“Rockwell Models”

Rockwell Models in "Progress?"
From August 21, 1954

One advantage of living near Rockwell in the 1950s is that you had a good chance of being forever remembered in a Saturday Evening Post cover.

“Progress?” – August 21, 1954

"Progress?"
From August 21, 1954

This is progress? The construction crew is meant to build a cellar, but along come the local would-be All Stars pleading, “Gee, mister, this is our baseball lot!”

Rockwell gathered up models for this scene in midwinter by knocking on doors (in Stockbridge, Mass.) and rousting up members of the Little League team. My favorite touch is tiny Scott Ingram sucking his fingers as the negotiations proceed. The boy in the baseball suit is big brother, Kenneth Ingram. We’ll see Scott again.

The workers appear sympathetic, but we suspect things do not bode well for the great American pastime.

According to Kenneth, Scott’s best buddy was Eddie Locke (below).

“Before the Shot”– March 15, 1958

"Before the Shot"
From March 15, 1958

We recently showed you Eddie Locke as “The Runaway” (see: ROCKWELL: BEHIND THE CANVAS). The young man shows up on yet another classic Rockwell cover: as the boy checking out the doctor’s credentials before getting a shot.

The physician preparing the shot was Donald Campbell, a real local doctor. “Norman lived across the street from me for a number of years, said Dr. Campbell in a 1976 issue of the Post. “It was a familiar sight to see his long legs carrying him down to the studio regularly before eight a.m. “

Dr. Campbell continued, “Norman couldn’t help being nice to people, especially children. When my five-year-old Betsy fell from her bike because a little dog followed her, barking, Norman gathered her up, stopped her tears and took her home with him. With Betsy on his knee, he drew a series of pictures as in a cartoon, showing a little dog chasing a little child on a bike. The picture showed the little girl’s face with the caption, ‘See. The nice little dog only wanted to play.’”

“Girl at the Mirror” – March 6, 1954

"Girl at the Mirror"
From March 6, 1954

Rockwell once called Mary Whalen his favorite model, even if the young girl on the cover didn’t think she measured up to Jane Russell (who did?). The artist captures the “in-between” age well between the cast away doll and the closer “necessities” of lipstick and hairbrush.

Mary’s first memory of the artist “was at a high school basketball game in Arlington, Vermont, about 1950. His son Tommy was on the local team, so along with nearly everybody else in town, Norman was there to cheer them on. When I harassed my Dad for a Coke, a friendly man sitting behind us gallantly reached over my shoulder and invited me to drink some of his Coke. That was the beginning of my admiration for Norman Rockwell.”

How did Rockwell get the facial expressions he wanted from the kids? “He would laugh and shout, pound the floor, or jump up and down,” Mary recalled. “He did the acting while I reacted. What a wonderful moment of joy when Norman drew forth from me the expressions he wanted. He would burst out laughing, with happy shouts. It is the memory of those triumphant, creative moments which I treasure most,” she recalled, more than twenty years later. “I can still hear deep within me his laugh of celebration.”

“A Day in the Life of a Girl” – August 30, 1952

"A Day in the Life of a Girl"
From August 30, 1952

Earlier in 1952, Rockwell did a cover called “A Day in the Life of a Boy,” which follows a boy getting up and ready for school, playing baseball, getting distracted by a pretty girl, and so on. A few months later, the summer version, “A Day in the life of a Girl” appeared. Both covers featured Charles Marsh, Jr. and Mary Whalen. Mary awakens, then it’s off to go swimming, where a young man promptly tries to drown her. The spirited lass returns the gesture, and it was love at first fight.

The last row shows a chaste kiss, which Marsh just couldn’t pull off. “I considered her my girlfriend then,” he said later, but I had never built up enough courage to kiss her. Mr. Rockwell finally gave up on trying to get me to kiss her and posed us puckering separately.” The ordeals of being a model!

“The Missing Tooth”- September 7, 1957

"The Missing Tooth"
From September 7, 1957

When Rockwell needed a child for a Crest ad (“Look, Ma! No Cavities!”), he asked his friends, the Morgans, if he could borrow their daughter. When cute little Ann Morgan showed up at the studio, she was missing two front teeth. Oops. “Mr. Rockwell went ahead and painted my front teeth in for the ad,” said grown-up Ann Morgan Baker in 1976, “but my missing teeth may have given him the idea for a Post cover.”

Living near a famous artist had its perks: “Being on the cover changed my life,” Ann said, “People were always saying, ‘I saw you in Chicago,’ or ‘I saw you in a drugstore window in New York.’ I thought of myself as a tiny little international star.” And the modeling fee? “$25 when you’re six is a lot of money.” Famous AND rich—what more could you ask for?

Having Rockwell as a family friend has its odd moments, too. The artist would call Ann’s mother “at 7 a.m. and say, ‘Don’t make the beds. I want to come and look at some messy rooms.’ Then he would come and wander through our morning rubble.”

Ann’s first love? Neighbor and fellow Rockwell model, Scott Ingram (above as the littlest ball player and below).

“The Discovery” – December 29, 1956

"The Discovery"
From December 29, 1956

Poor little Scott Ingram—this unexpected discovery is suddenly answering a lot of questions. The good news is that this 1956 cover also made him a celebrity of sorts. He actually got fan mail and even made a television appearance with the famous artist. He enjoyed working with Rockwell, and looked forward to the end of each session, when he would be treated to a milkshake.

The painting is more multi-faceted than the first glance would indicate. The way Rockwell captured the burling of the wood of the dresser is one such detail. And life for the artist would have been easier had he just closed the door. Instead, he replicated the patterned wallpaper outside the room, illuminated by the light of a window we have the barest glimpse of.

