Babies a Favorite theme in Advertising

Babies, toddlers, and children in general have been a long time favorite to illustrate in advertising many different products. Perhaps the theory was to appeal to mother's with adorable children in order to sell their products. I know when I see an ad with a cute little baby, rambunctious toddler, or child in it I take notice of what is being sold. Many artists became famous for their depictions of children. I find this vintage ad for Karo Syrup from 1942 just adorable. Don't you just want to squeeze those rosy pink cheeks?

Hoosier Beer Advertising Crate

I wanted to take some time today and steer a little away from ephemera and show an unusual advertising collectible that is considered a cross-over. This wonderful old wooden crate style box fits into the advertising collectible category because it has the Hoosier Beer logo on it. It would also be desirable to a collector of breweriana because it was used for Hoosier Beer, hence the cross-over. A third category would be from us silly people in Indiana who collect items made in our state or have the name 'Hoosier' on them. So this old advertising box would be in at least three categories of collecting.

Hoosier Beer was brewed in South Bend, Indiana during the 20th century by South Bend Brewing Company. I couldn't find specific dates as to when it began and ended. I do know that an association was formed to market and brew Hoosier Beer from 1900 to 1949. The company was called South Bend Beverage & Ice Company. During the prohibition era that company made Hoosier Cream Soda. My guess is that the box pictured is after 1949 as it held 24 - 12 oz bottles of beer and it has South Bend Brewing Company instead of the Beverage and Ice name. If anyone out there knows more of the history, I'd be fascinated to know.

Dionne Quintuplets

Numerous pieces of ephemera can be found with the pictures or a likeness of the famous Dionne Quintuplets of Ontario, Canada. Pictured here is a magazine advertisement for Kre-mel Desserts, a pudding mix, with Marie the smallest of the Quints at birth.

The Dionne Quintuplets were born on May 28, 1934 in a rural area of Ontario. They are the first known quintuplets to survive their infancy. The quints were also identical which is a one in 57 million occurrence. The Canadian government took the children away from their parents after having learned of a contract with the parents to exhibit the babies at the Chicago World's Fair. To protect the sisters from exploitation the government provided a home with a nursing staff and doctor in residence. Unfortunately, the Canadian government proceeded to exploit the girls for their own financial gain and used them and the doctor in commercial ads, books, and other things. I believe that only two of the five sisters are still alive today.

Maud Humphrey Lithographs

One of my very favorite types of ephemera are the antique lithographs by illustrators like Maud Humphrey (Bogart). Maud is famous for her illustrations of babies and children dressed in Victorian style clothing. She is also famous for being the mother of actor Humphrey Bogart. It is reported that one of her favorite baby models was her son Humphrey. He was used to model for an advertisement she did for Mellin Baby Food. Maud's career spanned from the late 1880's up to the 1920's. She did illustrations for advertisements, calendars, cards, and books during her career. Pictured is a litho dated 1888 published by Frederick A. Stokes & Brother of New York.

Airline Ephemera

A popular form of ephemera collected today is pieces of advertising, souvenirs, and other paper items falling into a theme of aviation or specific airline companies. This wonderful piece of airline history was a souvenir give away from NAC or the National Airways Corporation. NAC was formed in 1947 and was based in Aukland, New Zealand. Pictured is a souvenir portfolio to hold your travel papers in. I believe this particular piece is from around 1952 or 1953 as one of the pieces included in the portfolio advertises a flight to the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth which took place in June of 1953.

Beetle Bailey - In the Army for over 50 years

We've been enjoying the antics of the long time soldier BEETLE BAILEY since 1950. Mort Walker created Beetle, first as a college student. The comic strip debuted in around 50 newspapers on September 4, 1950. Beetle and his fraternity brothers were a moderate success. The comic strip caught on and was then purchased by King Features. It is reported that Beetle Bailey was the last comic strip personally approved by William Randolph Hearst.

Mort Walker decided to have his star character accidentally enlist in the Army during the Korean Conflict of the 1950's and as they say....the rest is history. The comic strip now appears in over 1800 newspapers around the world.

Pictured is a Dell Comic book from 1956 with the antics of Beetle and his fellow soldiers.

Longstanding Comic Strip Hero - Prince Valiant

Some comic strip characters seem to stand the test of time. One such character is Prince Valiant. This comic strip hero reminds us of the days of chivalry and tales of the mighty King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table.

I decided to do a little research on this mighty hero that I have been reading since I was a kid. The original strip was created by Hal Foster for William Randolph Hearst. It is reported that Hearst contacted Foster with the desire for a comic strip to be published in his newspapers. Hal was enamored with tales of chivalry and King Arthur and created a comic strip with that type of storyline. He first named his strip "Derek, Son of Thane" and presented it to Hearst. Mr. Hearst loved the strip but did not like the title. Foster changed the name to PRINCE VALIANT and the comic strip made it's debut in the Hearst publications on February 13, 1937 as a Sunday only strip.

In the last 60 years, Prince Valiant has inspired several adaptations in the form of movies, comic books, and graphic novels. Dell Comics published this Prince Valiant comic book in 1955 based on Foster's comic strip.

Shop Inventory has moved

I'm thrilled to announce that I am now an exclusive shop on Ruby Lane. I'll be selling ephemera, advertising collectibles, magazines, books, and comic books that are at least 20 years old exclusively at Ruby Lane. Items newer than 20 years old can be found at eBay.

If you love to shop for Antiques, Collectibles, and Jewelry but don't want to bother with an auction format, you should stop by Ruby Lane. There are 3 Lanes to browse through for the specific categories and hundreds of shops who offer items for sale in each Lane. You can click on the link for my shop to the right or for your convenience I've provided a link to the Home Page to Ruby Lane.

Happy Shopping!