"In Philadelphia nearly everybody reads The Bulletin." So ran the tag line for a long-running series of advertisements for the Philadelphia Bulletin, the popular evening daily newspaper. The humorous illustrations for the ad campaign were the work of Philadelphia-born cartoonist Richard Decker and they were seen in the pages of The New Yorker over several decades. Typically, there was a local setting with a large crowd all reading the Bulletin. Some extraordinary mishap would occur that the many readers absorbed in their newspapers would fail to notice. The single exception was always one insect-like, frenetic, and presumably uninformed man who reacted with hyperkinetic gesticulation in response to the absurd situation. A lovely example of Decker's original art has come to light:
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| In Philadelphia nearly everybody reads The Bulletin Richard Decker Original advertising art The New Yorker, March 21, 1964, page 143 Brush, India ink, ink wash on illustration board, 14 x 16 in. Signed lower left. Image provided by Jerome Wrinkle |
The artwork is provided to us by Jerome Wrinkle, manager of the Old Joke Cemetery Gift Shoppe in New York's scenic Greenwich Village. He writes:
Over 28 years, many cartoons by Richard Decker for The Philadelphia Bulletin appeared in The New Yorker. Familiar to every New Yorker reader, each cartoon had the identical caption, “In Philadelphia nearly everybody reads The Bulletin.” Each featured a hysterical man witnessing an astonishing event while others around him are engrossed in their copy of The Bulletin. Just in case there was any doubt, The New Yorker always included a line beneath reading (Advertisement).
The Philadelphia Bulletin campaign was the work of N. W. Ayer & Son advertising agency in Philadelphia, one of the oldest advertising agencies in the country. They were responsible for many major national campaigns including “When it rains it pours” advertising salt for Morton Salt, “I'd walk a mile for a Camel” advertising Camel cigarettes, and “A diamond is forever” for De Beers.
Richard Decker was raised in Philadelphia. His parents were Chestnut Street stationers—great for a kid looking for art supplies. He attended The Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art and began his 38-year career as a New Yorker cartoonist in 1929. His cartoons also appeared in Life, Collier’s, The Saturday Evening Post and Look magazine. All the while Decker was busy with a dazzling array of advertising work. He illustrated ads for Arrow Ties, Rheingold Beer, Sanforized Shirts, Drano cleanser, Post cereals, Lipton Tea and Taylor Wine, to name but a few.
This original art by Richard Decker was bought on eBay many years ago for a paltry sum by someone who realized what it was—one of Richard Decker’s fine illustrations for the long running Philadelphia Bulletin advertising campaign. Although it was in a cheap, atrocious frame and sadly neglected for years, it was still in pretty good shape. It was removed from the original frame and matte, cleaned up as well as possible, and properly re-matted.
Here are some more of Jerome's images:
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| Detail of the man who doesn't read the Bulletin His leg sits outside the oval border of the art. |
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| Detail of the hapless lion tamer Note all the open newspapers in the background. |
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| Richard Decker's signature |
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| Verso |
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| Richard Decker's contact information |
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| In Philadelphia nearly everybody reads The Bulletin Richard Decker Original advertising art The New Yorker, March 21, 1964, p. 143 |
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| The Philadelphia Bulletin ad by Richard Decker |
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Richard Decker Worthpoint |
Note: I am grateful to Jerome Wrinkle for sharing this extraordinary find. His previous contributions to this blog may be enjoyed here. This is his eleventh contribution to Attempted Bloggery.
The history of the Bulletin was chronicled in 2006 by Jay Wyatt with "Nearly Everybody Read the Bulletin" here.
Worthpoint subscribers who feel inspired to look up the Decker art's eBay sale price are encouraged to report their findings here.
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