Advertisements for “The American Magazine”
- Aesop, The Leather Alternative Pamphlet
- Advertisements for “The American Magazine”
- Antiminth Oral Suspension
- Advertisements for the Film "Three Fables of Love"
- Printing block for an advertisement for "Three Fables of Love"
- Other Movie and TV Ads
- Business Cards
- Drake-Wiltshire Postcards
- Gabutti French Pain Reliever Advertisements
- Gibbs Cosmetics from "L'Illustration"
- Gobey Laxative Syrup
- Gustave Guérin MM Pamphlet
- Individual Advertising Pieces
- L'Illustration advertisements by Benjamin Rabier
- Kingfisher Institute Cocktail Party
- Merrill Lynch
- Milne Wood Frictographic Pamphlets
- Nestle Advertising Cards
- Rising Sun Stove Polish
- Sauba Frictographic Hidden-Picture Slips
- Velvet Smoking Tobacco
1944 Advertisement for “The American Magazine”: “The Fisherman who played the piccolo…” Esop Eagle’s Fables No. V. New Yorker, May 13, 1944. $9.99 from The Ad Store, April, ‘09.
Were the advertisement writers aware how close they are to the traditional fable of Tircis who thinks he can lure fish by his music? In La Fontaine’s X 11, the shepherd is trying to please Annette the shepherdess by catching fish for her – but has to learn to use the net instead of the flute. What attracts people does not attract fish. This advertisement turns the moral to attracting the middle. That is what “The American Magazine” does. Apparently, it did it it well enough to last for another twelve years.
1944 Advertisement for “The American Magazine”: “The Fireman’s Red Flannels and the Wind and the Sun.” Esop Eagle’s Fables No. VIII. New Yorker, Sept. 2, 1944. Unknown source.
This parody of Aesop’s “Wind and Sun” is as creative as the earlier “The Fisherman who played the piccolo….” Sun and Wind argue over who can get him to take off his itchy long red flannel underwear sooner. (Notice that the weaker version of the fable has already been chosen. The “trick” of getting the person to remove the garment is already envisioned.) When Wind raged, the fireman determined to have his wife sew on extra buttons. Sun, as always, convinced him to change to shorter clothes. I am enjoying the way this advertising campaign plays with the fables!
1944 Advertisement for “The American Magazine”: “The Bucolic Babe Who Tried to Parlay a Silk Purse out of Some Cow’s Beer.” Esop Eagle’s Fables No. IX. New Yorker, June 26, 1937. Unknown source.
This telling of the fable follows the Aesopic tradition quite carefully, with some lively slang added. It climaxes as usual with a sad event: “Carried away by the thought and, in her imagination, already playing hard-to-make, haughty Minnie missed her step, fell on her cans, and spilt the milk.” The moral advises us never to count our chickens before they are hatched. I don not know how No. IX appeared seven years before No. VIII, but I trust AI that the Thurber piece on the verso of this page appeared in 1937.
1944 Advertisement for “The American Magazine”: “The Goosey Gander Who Laid Gold (Plated) Eggs.” Esop Eagle’s Fables No. X. New Yorker, November 11, 1944. Unknown source.
This telling of the fable goes in quite a different direction from the traditional Aesopic tale. Gerald Gander married Genevieve Goose and sired six children. Goaded by Genievieve, he tried too hard to keep his family afloat. “At last, goosed beyond endurance, Gerald gave up the ghost, and left Genivieve and the Goslings without a jot to glisten.”