picclick.com/1947-Pepsi-Cola-Christmas-office-cartoon-art-vintage-312540250883.html#&gid=1&pid=1

Round table diplomacy:

"The Ambassador says his country will settle for 12 cases of Pepsi-Cola."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
c. 1954

https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&biw=1440&bih=749&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=q6_TXLX9Bu2H_Qatq6_wBw&q=%22Robert+Day%22+Pepsi-Cola&oq=%22Robert+Day%22+Pepsi-Cola&gs_l=img.3...11572.22051..37827...2.0..0.145.1461.24j1......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......35i39j0j0i67j0i10j0i5i30j0i8i30j0i30j0i24.4xQlDaYW738#imgrc=CBXhYKGvruHnOM:

"...he's the editor of 'Gourmet Magazine'."
Robert Day
Pepsi-Cola advertisement
The New Yorker, 1950s

https://www.etsy.com/listing/634648122/original-vintage-50s-cartoon-robert-day

Note:  There could easily be dozens of other Pepsi ads by Robert Day. Readers with access to any of these, or with better scans of the ones shown here, may send them in for inclusion in this post. Needless to say, original advertising art from this campaign would also be welcome.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Robert Day

Advertising

Pepsi-Cola

Attempted Bloggery's Five-Cent Index

02929

James Thurber: A Sure Grasp of Confusion

A rough drawing for James Thurber's Time magazine cover of July 9, 1951 resembles the published cover almost line for line. He tightened up the drawing a bit for publication, but the elements are all already in place in the rough. The humorist whom Time characterized as commanding "A sure grasp of confusion" didn't leave anything to chance.

Note:  This just might be the first example of preliminary magazine cover art on this blog that is not from the New Yorker. I would be happy to discover more.


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

James Thurber

Time Magazine

Attempted Bloggery's Grasping Index

02822

A Time Magazine Cover Signed by James Thurber

A copy of Time magazine with James Thurber's inscription and signature on the July 9, 1951 cover shows his hand to be sadly shaky and unsure in the extreme. His failed vision surely was responsible for this. His self-portrait with dogs is endearing enough, but just think of what he could have done with this space a mere decade earlier! Time's editors outdid themselves with the headline "James Thurber: A Sure Grasp of Confusion."

Time, July 9, 1951
Signed by James Thurber

James Thurber
eBay Listing Retrieved January 10, 2018

https://www.ebay.com/itm/JAMES-G-THURBER-INSCRIBED-MAGAZINE-COVER-SIGNED/283064033019?hash=item41e7ee5efb:g:ZfgAAOSwrLZbUObn:rk:7:pf:0

James Thurber
eBay Item Description

Note:  At press time this signed magazine cover is still available on eBay and Amazon. Only the eBay listing has the Make Offer option.


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

James Thurber

Time Magazine

Signed Magazine Covers

Attempted Bloggery's Sure Grasp on an Index

02821