Additional Material

Saturday Leftover Day.

For me the forties and early fifties were the prime period for comic style advertising in newspapers, magazines and Sunday sections. I have show many samples on my blog, wwhich you can find if you follow the links. They go way back to when I started the blog, so keep scrolling and clicking. Here is a random selection of new ones I found, with some commentary.

Jack Betts' long running Ben-Gay series is one of the two features that made his name. I don't know how much he earned doing them, but for most of his career he did very little else than his two-weekly Ben-Gay and Neddy Nestlé ads. In the early fifties he did some illustrating for ThisWeek and Pictorial Review, but not for very lond and never anything big. In the late fifties his disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

The Camels ad series was one of the longest running ad series in Sunday papers. They had varous approaches, but one of the most popular (and most collected) are the ones using celebrities. They seem to have had one artist for the most, but I have never been eble to find his name. I would love to do a book on the influence of the cigarette industry on American culture and be able to look through the archives of those companies, but I have been told there would not be a market for such a book.

In the late thirsties the power duo Milt Caniff and Noel Sickles produced a series of Sunday newspaper ads for several companies, including Fels-Naptha. It seems they did not all of the Fels-Napta ads, because this one (from the same period) is not by them.

Colgate was one of the more frequent user of the Sunday newspapers for their ads. They were often quite dull and drawn by one of the regular illustrators at the Johnstone and Cushing ad company, working in a comic strip style. It is said later The Heart of Juliet Jones artist Stan Drake drew some of them as well. This might be one of them.

Lou Fine's Philip Morris ads are among the best ever made, in my opinion. Although some people prefer his early forties comic book work, his clean, slick style of the late forties and fifties remains a perfect exmple of mid twentieth century comic art realism. He was at his best in the last few, which features Lucille Ball, whose show (I Love Lucy) was also sponsored by Philip Morris.

Another long running favorite of collectors, Craig Fleissel's Eveready series.

With The Next One You Get Coupons

Wednesday Advertising Day.

It's been sometime since I showed some of Jack Betts comic strip ads, but I did clip a couple in the meantime. I have shown so many of these in the past, that it they get rarer and rarer, but There is at least one signed one from an account I did not yet know.

And an odd Ben gay Ad that Betts did not do...

Best Betts

Wednesday Advertising Day.

What I like most about these Peter Pain ads (which I keep showing as long as I find new ones) is how long they ran. The earliest ones I have seen were from 1944 and the last ones from 1955. After that Jack Betts fell of th face of the earth. People who worked at Johnstone and Cushing in the late fifties had either never heard about him or forgotten him even though he worked there for more than ten years. Anyway, these samples range from 1953 (possibly the earliest I have) to 1954 and show Betts' lovely style at his best.

All Betts Are On

Wednesday Advertising Day.

It's been a long time since I have shown some of Jack Betts work. He was a versatile and busy comic strip artist, who worked mainly in advertising (and did some illustration work on the side). He died tragically towards the end of the fifties and seems not to have been remembered either by the comic book historians or his colleagues. Other than some letters from his daughter (from a failed marriage, so even she did not know him for very long) I have nothing to go on. Except for these wonderful, airy, funny and lively ads he drew.He had two main series, many of which I have shown before (and will show again). It seems that the Nestlé series was not originated by Betts, but by his colleague at Johnstone and Cushing, Craig Flessel. I wish I had known what I know now when Mr. Flessel was still alive.

The first ad is a rarity, what seems like of the few ads Jack Betts did in a more realistic style. Someone else at Johnstone and Cushing may have been involved, possibly even Craig Flessel. But I don't think so. The second one seems to be by another artist.

The last one is by Al Capp, who did a short run of Nestlé ads when Jack Betts had died.

 

Gay Abandon

Wednesday Advertising Day.

As long as I am doing old favorites, lets revisit Jack Betts. I really like this advertising artist from the forties and the ffities, with his loose and lively style. For a long time I thought he might have taken this approach from Hank ketcham, but it seems he started opening up his art before Ketcham even established his style. Last time I showed some of his work, it was hs long running Neddy Nestlee series and some earlier work he did for Nestlee. Here are some samples of his other longrunning series, Pter Pain for Ben Gay. I have added some of his other work, some of it even signed and including the earliest piece I ever saw of Betts, from early in 1940.