1922 Jell-O ad by Maxfield Friggin’ Parrish

Ad copy: The king and queen might eat thereof and noblemen besides

This isn’t Maxfield Parrish’s only Jell-O ad, but it’s the only one I have so far. Full page and printed sideways on the inside front cover of my April 1922 Country Life magazine.

The copy used in the ad is an excerpt from a nursery rhyme called “When Good King Arthur Ruled This Land” (first published in 1871/1872 but probably originates earlier) and goes as so…

When good king Arthur ruled this land,
He was a goodly king;
He stole three pecks of barley-meal,
To make a bag-pudding.

A bag-pudding the king did make,
And stuffed it well with plums:
And in it put great lumps of fat,
As big as my two thumbs.

The king and queen did eat thereof,
And noblemen beside;
And what they could not eat that night,
The queen next morning fried.

Jell-O sounds a tad better than bag-pudding, IMHO.

Random Maxfield Parrish trivia: “…as far as the sale of expensive color reproductions is concerned, the three most popular artists in the world are van Gogh, Cezanne, and Maxfield Parrish.” — from a 1936 Time magazine article

Random Jell-O trivia: The people of Salt Lake City consume more lime-flavored gelatin than any other city in the United States.