When I was but a boy
This is a picture of me taken around 1955 and posted on my Facebook wall by a brother who has yet to have the favor returned. I can date the picture with some accuracy Because the tail fins in the bottom right of the picture are from my father’s 1955 Plymouth. The car behind me [...]
Promotional Item from 1893
Some things never change. Merchants give out promotional items. Here is one from 1893, an early example of “co-branding,” where the E. P. Best Manfacturing Company of New Haven, Connecticut supplied merchants, in this case the H. Frank Company of Ballston Spa and Mechanicville, New York, with small notebooks to hand out to its customers. [...]
If you remember this, you must be a Denver native!
I found this flyer in a used book. How many anachronisms can you spot? I count at least four.
Joyce Cary’s neglected masterpiece and Milton Glaser – the true story
Nothing lurid will be disclosed here. I simply wanted to get your attention. Below is the cover Glaser designed for the Anglo-Irish novelist Joyce Cary’s The Horse’s Mouth, which is one of the great novels of the 20th century and now unjustly neglected. A minor incentive to read the novel is the film based on [...]
Fold Factory
If you don’t know about foldfactoryactory.com, the business brain-child of Trish Witkowski, you should. Every week, Trish posts a “60-second” video explaining a unique graphic piece that uses a clever folding processs to draw attention to itself. And she does this wearing a tee-shirt that features a different fold-related saying! [Her industry puts me to [...]
Howdy Doody and Captain Kangaroo
I was conducting some research [ahem, aka "goofing off"], when I came upon this picture of Clarabell the Clown from the Howdy Doody show. Clarabell, played by Bob Keeshan, later morphed into Captain Kangaroo. As Buffalo Bob would have said, “Cow-a-bunga!” Somewhere I have a set of Howdy Doody Christmas Cards. I’ll look for them, [...]
Summertime, Summertime
Today’ warm weather made me think of the ‘Summertime, Summertime,’ song, which is not to be confused with Eddie Cochran’s teen anthem, ‘Summertime Blues.’ I was also reminded me of the advice given me after I moved to Columbia, SC. A veteran of many summers told me I needed to heed the Big Three: Never [...]
Cartier and the Leopard
If you want to see a lavish film/advertisement done with taste, you must look at the Cartier piece. Click here to go to the site.
![A Tale of Two Banners [my apologies to Mr. Dickens]](http://bsiw.us/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/commercial-signs-150x150.png)
A Tale of Two Banners [my apologies to Mr. Dickens]
At the corner of 120th and Sheridan Blvd in the fair cities of Broomfield [to the north] and Westminster [to the south] are two commercial banners displayed for all to see. One of the signs, the top one, does a better job of presenting its information. Pondering this situation, I assigned myself the task of [...]
How not to get noticed
I saw recently a pickup truck with its business name on the tailgate. The name of the business [which was not "Johnny's Carpet Service"] was set in blue text with a very thick red outline. The result is a continuing failure. The contrast between the red and the blue is minimal, so what appears distinct [...]
