Ads of yore #6

Umm....



This one comes to us from 1955. Eisenhower's in the White House... Lucy's on the television... Tennessee Ernie Williams is singing "Sixteen Tons" on the radio... and this "jewel-like beauty sparkles like a gem in any bath."

From http://christmasyuleblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/vintage-christmas-ads-pt-18-borg-1955.html; this blogger provides a cite for the original link.

Ads of yore #5

I have noticed this on various blogs and will post the link I actually used below. Love it. Well, don't love it at all insofar as a certain local Mr. Gifford values his life more than to ever attempt giving one of these for Christmas, but it's an interesting little side trip down memory lane in the history of American gender stereotypes...



Ah, 1960. A very good year for Massachusetts senators, anyway.

Image from: http://vintage13.wordpress.com/page/7/

Ads of yore #4

For everyone who remembers flapping those instant photographs to "help" the image emerge...



This image comes to us from the polyester-tinged days of 1978 and is part of a great collection posted by a blogger at: http://christmasyuleblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/vintage-christmas-ads-pt-13-celebrity.html.

Ads of yore #3

I love Christmas lights, and it turns out people (rich people, at least) have been loving electric lights longer than one might have suspected... here's a nice little number from General Electric, vintage 1904:



I include this under the rubric of ads we would not see today given our contemporary concerns about safety. I'm thinking I would not let my four-year-old anywhere near a string of wiring manufactured in 1904, even if it was brand-new at the time. A "festoon" of eight sockets and ten "lamps" cost $5.00. For the sake of reference, the average weekly wage in the United States at this time for a worker in the building trades was $17.87 (assuming a full work week averaging 48.3 hours). The average teacher earned $6.30, and the average worker in medical and health services earned $4.92. [1]

You can see this image, other advertising brochures and even the text of these early ads on the following page of an excellent Web site called "Old Christmas Tree Lights": http://www.oldchristmastreelights.com/history_2.htm. Enjoy!

[1] Facts and Figures, Income and Prices 1900-1999, US Diplomatic Mission to Germany: http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/his/e_prices1.htm.

Ads of yore #2

Because nothing says good health and smooth voice tone over the long haul like a Pall Mall... the fine print on the copyright date is too small to read. I would guess '40s vintage?



This comes from a funny Web site with some other great holiday gems: http://www.oddee.com/item_96522.aspx

Ads of yore #1

In honor of the festive season, I thought it would be fun to share a few advertisements that we would never see today...

First up: "Dorothy's Wedding," "Robert's Anniversary Dinner" or my favorite, "Susan convalescing from her operation!" All wonderful occasions, it seems, for a new Parker Vacumatic Pen... from the days when that hole and/or divot on high school desks wasn't just an ornamental feature:



Photo: Reminisce Online, http://www.reminisce.com/2011/DJ11/Ads.asp?RefURL=&KeyCode=&tdate=&PMCode=&OrgURL=, accessed 17 December 2010.