Felix, Keeping It Clean

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today’s post is the last piece of the advertising haul from Britain I started posting about a few weeks ago. (That post and some great ads can be found here.) Persil, the subject of today’s post, is a British detergent which is still quite extant today. This ad is from an unknown publication, but dated May 24, 1924.

It was founded in 1907 and according to an internet article Persil claims to be the first first self-acting detergent. Its revolutionary formula that released oxygen during washing made strenuous rubbing of the laundry superfluous. According to another site it mixed a high oxygen soap with salt into the detergent which caused a chemical reaction that cleaned clothes without damaging or scrubbing. This is of course something we take for granted today, but quite revolutionary indeed when you think about it.

*A couple of these clocks appear to survive in Germany. They are wonderful! I guess to remind you that Persil would save you time?*

Persil got its name from its original ingredients: Per from Perborate and Sil from Silicate. Originally the Persil powder had to be stirred into a paste before use. At the bottom of this ad it announces that you can write for a free booklet which tells how to use Persil. At first I wondered why you would need a booklet with instructions confused me at first, but after the outline above I realized it was perhaps a bit complicated.

A slightly earlier German advertisement with an even more Devilish mascot from 1914. The copy roughly translates to **saves coal, labor, time and money!**

The tie-in to Felix is a somewhat elliptical one – Time for the pictures on wash-day. Felix is perhaps a bit more off-model than usual, mouse dangling in hand and the writing on the film poster, beyond his name, is gibberish. The little girl looks at him joyfully while a well dressed (and well-heeled) mom pays for the tickets to someone who is barely part of a face behind the ticket counter. The jolly jacketed usher has his back to us.

The copy reads, Time for the pictures on wash-day – Of course there is. She wouldn’t miss Felix for worlds. So she hands over the washing to Persil. That means five minutes for getting things ready, and thirty minutes for Persil to do the work. Out come the clothes, clean, fresh, white and undamaged, and off she goes with a clear conscience and a clear day.

Persil’s mascot, the early ’20’s version, is down at the bottom, odd little fairy made of a box with wings – less sly than the Devil above. He’s barefoot and is all pointy ears, nose and hair. Oddly, and it may be my own inferior search skills, I cannot find any information on his history or why he was composed this way.

The advertising I have supplied here was the most notable I could find on the internet so Persil didn’t go in for a lot of premiums or campaigns, that survive anyway. The green box shown here held by the friendly Devil was their persistent look into the mid-twentieth century when they eventually morphed to a plastic jug and presumably stopped being a powder.

I assume that Felix picked up his paycheck for this and kept it moving. Lastly, for another real eyeball kick, check out my other Felix advertising post from a few weeks ago – a rare, entire short comic for Sportex shirts – which can be found here. Enjoy!

Felix Smokin’

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: It’s a fully Felix post today with the first of a few advertising bits I bought as a lot a few months ago. They are fragile so I had to wait until I was settled back here at Deitch Studio HQ before I could share them. This following on the heels of last week’s wonderful advertising comic for Sportex shirts. That popular post can be found here if you missed it.

Black Cat Virginia Cigarettes and Felix may hail from the shores of the United States, but this ad came from Britain and a newspaper there. Both are marked in pencil as 1924, the larger of the two is from November 5 and the one with the offer of pearls is a month later, December 10. They appear to have been published in The Daily Mirror. That paper was founded in 1903 and survives today. From what I can tell these were not clipped recently, but saved and dated a long time ago. Ah, a Felix fan from the past?

Black Cat cigarette ads are of course of ongoing interest to Pictorama. I have touched on them previously with some of their cigarette tins I purchased many years ago. That 2015 post can be found here. But far more glorious is the Black Cat match safe which I hunted for years and purchased later in 2015. That post can be found here. Hot damn! Those folks knew their advertising and premiums!

In both ads Felix is drawn in the somewhat off-model style that the British in particular favored in the twenties. He is blocky and a bit doggy looking. Toothy and squared off.

