GLUYAS WILLIAMS is back

If you’ve spent some time here the past few years you might remember illustrator Gluyas Williams. Gluyas was the illustrator of some wonderfully odd Log Cabin Syrup ads here and here. He also did an ad for a Belden rubber plug and a nice illustration for a Cosmopolitan magazine in 1929.

Well, I'm happy to say I've found more Gluyas, including a recently purchased Robert Benchley book from 1949. I intended to eventually post the illustrations from the book, but hadn't gotten around to scanning them. And then I saw this...

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(SOURCE: Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus Magazine and Daily Review, 1940)

Add Bissell Sweepers to the Gluyas list. The style is so distinct, but the illustration shows neither his full name signature nor his abbreviated "GW." So I have to wonder, if this is a Gluyas knockoff or a real one. I may have solved the "mystery" by finding this online, a Bissell ad from 1935 clearly showing the Gluyas signature. But for me the mystery still remains. No signature, no proof. Faux Gluyas? I'll let the Gluyas experts deal with this.

In the meantime, here is an ad for Texaco done by Gluyas.

And here's the title page from the Peter Benchley book Chips Off the Old Benchley.

Gluyas Williams (July 23, 1888 – February 13, 1982) was an American cartoonist, notable for his contributions to The New Yorker and other major magazines.

Born in San Francisco, California, he graduated from Harvard in 1911. In college, he was a member of the Harvard Lampoon.

His cartoons employed a clean black-and-white style and often dealt with prevailing themes of the day such as Prohibition. His work appeared in Life, Collier's, Century and The New Yorker. He was also syndicated to such newspapers as The Plain Dealer. According to his obituary in The New York Times (15 April 1982, p. D7), by the time he retired in 1953, about five million regular readers had seen his cartoons, which ran in more than 70 newspapers.

During the 1940s, he worked in Boston at 194 Boylston Street. When he died at the age of 93, he was living in Newton, Massachusetts.

ReprintsPublished collections of his work include The Gluyas Williams Book (1929), Fellow Citizens (1940) and The Gluyas Williams Gallery (1957). He also illustrated books by Robert Benchley and Father of the Bride by Edward Streeter. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

To read more about Gluyas Williams visit the following sites:

www.gluyaswilliams.com
infoplease
filboidstudge
Google images

For something completely different...Ruth, from Artifact Collectors, asked me to do a guest post on my corner of the universe. I blather on about what I do giving others outside my small realm the chance to be bored by me. Thank you Ruth. It was a pleasure. And folks, visit the site, www.artifactcollectors.com, to actually read some posts by people who actually know what they're talking about. 

Mark Summers, Ray Milland, and LIZZIE THE NODDER

There are actually several unconnected reasons for this post, all of them centered on this ad from a 1949 Photoplay magazine. And so I begin.

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The first thing I was drawn to when I looked at this ad was the beautiful scratchboard illustration, which got me thinking about illustrator Mark Summers. Now I have no idea who did the work for this ad, but Mark Summers work is something you're likely familiar with if at some point you've shopped at Barnes and Noble. Mr. Summers is without a doubt one of the finest illustrators working today and for years has been the literary identity for B & N. His illustrations have graced the shopping bags, bookplates, posters, etc. Beautiful and elegant black and white work. To actually read about him click on this link which will take you to his representative's site. There you'll see samples of his work along with a brief biography. Make sure you click on "Case Study" to see how a work progresses. Summers has recently done the illustration for a U.S. postage stamp, Lincoln Railsplitter, that has a 2009 issuance date.

