“Arrow Collars and Shirts” by J.C. Leyendecker

It is striking that ads in the old issues of The Saturday Evening Post often boast artwork worthy of a cover on the finest magazines of the period. An exquisite example is this 1930 ad by the great J.C. Leyendecker for Arrow Collars and Shirts. Leyendecker was about as famous for these ads as for his prolific Post covers, and the “Arrow Collar Man” was the American ideal for 25 years.

“Fisk Tires” by Norman Rockwell

Although several great illustrators did ads for Fisk Tires, Norman Rockwell did artwork for the company from 1917 to 1925 that appeared in magazines such as Youth’s Companion, Boy’s Life and, of course, The Saturday Evening Post. This winter scene with the boys admiring the cool tires is from 1917. There was always a sign or billboard for Fisk Tires in the ad.

“Cadillac” by T.M. Cleland

Did you ever think you would call an advertisement “magnificent”? Artist T.M. Cleland (1880-1964) was a decorative designer, typographer, a well-known printer and, oh, yes, a wonderful illustrator. This 1928 ad for Cadillac is probably a depiction of Monte Carlo, suggesting how fun it would be to tool around Europe in your Caddy.

“Cream of Wheat” by Edward V. Brewer

We have come across dozens of great old Cream of Wheat ads. Artist Edward V. Brewer developed a series of these ads based on the black chef who appeared on the box (and still does today). The chef with the great smile would show up somewhere in the ad. In the case of this 1923 example, he appeared on the fancy new sign attracting the local children. The original paintings of vintage Cream of Wheat ads now sell for four to five figures.

“Bottles Ad”

This charming ad from 1926 is touting the health benefits of bottles for your carbonated beverages. “Every bubble holds a heaping measure of health,” claims the text, going so far as to quote a prominent chemist’s assurances that the “average bottle of soft drink has the energy value equivalent to 3 ounces mashed potatoes or ¾ pound tomatoes”. Well, we may question that, but a bottle of pop is certainly easier to consume on the golf course than those food items.

“Hosiery”

“Full fashioned, of course—giving that slender, trim ankled appearance that every woman wants.” How a pair of silk stockings achieves that is not clear, but no matter: this one is a charmer and a good example of late 1920s fashion and hairstyles. Like the artwork in so many of these ads, this one is not signed by the artist, but we have our suspicions. The lighting from below, as if by fireplace, and the large-eyed beauty is remarkably similar to a 1923 Post cover by artist Pearl L. Hill, who illustrated eight Post covers during the 20s (see below).

“Waiting” by Pearl Hill

One of eight Post covers by artist Pearl L. Hill.

 

“Spring was on the land, and the benignant Vermont sun, having penetrated every other nook and cranny in the town of Manchester, presently made its way into a certain quiet room where six men and one woman sat around a long, plain table. Then, in the following order, came: The song of birds, the fragrance of flowers, and—-Norman Rockwell.

“The last of these three, it developed, wanted something. The ration board, having never had a visitor who didn’t, evinced no surprise. In Rockwell’s case, however, the desideratum was none of the things the rest of us try to wheedle out of our ration boards.

“’What I would like,’ said America’s favorite artist, ‘is the privilege of painting pictures of all you board members.’” – From The Saturday Evening Post, July 15, 1944

 

The board agreed to the painting as long as the artist made them look good.

“If I do,” he bargained, “will you give me a B card?” (A sticker deeming your car essential to the war effort and thereby entitled to a whopping eight gallons of gasoline a week.)

“No, but if you don’t, they said, “we’ll take away you’re A card.” (Allowing you four gallons of fuel.)

As it happened, the artist painted himself into the scene. At left you see a man standing before the board to plead his case, and sitting, observing, is the artist.

How did citizens take to having to appeal to a local board for the right to purchase necessities? “We are about as popular as tax collectors,” wrote Joe M. Dawson in 1943. Dawson served on a Manhattan ration board and described one rather hefty lady who, “despite her coquettish hat and giddy perfume, was quite angry. She had made four trips to the ration board demanding extra gasoline, and each time we decided she was not entitled to it. “I’m an American citizen,” she exploded, waving a scarlet-tipped finger under my nose,” Dawson wrote in “Life on A Ration Board” in The Saturday Evening Post, “You can’t do this to me. I’ve written to that man Henderson; I’ve written to the President. If you don’t give me my gasoline, I’ll write to Uncle Sam!”

“Most people understand it isn’t our fault, and that we give our time and energy without pay, but it is human nature to personalize the irritations and troubles; so we get cussed out anyway,” Dawson wrote in the 1943 Post story. But the good people of the boards felt it was a way to serve the war efforts. “Despite the headaches, it has paid me ample dividends, not only in the satisfaction of doing a necessary job but also in humor, and a fascinating insight into my fellow man which I would not have got any other way. Everybody likes to watch and know about his neighbors, and a job on the board is a front-row seat.”

These words reflect what Norman Rockwell was doing at a Vermont ration board a few months later. He knew he was sketching a unique spectacle, not seen before in America. No one knew how long this experience would last or if it would happen again. But it was a part of American history he knew he should capture.

 

 

For more on this subject see the Post‘s articles by Jeff Nilsson:

“Living for Less in America” and “Family Life in Wartime.”

To learn more about ration coupons, we also recommend The Ames (Iowa) Historical Society.

Classic Art: Rockwell Visits a Ration Board The Saturday Evening Post

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