I would have been somewhat torn between the camera offer and Felix, but I know I couldn’t have resisted a great big cuddly Felix. Oh bliss – what did he look like? Was he really a nice big one? BOTH OF THESE SPLENDID GIFTS FREE!

The ad urges the reader to consider using their Black Cat cigarette coupons for these items as Christmas gifts. The copy reads, Start saving now. Xmas will soon be here. Think of the joy these gifts will give you, your friends and the kiddies.(As it was already November some smoking had to be done to do this in time I think.) It goes on to say, Incidentally think of the house and hours of sweet contentment you get quietly smoking BLACK CAT Virginia Cigarettes, good cigarettes, the fun of saving coupons and the joy of getting these two fine presents. Think of it and buy “BLACK CAT” right away. The ad was worth five coupons free.

Meanwhile, the camera appears to be a sturdy Kodak brownie (another American product export) of the sort that proliferated so widely that they are still quite available today. (Kim volunteers that he had one. I too have used them.) I would have found this offer irresistible and would have had to take up chain smoking immediately. When you sent in the coupon in addition to your five free coupons you would get a Free Gift Booklet. I can only imagine the wonders within.

By December the ad had moved onto featuring a string of pearls from the Boulevard des Capucines, Paris in a Silk Lined Case. That would cost you 100 coupons more than Felix who is still featured in the lower left corner. They don’t explain exactly what you are getting with Felix, rather than large and cuddly it merely says, “Felix” for the Children. Felix is still as popular as ever. Give the kiddies a treat this Season. There is no coupon to clip here, just encouragement to send for the booklet and five free coupons.

I guess it is possible that one of my own splendid Felix-es hails from this premium package of yore.

Sportex: Felix Meets His Match

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Yesterday I shared a rather wonderful wind-up bear which came as part of a buy from a British auction in July. I alluded to a small but rather magnificent box of Felix items which I have been lovingly posting about over the last few months. (See yesterday’s post which rounds up the earlier ones too here.) This is the final goodie disgorged from that buy and arguably the most interesting, a Felix special comic as advertising for Sportex Fabric.

Sportex was evidently a miracle sports clothes fabric invented in Scotland in 1923 and it would appear that they are still making men’s sportswear today. Even in its earliest incarnation it was said to be a durable, creaseproof fabric for sportswear. As the cover of the comic hails, Even the cat can’t scratch it! For those of us who groan over the pulls in our sweaters and the holes in our trousers made lovingly by our kits, this holds some real appeal and you know this advertising campaign was spearheaded by someone who had cats. Evidently they even made suits out of it so not just sport shirts or athletic wear.

The comic book story goes something like this:

A tailor is tormented by very cheeky mice in his house which eat his dinner and annoy him, dancing around and mocking him while he tries to sleep. The next day he runs into Felix, who is on hard times and for the price of a meal agrees to come to the tailor’s house and rid him of the mice. However, he is so redolent with food after the meal that he falls into a sound sleep and is subsequently tied up Gulliver style by the mice (these are the most entertaining pictures for me) who, after making fun of Felix resume their tormenting of the tailor. The tailor kicks Felix out unceremoniously upon which Felix forswears revenge on him. This revenge takes the form of inviting other cats in to shred the wares of the tailor. Alas, the fabric is Sportex and the cats are unable to shred it! They fall in exhausted heaps (another especially good picture) and the tailor sweeps them out the door.

*Interesting how the paper embossed when printed. You can see it clearly here.*

Along the bottom of each page you can see some Sportex facts such as Sportex was awarded the Grand Prix, Paris 1924. (Were the drivers wearing Sportex? Sponsored by them? I couldn’t find out.) On the back of the book, above a forlorn looking Felix in verse it states, Sportex defies the toughest stains – No cloth on earth can match it/A pin drawn sharply over its face/Will simply bend and leave no trace/And “Felix” and his feline race/Can neither tear nor scratch it.

Copyright is printed on the back but without a date. It was Designed, Engraved and Printer by Henry Stone & Son. Ltd. London and Banbury, England. On the front flyleaf there is a spot for Presented by and presumably this is where a salesman would put his name when he left the book. In this case it is blank.