Next: Rockwell in the 1950s Part II —including a controversial topless model.

Rockwell in the 1950s – Part I of III The Saturday Evening Post

The young man in this 1939 cover by artist Douglass Crockwell doesn’t look happy. And with good reason. It’s hard to impress a girl when she’s taking a call from another guy.

Seventeen-year-old Fred Randall had run into a classmate he hadn’t seen in over a year. He and Naomi were having a great time catching up, when an artist entered the store and offered to buy them a sundae if they would pose for a photograph. Randall wasn’t sure what would become of the photo, but he knew the guy with a camera was interrupting a pleasant reunion. All he could remember was that the man’s name was Douglass. Lo and behold, Fred found himself on the cover ofThe Saturday Evening Post, much to the teenager’s delight. The painting on the cover was simply signed “Douglass.” There’s a reason for that. Artist Douglass Crockwell took to signing his work with just his first name in order to avoid confusion with another artist of the period. You can probably guess which one.

Fred started taking drum lessons as a boy of 9 and plays to this day. Music lessons were a luxury in those days. His father passed away when he was 7. “His mother took in laundry, washing everything by hand because the family had no electricity,” wrote reporter Kathy Ricketts at the The Daily Gazette in Schenectady, New York. Fellow Gazette reporter Jeff Wilkin noted in an earlier article that Fred “worked as a paper boy, delivering the Glens Falls Post-Star for three cents a copy. Randall and other news boys earned a penny per paper; if he sold 100 papers, he had the $1 tuition for another lesson.”

Music remains his passion, and he has played for some of the greats: Rudy Vallee, Sophie Tucker, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Kate Smith. And what about Kate Smith’s signature song? “Probably around ’37, ‘38 in the Hotel St. Moritz at Lake Placid,” Randall told reporter Ricketts, “Kate Smith came in, and came over to the band, and she said, ‘I’ve got a new song I’d like to try; would you play it?’ It was ‘God Bless America.’ What a thrill.” Actually, Irving Berlin wrote the song in 1918 and revised it in 1938. It was this version made famous by the great Kate Smith. Randall told us she had the band run through the song the first time and asked if they’d do it again so she could sing it. “Everybody in the band was on their feet, cheering,” recalls the lucky drummer.

Randall was an “older” draftee, being inducted in 1944 at the age of 27. “He was a sergeant with the Army’s First Division and saw many major battles, including the Battle of the Bulge,” Ricketts noted in her 2008 article. When we asked about his war experiences, he said he didn’t like to discuss them, then shared a disconcerting story about calming down a soldier who had just seen the body of his twin. “He didn’t even know his brother was over there,” Randall said.

His drumming didn’t get by the Army. Once “after I came back from a 20-mile hike, the captain said he wanted to see me. I always had drum sticks in the bottom of my foot locker, and he was standing there holding them,” Randall explained to the Gazette. The captain asked what they were.

“Well, they’re not knitting needles, sir,” Randall replied. The captain took him down to the Officer’s club where a band was rehearsing. They had no drummer. “He told me to get up in back of those drums, and I played swing music two nights a week with the band.”

Fred Randall at the 16th annual Flag Day Ceremony at the Annie Schaeffer Senior Center. Photo courtesy of Peter J. Guidarelli.

Between the Army and National Guard, Fred Randall did over thirty years of proud service. The photo at left shows Fred Randall addressing a group of dignitaries and attendees at the 16th annual Flag Day Ceremony—an event started and maintained by Fred himself. (“I am an ardent volunteer.”) The event is held by Annie Schaeffer Senior Center. (Fred “also did extensive video taping and documenting of the construction of the facility when it was constructed approximately 20 years ago,” his friend Peter J. Guidarelli told us.)

The Senior Center is where Fred still plays with a 15-piece dance band, which plays Glenn Miller and other big band music. “The clientele is mostly, shall I say, elderly.” He is still a proud member of “Musician’s Union Local 85. I joined in 1932 when I was 16.” He can’t help noting that dues were once $3 per year.

He just turned 96 on New Year’s Day and says his doctor told him, “Fred, I don’t know how you do it. I sure can’t find anything wrong.” Maybe it’s those visits to the gym. “I work out like everyone else there,” Fred says.

So it probably makes sense that Fred has big plans. “I want to have a big gig when I turn 100. I’ll invite all the local TV stations. There’ll be saxophones, clarinets, a piano, and four or five guys lined up to take my seat at the drums!” We can’t wait.

“Call me back any time,” says our friendly cover boy. “I’ll be happy to tell you more. If you can catch me.”

Post Cover Boy Turns 96 The Saturday Evening Post

I know this may be a stretch, but I have a special request. I am looking for an issue of your magazine from September 2, 1944. It is special to me because I am the boy scout in the painting by Stephen Dohanos. His son was a pal of mind and, in the 6th grade, I was asked to post in my scout uniform. I think I got paid $10! Plus I spent the night at his house and had a great time. I can still remember the shoot. Any change I could obtain a copy for my daughter. Thanks for your time and attention.

Sincerely,
George

George:

How nice to hear from you! We love to hear from former models for our wonderful cover artists and Dohanos was one of the best. September 2, 1944 is a cover showing three dogs looking wistfully at a departing school bus. You can see kids in the back windows of the bus, and I take it you’re the scout waving good-bye to the faithful friends.

You can obtain copies of most of the great artwork from our covers at www.curtispublishing.com.

Sincerely,
Saturday Evening Post Archives

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Blast from the Past The Saturday Evening Post