The Fabuleous Fifties

Would You Walk A Mile For This Man?

Wednesday Advertising Day.



One of the goals I set myself when I started this blog, was to show and collect as many of the Sgt. Bilko ads for Camel from the late fifties. I did not know then, that the artist was Bob Bugg. Research and comparison has since made that clear to me> I have also shown a few samples of an earlier series he did for the same tobacco company (but a different brand), which was just as impressise and irreverant. But the Sgt. Bilko series was a great succes. It ran for over a year, with new ads appearing every two weeks. I can't think of a better way to tie in the main character of 'your' television show with your brand. These days, they would call it perfect synergy. But everything comes together here. Phil Silver's wonderful character couldn't be more suited to the selling aspect of these ads. Because the tobacco company also sponsored the show, Silver's posed for photo's wuth a cigarette in his mouth, which were used for the lower portion of the ad. I consider it the high point of fifties comic book ads, together with Alex Kotzky's "Duke" Handy (which I will also try and show in full). What we have here is nowhere near a complete run, but it is everyting I have for the first year. If the frequency was indeed every two weeks, I may be missing four of the first 18 ads. One is a weird interlude, a Bilko-less ad also drawn by Bugg on the same schedule. What happened there? I am also not sure if the three one tier ads I have were shortened versions of a longer one. But for now, enjoy. There will be more.