The Felix drawings appear are credited to Pat Sullivan (see the cover) and are in the earliest blocky Felix design style with squared off feet and a toothy grin. The mice are consistent with the way they were portrayed in the earliest cartoons too.

Felix was of course no stranger to his sideline as ad man. One of my favorite shills is an entire cartoon done for Mazda car lamps which I featured in a post here. Meanwhile, his slightly off-model dopple ganger was featured in a bit of low rent Spanish advertising for girdles in a prior post here and a children’s laxative here. Obviously he did a lot of advertising for his own films and I’m sure a lot more will show up here at Pictorama.

I tried but I couldn’t find any tracks on the internet for this item, nor had I seen it before. I’m glad I could bring it to my Pictorama readers in all its glory!

White Cat Union Suits

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: The brilliant advertising of the Black Cat Hosiery Company, brought to us by the fine folks in Kenosha, Wisconsin, is sort of a square one for the kind of cat collecting I do. While this is only one of several pieces I have managed to acquired (you can find a post about the first one here), given the opportunity (and unlimited funds – I am not alone in my affection for it and it is generally pricey) I would collect deeply in this area and more or less surround myself with it.

In another prior post (which can be found here) I briefly cover the history of this company and its cat committed advertising campaign. Better known for its smiling black cats and stockings, the white kitty takes over (appropriately) for the union suits.

I have opined on how the smiling black cat in their advertising looks remarkably like our fine feline fellow, Blackie. This white cat reminds me of a little white rescue cat my mom had many years ago named Kitsy. An all white cat, she was not deaf like many, and she was a bit neurotic. I don’t actually remember her origin story, nor much about her tenure – there was a wealth of cats at that time – but she was most remarkable and memorable for being extremely petit, almost miniature.

This hand mirror crossed my path a few weeks ago and I snatched it up. Here our smiling white kitty sits atop a cushion that reminds us it is a trade mark. While a black cat was employed to implore us to purchase black stockings and socks, this feline urges us to Buy White Cat Union Suits. He or she smiles benignly over a big black bow. Comically somehow the all white kit does bring a union suit to mind. For a less than sexy item, this cat does a pretty good come hither appeal.

Sadly the image is a bit damaged on the front of the mirror and the back no longer has enough detailed reflective space for most folks to apply lipstick. (Over many years I have developed a talent for applying lipstick without a mirror. Is this a good idea? I don’t know, but I have done it for years. Of course I would want a nifty little mirror like this to pull out if I needed one.)

Do people still wear union suits? A Google search offers you choices to buy (mostly red!), but also tells us these were mostly popular in the late 19th and early 20th century. I guess houses were colder. As someone who has rejected the jumpsuit craze for women repeatedly over the years (having to disrobe every time I go to the bathroom is just too much work for me) I cannot see embracing the all-in-one to wear – cat advertising notwithstanding.

Las Fajas Robert, or Robert’s Girdles

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Continuing with my weekend theme of cardboard kitties, I present this splendid and unusual Felix as cardboard cat advertisement which comes to me from a friend north of the border with whom I exchange Felix pleasantries on an ongoing basis. He sells me the occasional item as well and this one came into the house a month or so ago.

I find this big footed slightly off-model fellow endearing. He is neither exactly the very round later designed Felix we are familiar with, nor the squared off early version, but somehow between and both. His claw paws are a bit more pronounced than I think is generally the order of Felix. Sort of like Felix’s kissing cousin.

He is from South America, Uruguay evidently. Latin America seemed to be fond of Felix and I think one could put together an interesting collection of off-model toys and advertisements hailing from this part of the world. (I don’t have many but posts with two other examples can be found here and here.)

*This one advertises a child’s laxative! Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.*

And as evidenced by this card, Felix was employed to hawk a wide variety of disparate things. Here he is shilling for girdles. All my translations are owing to Google and on the front it seems he says, Ma’am, do you know Robert’s Girdles?

