February 28, 2005
ephemera
I'm eternally fascinated by 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s commercial artwork. Advertisements, packaging, books all make me smile with a nostalgia I'm too young to possess. I like the bright, bright colors. I like the naive captioning. I like the irrelevance of some of the illustrations--just as irrelevant as now, but with what, at least now, seems to be less pretension.
There's a site called EphemeraNowthat has bunches of super-cool ads and pictures and ephemeral stuff.
Looking through it is a bit like a museum of things you'll never have because they aren't real. It's like going to some attraction that has "The Home of the Future". Even though some of the things in that home will exist, or maybe even all of them will exist, it will never feel like the home of the future because it's the home of now.
These ads make me wonder what it was like to be so happy about a car. It makes me think, "Wow, people used the words, 'utilize fast yachts' and didn't think it was so weird."
So I'm sharing a few of these. I may share more in the future. They delight me, somehow. I like seeing them and reading how I should believe them just because I should.
I do like these. A transportation theme to take you back in time...
What a powerful difference this high-octane gasoline makes!
Ethyl Corporation, 1954 | William Adelbert Dolwick (1909-1993)
Fight carelessness, the Master Saboteur!
Eveready Batteries, 1942
"I want to speak to Mr. Gordon Page, please. He is now over southern China, on Air Flight 625. This is Mrs. Page, and my telephone number is Lombard 0100." . . . "Hello, Gordon."
Fantastic? Not in the electronic world of the future!
General Electric, 1942
"For the holidays until spring, utilize fast yachts"
Sterling Engine Co., 1933 | Douglas Donald
Linked together . . . by Induction Telephone
Pennsylvania Railroad, 1945