The next obvious reason for my interest in this is the movie it advertises, Alias Nick Beal. I don't believe I've ever seen it. From what sleuthing I've done on the net it appears that it has never been released on tape or dvd. I don't even know if TCM has ever shown it. I love noir films and this one sounds fascinating according to this synopsis at IMDB:

Righteous district attorney Joseph Foster's main goal in life is to rid his city of the gangsters infesting it. In order to be even more efficient in his war against crime he plans to run for governor. One day he meets a strange, shadowy man, Nick Beal, who offers to help him to achieve his end. Beal convinces hesitating Foster by dint of easy money, easy sex with an alluring young woman and the promise of easy success. Joseph Foster soon becomes an influential politician but a corrupt one. A minister of God manages to show him that he has been the plaything of the so-called Nick Beal, who might be "Old Nick" , that is to say Satan himself. Foster then decides to resign and to become an honest man again. (Synopsis written by Guy Bellinger)

I've checked Amazon to see if the movie is available, but all they have are knock-offs of the original 4 color movie poster. If the poster is so popular, you'd think somewhere along the line Paramount would have allowed the film out of their vault.

And finally, there's Audrey Totter down in the lower right corner. I'm afraid I don't recognize the name though I see at IMDB a list of films and tv shows she's appeared in since the mid 40s. I'm sure she's a face I'd normally recognize, but in this case...ummmmmm...I'm thinking of Lizzie the Nodder at my vernacular photography site. Poor Audrey was certainly not done any justice in this ad. Now it's common for a studio to release a movie poster with a star's head on someone else's "perfect" body. Usually you don't notice. This time...not so much. What were they thinking? Did they really think nobody would notice that ummm...HER HEAD DOESN'T FIT! Hello?! Something wrong here! Did someone at the studio dislike the original photo so much that they were willing to have this head stuck on her body all out of proportion with reality? Okay, I know, they wanted to feature her and the original was probably just a simple nice photo that had no punch. But this? Her head looks like it's going to fall off!

I said when I started this post that the reasoning behind it was a complete disconnect. I think I proved my point. I've ended with a woman whose head is disconnected from her body. And she reminds me of the post I did about Lizzie the Nodder at my other site.

Ephemera, it can lead you nowhere and back again.

Update: I just discovered this clip from the movie on youtube. Now it's really got me curious. Now I really want to see it.

Who is HYMIE FINK?

When I first decided to scan this delicious little puff piece about Joan Crawford from the April 1949 Photoplay I thought I'd just let the stupidity of the piece stand on its own. But then...ohhhhh...I just had to dig into the details. I didn't get far because there's not far to get. I stopped at the byline. Hymie Fink. Who is Hymie Fink and why am I inclined to say silly things about him? 

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I googled Hymie and very little showed up. All I can find is that he photographed movie stars and got a few bylines. Seriously do you think this fellow wrote this piece? Nahhhhh...neither do I. I'm thinking a studio publicist sent this drivel in, Hymie took some pictures, Photoplay threw this together with a nice little layout. 

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I don't know if Hymie was a staff photographer for a studio, freelanced, or was employed by a magazine. His name does seem to pop-up with stars from the late 30s through 50s. There's a really nice Montgomery Clift shot on this page, a mention of Hymie here in an article about Clark Gable, and finally the best of all, a photo of Hymie Fink with Marilyn Monroe here. And then there's another byline with photos in an August 1948 Photoplay about Tyrone Power.

Do you think "Fink Photos" was ever printed on the back of any of his work? Nah, me neither. It seems strange that a man who obviously had very close proximity to so many of the stars of long ago has little known about him. I'd have thought somewhere along the line someone would have compiled at least a website, if not a book, of his work.

Enjoy. You probably thought I was going to write something snarky about Joan Crawford. There's no need for me to say anything since all of this blather in the magazine was outside her control. Poor Joan will forever now be known for some great acting and a coat hanger raised up against the little blond daughter on the left. This article and photo were camp long before the beautiful Faye Dunaway had the painted on lips and eyebrows in Mommie Dearest.

Do click on the image above to read the ohhhhh so fine copy that just sounds soooooooo natural. Then take a look at Hymie with Marilyn and decide for yourself if he wrote it.

Consider this the one new item you learned today. Hymie Fink. Remember the name.