And on the back, Surely yes, but if it were not so, all you have to do is grant me the honor of a visit to the Orthopedics Section where you will find any type of girdle either to dress or to correct the various topsis of the stomach. Always demand the Robert Antonio Rebollo (Casa Quadri) Avda. 18 de Julio 929 Rio Branco 1377. And on his feet: Imprinta German Urugaya Poisindu 756 m Bavio Maeso Prapanganda. (I don’t know where topsis of the stomach came from, but it is so descriptive I decided to leave it. Seems to me topsis of the stomach is something you have after you put the girdle on and I know I have experienced it.) Someone has written Felix in faded pencil at the top.

*Back of the card – some of you folks might do a better translation. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.*

There is no way to know the age of the card. Girdles went largely out of fashion in the late 1960’s in this country. (They have returned in the form of shape wear now, a girdle by a different name and with contemporary fabrics. For those of you who have not experienced it, this is still an act of forcing your body like a round peg into a square hole of fabric.) The card could be from any period when Felix was popular enough to press into service.

He’s about eight inches high and made of a medium weight cardboard. There are no marks or indications that he would have hung somewhere, nor a way for him to stand so I guess these were just hand outs. He is a bit large as calling cards go though, but despite some fold marks on his legs he survives in good condition. Someone tucked him away safely and we will assume it was his Felix-y charm, not the need to remember where to get a good girdle.

Diamond Dye

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: This scene of early comical commercial carnage is brought to us by Diamond Dye which claims to be the simplest strongest fastest and please know that, they have no equal. And of course so easy a child can use them! Additionally the back also boasts news of three new colors Fast Stocking Black, Turkey Red for Cotton and Brown for Cotton. I guess no one could come up with a nifty name for brown.

*Back of card. Pams-Pictorama.com collection.*

Diamond Dyes do not seem to exist today, nor can I find out much about their illustrious history, but they had a robust advertising life in the earliest days of the 20th century. This somewhat unappealing youngster has dipped both her doll and kitty in the dye. I can’t help but wonder if the message at the bottom was also a double entendre – It’s easy to dye with Diamond Dye. Ahem.

*Another popular Diamond Dye card, not in Pams-Pictorama.com collection.*

Back when I was a tiny tot, in nursery school, and we were living in a small house in northern New Jersey. We had our German Shepard already, Duchess, and a lovely black and white cow-spotty male cat named Snoopy. Snoops was a heavy set, slow moving cat of infinite patience – the one I would routinely dress in doll cloths and play circus cat with. He was not a hugely mischievous cat and in fact this might be the only story of its kind I can think of. He was generally in my words today, a very good kitty.

Mom, who was always industrious about home care and maintenance, had gotten the idea to paint the brick floor of the screened back porch bright red. And yes indeed, when she wasn’t looking, Snoopy made his slow determined kitty walk right across that wet paint and kept going, so not only did we have a cat with bright red paws (at first mom thought they were bleeding), but of course his paw prints after he marched across the kitchen. He remained dignified, quite unconcerned and unfazed by the fuss he ultimately caused. The dog, who was always misbehaving, was probably overjoyed to see the cat in trouble for a change. Clearly mom must have flipped out since I remember the whole seen these many years later. (For some reason it also reminds me a story from the same era when a friend of my sister’s smeared lipstick on one of the walls. Mom had great fortitude it seems and she didn’t kill him. His name was David Mount – no idea why I remember that. I wonder what he grew up to be?)

*Nifty dye cabinet – wish it was in my collection!*

My own experience with dye is limited to some batiking I did in high school and college. To keep the melted wax in place we used cold water dyes which were far easier and less complicated than these early dyes which would have required boiling water. While I am sure they were state of the art in their day, I think I can understand their disappearance. I can only say I know enough about it to know that I would have probably unintentionally ended up looking like this somewhat malevolent looking child if I had tried to use them.

Cat-vertising

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today is going to be a very short and sweet nod to Pictorama. This past week saw me zip in from staying with Mom in NJ to 48 continuous hours of Gala prep and execution – a concert and dinner for almost 600 people.

