The Temptations Of Vaseline

Wednesday Advertising Day.

Today two classics of the genre. The Rusty and Dusty Ad series ran for a lont time between the mid forties and mid fifties. They are said to be drawn by Elmer Wexler, at least part of his portfolio at the Johnstone and Cushing agency. There are two formats, suing the same basic panels for a two tier version and a three tier one. If the two tier version was used, it usually was to include the Trouble Twins ad, which for a long time was drawn by Dik Browne (which partially lead him to getting the Hia dn Lois assignment). The 1956 sample of that strip may have been drawn by Bill Williams who took some of Browne's series when he go too busy wth Hi and Lois. On the other hand, he may have kept the lucrative ad work as a sideline. Both strips I have shown before and if you will folow the link you will see more.

A Jar Of Fun

Wednesday Advertising Strip Day.

Here is a series of newspaper ads in a style that seems to have had it's influence on Dik Browne. Or at least it does to my eye. On some of the ads, the art is signed. I can't fully make out the signature, though. It looks like Sargeant, but then again it doesn't. I don't recognize either the art or the signature from magazines cartoons (which would seem to be the most obvious place for this talent to show up). Maybe there is somebody out there who can enlighten me? The frequency and distribution of these samples seem to indicate that these ads were done every four weeks.