Colgate ad found on the back cover of the January 1915 issue of The Designer magazine
What’s a gimcrack? Pretty much the same thing as a gewgaw, d-uh.
Mr. Smith must’ve been a real tightwad over clothing, as both he and Mrs. Smith wear the same outfits for several days. Hopefully, Colgate made a deodorant back then. (Nowadays, they do make Speed Stick.)
What’s the deal with fainting couches? In related news, a chaise longue is usually screwed up by Americans as a “chaise lounge”.
It looks like SPUG was made up for this ad, but there are other SPUGS that exist today.
White Shoulders perfume ad from the December 1946 issue of Art News
I thought it read “perfume by Bryan” but I guess it’s Evyan, not Bryan. Sorry, Bryan. Now sold under the Elizabeth Arden brand.
White Shoulders was launched in 1945. It was Evyan’s first and only perfume. Evyan’s founder had a great name — by Baron Walter Langer von Langendorff.
“I will go out on a limb for your tree.” — John Davey, probablyAd for Davey Tree Surgeons found in the April 1917 issue of Countryside / Suburban Life magazine.
Bone shards:
I didn’t realize that tree surgeons were a thing until I read a bit about the profession in a Straight Dope column about Groucho Marx by Cecil Adams. Yes, you should read the entire column.
Way back in the day, Groucho Marx hosted a radio/TV quiz show called “You Bet Your Life. During one show when he was interviewing a tree surgeon, he asked, “Have you ever fallen out of any of your patients?”
1947 magazine ad for Roger & Gallet’s Aveu perfume
Is he about to push her over the railing?
Or maybe he’s a chiropractor about to make an adjustment.
Bone shards:
“Aveu” is French for “confession”, so “Aveu Confession du désir” means “confession confession of desire”.
“It is a feminine floral, created in 1946. Just at the end of the war, women were looking for beauty, flowers, things that would cheer them up after years of hardship, and Aveu was launched for this purpose.”
I have been unsuccessful in tracking down information on the assumed artist, Cydney. If you know anything, please hook me up!
The sophisticated name for a railing is balustrade. The vertical thingies on a balustrade are balusters. Now aren’t you fancy!?
Check out that sweet ampersand.
ampersand
I was hoping there’d be a fancy name for those fingerless long/arm/sleeve gloves. Alas. “Gants à manches sans doigts” is a bit of a mouthful.
A 50ml flacon of this vintage perfume could set you back over $300.
“What the hell am I smelling and why is it so wonderful? …Whatever the notes are, they’ve converged to create a sexual flower, one that is at its peak of fragrance, like a meadow in full bloom on the hottest spring day, visited by the horniest, healthiest bees.” — from a My Sin review