This was followed by the trip back to NJ and, drum roll please, more than 24 hours (and counting) of a vile stomach virus. I don’t think I have had a stomach virus like this in decades and I have been unable to peel myself off the bed here for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. However tea and toast tasted really amazing earlier as my first food since Thursday and I think recovery is in sight.

Second Line from Gala this week.

Therefore, I share a few small cat advertising cards that arrived in the mail in NY earlier this week. This is a tribute to the NJ cats who have decided to rally around me in illness and play nurse even though they normally largely ignore me. Beauregard in particular, has been very attentive and I think Gus is just following him around – much to his chagrin.

*Gus to the right and Beau on the left.*

These cards came as part of a lot from the Midwest. The Mile-End Spool Cotton Thread sports a little girl with a very large hat and a cat that is reminding me of Gussy a little bit. You can decide for yourself on that. She looks a bit sad in addition to be quite furbelowed. The other card is just a scrap and I am not sure what they were pushing. The kitty (all set for food) and little girl seem somber for advertising. On the back it says Schaefer 217 Cass Avenue, St. Louis.

Lastly, the Standard Java Record injects more energy into the post. This smiling girl and tabby are advertising the Best Coffee in the World. It makes me regret I was not up for my morning cup of joe today and went instead for a cup of tea and honey.

If I had known I was going to be bed bound I would have probably stayed in Manhattan – although Kim should probably be just as glad I didn’t as I sure would have kept him up all night. Nonetheless, seems like we are coming out the other side and it is a sunny pretty day here. I am feeling stronger and will try to get up and around a bit today and a higher energy post tomorrow.

Matching

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: I had to ferret around the apartment this morning as I had no post in mind having lost a number of auctions lately. (And later today I will be scribbling advance posts to keep you all in Pictorama while I travel to Denver on business next Saturday!) However, I reached deep into the Pictorama archive and pulled out this rather wonderful little gem. It was a gift years ago from Richard Greene, match collector extraordinaire, who had us as guests for a weekend at his home when Kim agreed to do a con in Philly at his request. Richard and his wife live in a house chock-a-block full of interesting bits and pieces he shared with us and they were the very most generous hosts.

Fellow cartoonist (the sadly now late) Jay Lynch was also there for the weekend and it was the only time I ever spent more than an evening with him. I forget the exact year, but it was summer and terribly hot like it is now. The con was in an old, wooden, un-air conditioned building and I remember spending the day stationed thoughtfully in front of a fan.

Richard gave Kim a hat he still wears (if I remember he did advertising lay out for a living) when not in the old Stetson I gave him, and Richard gave me this splendid matchbook from his glorious collection.

Kernel Lew Mercur’s (Original) Nut Club is pretty darn interesting (and colorful!) in its own right. The back promises dinners, dancing, and laffs. Located in Miami Beach (Alton Road at Dade Blvd.) it was open all night. Cuisine by Delmonico is noted along the top fold. Mr. Mercur’s image, or what we offered as such, is on the front in top hat with a carnation and musical notes.

Not surprisingly, there are few tracks on Mr. (Kernal) Mercur or the Nut Club, although I did find a reference to it in a book about the bygone hey day of eating establishments of Miami (Lost Restaurants of Miami by Seth Bramson) and it would seem that the Nut Club was among a proliferation of Jewish cafeteria style restaurants and delis that became popular in Miami at the time. Bramson notes that Mercur did indeed preside over the restaurant in a top hat.

Other restaurants of the time (1940’s?) and place included The Five O’Clock Club (acquired by Martha Reye and which made it into the 1970’s) and Bill Jordan’s Bar of Music, an eponymous piano bar. Interesting that these establishments liked to label themselves as bars and clubs rather than restaurants or cafeterias. (And Cuisine by Delmonico doesn’t much scream Jewish deli to me either.)

*Full inside view. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.*

For me of course it is all about the inside of this matchbook which reveals (voila!) the matches, lined up like a picket fence, emblazoned with a black Tom cat atop a fence with a favorite wheeze, Ya gotta make calls…if you want results, as the other black cat and kittens march below. Devoted and early Pictorama readers will remember a post I did devoted to a celluloid match safe with the same saying. (That post can be found here.) I used to have a postcard with the same image pinned up in my office at the Met.

