This beautiful Ivory Soap ad from 1914 is a wonderful example of just how much work and talent went into advertisements. The illustration was by Katharine R. Wireman, who did the Fourth of July-themed 1924 cover below.

This ad was by artist Leslie Thrasher, who did twenty-three Saturday Evening Post covers. In front of a billboard for Fisk Tires, a silly boy with his toy dog is mocking the fancy society lady walking her dog.

This is part of a two-page ad in 1924 for Palm Beach Suits. “The older man in this picture is wearing the wrong clothes for hot weather,” reads the ad. “The younger man knows what a difference the right clothes for hot weather will make.” The artist behind the ad was George Brehm, who did nine Post covers and numerous inside drawings, including illustrations for stories by his fellow Hoosier, Booth Tarkington. His cover below is from 1935:

This 1920 ad for Edison Mazda Lamps (General Electric) features a boy and his dog – could it be the work of Norman Rockwell? It is indeed. Rockwell did a series of beautiful art for Edison Mazda ads, as well as for many other companies.

The beauty of the ad was not only visual. The text waxed eloquent:

Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer live here; the Knights of the Round Table; the Pirates of Treasure Island, and the brave gentlemen of Ivanhoe.

They will be part of your boy’s life forever, if only you are wise. Whatever else your bedroom may have, put books and an Edison Mazda lamp at the head of each bed.

For a lamp is a magic thing. By its light every lad may be Aladdin. He opens his book, touches the lamp, and the genii appear.

 

“Dog in Church”

The viewer hopes grandma doesn’t find out what is so amusing the boy in this 1915 cover. A native of Piedmont, West Virginia, Thrasher had excellent credentials: study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts while still a teenager, then a traveling scholarship to the Ecole de Grande Chaumiere in Paris. Returning to the United States, he studied under renowned illustrator, Howard Pyle.

“Bridling the Horse”

One wonders if the grandma above would approve of this independent lady, also from 1915. Notice the banner she is wearing—she is a suffragette getting ready for a meeting. World War I interrupted the life of the artist who served in France and sadly, was seriously affected by poison gas. He returned to Wilmington, married, and moved to Long Island.

“Grandfather & Child with Horse”

Boys and horses were a common theme in Thrasher’s art (we’ll see a lovely example below), but for something sweet and different, how about this grandfather and child with a gentle friend? As much as horses appeared in his work, he did a delightful job painting people, young and old.

“Conference on the Mound”

“Conference on the Mound” was the first cover Thrasher ever sold—for a whopping $50 in 1912. Little more than a decade later, by 1924, he signed for a series of covers for Liberty magazine, for which he was paid a handsome $1,000 each (that would be over $13,000 today—a tidy weekly salary). Happily, he was still doing covers for the Post, and despite his fine arts background, his commercial success was impressive, with ads for Chesterfield cigarettes and Cream of Wheat among his prodigious output.

“Boy Watering Horses”

This is a beautiful example of Thrasher’s work from 1924 for the Post. One wonders how he could do a cover a week for Liberty magazine for years, a lofty task, and do a goodly number of other works as well. In this painting, it is a bitter January day, and this young man has to break the ice to get water for the horses. Notice Thrasher’s covers show little or no background details, unlike artists like Rockwell with his painstaking details of wallpaper or room decorations.

“Tipping the Scales”

“Tipping the Scales” is a popular Thrasher painting from 1936. The Post used it as a cookbook cover in 1975, and we have heard many people argue that it must be a Rockwell, perhaps because of the humor involved. And perhaps because many folks believe that Norman Rockwell did every weekly Post cover from 1916-1962, a physical impossibility, of course. Ironically, this amusing painting is from a tragic year for the artist. A fire at his home in December not only destroyed much of Thrasher’s work, but led to severe smoke inhalation and ultimately fatal pneumonia.

“Two Men in Deck Chairs”

Published shortly after his death, this painting again shows the artist’s delightful sense of humor. As if being seasick wasn’t enough, the smoke from his companion’s pipe is making matters worse. Perhaps he is too queasy to get up and move? Thrasher did as many as three hundred sixty magazine covers. (Rockwell’s Post covers added up to about 322, although he, too, did thousands of other paintings.) Had Thrasher lived longer, one wonders if his reputation would have rivaled the likes of Rockwell.

No Hunting – Douglass Crockwell

I’ve always gotten a chuckle from this 1939 cover by artist Douglass Crockwell. No only did this hunter ignore the warning, he’s mad enough to add his own commentary – under the big “NO HUNTING” letters he’s scribbling, “You’re telling me.” Notice that the artist simply signed his covers “Douglass”. This was to avoid confusion with another artist – some guy with a similar last name.

No Hunting – Leslie Thrasher

When this old guy says “No Hunting,” he means it! One might say there have been flagrant violators, since the sign is riddled with bullet holes. We’ve had some cover artists who were wonderful at painting old codgers, and Leslie Thrasher was one of them. This great cover is from 1914.

Springer Spaniels – J.F. Kernan

I’d know that white mustache anywhere; this old guy has been in many beautiful J.F. Kernan covers. This time he’s dressed for the hunt in 1930 and picking up the spaniels for the job. When the little guys grow up, they’ll be great hunters, too.

Duck Hunters – Robert Robinson

Now we all know that hunters and fishermen are the most honest and upright of sportsmen. But there’s not only this 1911 cover of an unsuccessful hunter buying someone else’s catch, there’s a cover a few years later depicting a fisherman doing the same thing. Who wants to go home after hours of hunting or fishing with nothing to show for it?

Patient Dog – John Atherton

This is a sweet one. World War II has taken the man of the house away and this beautiful dog is waiting patiently for his master to return and take him hunting. Not all of those waiting at home are two-legged.

Hunting Couple on Walk – J. Hennesy

It’s a crisp autumn day, and together time for this couple means hunting – or at least walking in the woods. Country Gentleman magazine was a sister publication to the Post for many years and often shared the same artists.