*Celluloid match safe. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.*

Not a spot on this matchbook goes undecorated and the inside cover goes on to assure the visitor, be entertained at the funniest and screwiest place outside an asylum, yes it’s Kernel Lew Mercur’s Nut Club. Never a cover charge! It gives the exact address (1827 Alton Boulevard) and a phone number (5-9952) for reservations tucked behind the matches. At the bottom it says, We’re Never Too Busy to Say Hello! Who wouldn’t want to go and nosh a knish? But most of all, who wouldn’t pocket these matches? So glad somebody did!

Drink and Enjoy Kenny’s!

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Those of us on the East coast are enjoying a massive snow storm, perhaps even blizzard, this last Saturday in January. If you read last week’s post about the January-ness of this particular year (it can be found here if you missed it) you know that my attitude toward this month in general is to usher it out the door as expeditiously as possible. Still, it is January in New York and it is a time to expect some snow and here it is. Meanwhile, there is almost always snow on the ground for my birthday in February, and so the year opens.

I thought we could all use an especially jolly post today to help kick January out the door and this bit of kitty advertising did not disappoint in this regard when it wandered into Deitch Studio earlier this week. It is simply identified on the back with Drink and Enjoy KENNY’S Coffee and Teas.

I was surprised by how quickly I was able to locate a bit of history on Kenny’s coffee empire. Kenny liked a good premium and a handful of mostly ceramic ones are still extant. I cannot say I find the aesthetic of most of these nearly as entertaining as this wacky carload of kitties however. This card is as if Louis Wain did a stint wandering into an otherwise rather staid establishment. Kenny seemed partial to generally less colorful, more sedate and somewhat pedestrian premium. Some of the more jolly however, snatched off current sales on eBay below.

For a quick history on Kenny I got the scoop primarily from an article in the Baltimore Sun published back in 1999. Kenny was C.D. (Cornelius David) Kenny who arrived in Baltimore from Rochester in 1872. He quickly established his first coffee and tea emporium and rapidly expanded his business across several nearby states. The retail stores were shuttered in the early thirties as a result of the Depression remaining solely as a wholesale operation until it was eventually swallowed into anonymousness by one of the enormous food conglomerates.

Onto the kitties. My previous posts about Victorian advertising cards (one can be found here) proved out that generally they were produced en masse with the intention of personalizing the card for a given vendor, not designed for them. So in theory this card could exist with advertising for another vendor printed on the back. For the record though, I have never seen this card before and my nascent searches for information did not turn up other examples.

Our driver kit is on the right side of this sort of Stanley Steamer-type auto, as photos confirm they actually did. He looks a bit nervous about being in charge, but I especially like the white fellow with his paw arms folded across his chest! Indeed! The two boys in the middle section appear to be have a grand time of it and look full of beans – especially the one in the yellow jacket. Faster, faster he cries!

*Card as it sits flat. Pams-Pictorama.com collection.*

In the back of the car a cat couple canoodles while their chaperon looks nervously on. Ha! She has no bandwidth for the thrills of the ride and instead is burdened with her responsibility for fluffy white girl kitty in pink who is holding paws with her dapper boyfriend.

I think you will agree that’s a whole lot of card fun to devote to a bit of advertising which isn’t even a display featuring the company on the front. The card is ingenious in design and how it folds out into three dimensions, creating a great effect; solidly constructing which is why it remains in good shape 100 years later. Even the grill of the card is affixed in such a way as to create another layer. Just splendid!

*Back of card. Sturdy despite the age and a few dinks.*

While I am tempted to try to find a way of keeping this one on display it resists remaining in the unfolded position and although in very good shape is certainly a bit fragile so perhaps it needs to live tucked into the Pictorama archive.

Meanwhile, the snow continues to pour down and sweep wildly by the window of our 16th floor apartment, piling up on the sill, so I may follow the example set by Cookie and Blackie and, figuratively at least, tuck my nose under my paws and have a snooze filled day.