Nature Study Card Artwork

We recently received a request for information about the "Nature Study Card" program that was introduced by The Coca-Cola Company in 1929 and continued until 1933. The cards were part of the visual education method of teaching and were produced by Ernest R. Crandall, the acknowledged expert in that field. In addition to the illustration, each card had a brief description and interesting facts to stimulate memory and retention.  One of the advertising elements in support of the cards noted that the program had been fully endorsed by the Boy Scouts of America.  The series contained eight subjects of twelve cards each for a total of 96 cards.  The cards are fairly common in the collectible market and are generally only worth  a dollar a card.

My interest in the cards this week was focused on the artist who created the illustrations.  We have most of the original art used to create the cards in our collection.  Just as The Coca-Cola Company always hired the best advertising illustrators of the time, Dr. Crandall used the best naturalist illustrators such as Lynn Bogue Hunt, George Miksch Sutton and J. Marion Sull. 

Lynn Bogue Hunt was considered one of America's greatest periodical wildlife artist.  He began his magazine career at Field and Stream in 1904 and drew more than 100 covers for the publication.  He eventually illustrated more than 50 books during his lifetime.  J. Marion Sull was a noted botanist who is credited with creating several varieties of iris's.  His book, Rainbow Fragments was published in 1931 and is a prized collectible on botany.  Dr. George Miksch Sutton was considered one of the greatest American Ornithologist.  He published and illustrated numerous books including High Artic and Birds Worth Watching.  The George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center was opened in 1983 near Bartlesville, Oklahoma and became part of the University of Oklahoma system in 1997.

With talent like those illustrators, it is not wonder the cards were so popular.

Lawrence Wilbur Cowboy Painting

One of the things I really enjoy about working in the archives is when we have new items to catalog - here is a painting that Ted just acquired. I did some research on the artist, Lawrence Wilbur and found out that he studied under N.C Wyeth, another artist who produced Coca-Cola images.  It may be hard to tell that some of the brush strokes are thick but you can see the colors are very vivid.  I wonder if that little girl is asking to pet the horse or for a sip of the Coca-Cola?

Coke Adds Life To... Profile Pictures!

I caught Justine trying to take a new profile picture with this sweet new (old) camera we just got in. I guess she is "old school" and her digital camera just works too fast for her. The "Coke Adds Life" slogan came out in 1976, so this promotional, self-described "instant camera" is from the late 1970s. Well, I guess now we'll try the hand crank on the camera and see if the picture develops within a day or two! I won't hold my breath. Thank you, technology.

Kathlene Martyn - Star of the Ziegfeld Follies And Coca-Cola

I was doing some research in The Friendly Hand, one of our earliest sales publications and predecessor to the Red Barrel, this week and came across a great article.  The headline on the story is "The Prettiest Girl in All New York and One We've All Seen Before."  As I read the story, it notes that Kathlene Martyn had appeared in both the Nine O'Clock and Midnight Frolic and her photo was in many of the magazines of the day.  The story then noted that she had appeared in the window cutout of two girls on the beach pointing up at an airplane.  The story quoted Jos. S. Potsdamer, director in charge of sales of the Ketterlinus Lithographic Manufacturing Company, which made the cutout, said "he had to pose her for both girls because it was impossible to find another to match her." 

We have the cutout and had it on display at the World of Coca-Cola for many years.  However, we do not have the airplane.  We know what it looks like as it was shown in the 1922 advertising price guide, so, take a look in your attic or garage and if you find the plane shown in the photo, let me know!

Sitting On A Bench With You - 1928 Style

The Coca-Cola Company has always tried to help our service sales staff decorate their customer's stores and fountains to attract more foot traffic. We sent out a number or pamphlets with ideas and instructions.  I ran across this 1928 dealer sales aid showing several options to set up a window display using this 1928 three dimensional bench.  We had this bench on display at the old World of Coca-Cola for over a decade and it is a beautiful item. 

The one photograph I had of the bench as it was displayed at Irwin's Confectionery in Columbus, Ohio.It looks a bit more cluttered than the simple approach shown in the dealer sales aid pamphlet which I attached at the bottom of the post.  While the pamphlet featured eight, I only scanned three of them.

Last week I blogged about the Red Barrel Magazine and how I use them for research.  This is a good example.  I have attached the April 1928 Red Barrel.  This issue had a special article on how the bench window display, fence festoon and bathing girl poster were all to be used for different location between May and August 1928.  Download RB1928-Apr

While we have the bench, I sure would love to have some of the crepe paper shown in these displays!

ABBA and Coca-Cola - Slipping Through My Fingers

I spent the afternoon re-filing items that had begun to stack up around my desk in the Archives.  One of the items that gave me a chuckle was the ABBA record, "Slipping Through my Fingers" from 1981.  This 45 rpm was a promotional created for Coca-Cola Japan by Discomate Records.  The cover of the record features an illustration of the ABBA band members Benny Andersson Bjoun Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltslog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad and the back has the lyrics to the song and the advertising slogan used at the time in Japan, Yes Coke Yes. The record itself has the song on one side and an autographed photograph of the band.  While the song was not one of the bands biggest hits, it was used in the musical and movie versions of Mamma Mia.  As a collectible, you can find several copies on e-Bay for $ 40.00 to $ 60.00.

 

 

The Red Barrel

I was recently invited to join a facebook group devoted to collectors of the Red Barrel, one of our internal publications focused on the fountain trade.  We have a complete run of the publication and I frequently use it for research, but I was not aware how much interest there was about the publication among the collecting community. 

One of the questions I was asked was about the origin of the magazine.  It is interesting because the first volume published in January, 1924 actually has VOL III, Issue 1 in the masthead.  How was that first magazine part of the third volume?  This was due to the fact they honored an earlier in-house publication called the Friendly Hand which was published from 1921 to 1923.  Our first in-house publication was called The Coca-Cola News and began publication in 1896. 

Another interesting note for collectors is that two versions of the magazine were actually produced.  A special "Serviceman's" edition was also published.  This version contained more specific information on how to advertise and merchandise the Coca-Cola at the fountain.  The earliest of these special editions we have in our collection is from October, 1925.

If you are a fan of the publication, make sure to check out the facebook group to see if you can buy or trade any issues.  You can download and read the October 1925 Serviceman's Edition Red Barrel clicking on the following link. Download RB1925-Oct

 

This is Albie Louw - Part Two

This is part two of the story of Albie Louw, who made an album on the “His Master’s Voice” record label in 1969 which featured a Coke ad on the cover. Click here to read part one.

The Story of the Coca-Cola Album Cover

Mr. Louw did not know that the Coke advert was going to be featured as the cover art for “Wonderful One” when he submitted the music to the label. He recounted to me that when he received the record by post mail from the record company in Johannesburg and opened it, he was "shocked!” He had no idea what the cover image was going to be, and was surprised to see the Coke ad. He eventually dealt with it and got over it! Luckily, Mr. Louw had been a Coke fan as long as he could remember, and I asked him if he could re-live his memories of Coca-Cola growing up for our blog readers.

Albie’s Coke Stories

A few quotes sum up the memories Mr. Louw ran through about his fondest times with Coca-Cola. They include, “When we were in school, that was our favorite drink. We used to go mad for Coca-Cola. Some kids used to make an ice cream drink with it, and we thought it was quite delicious.” About later times, he said, “During the [World War II] years, it was so popular that everybody drank Coca-Cola.”

Albie’s Favorites

One of the highlights of my conversation with Mr. Louw was his taking a minute to play me a tune on his piano. He put me on speakerphone, and began to play – I could immediately hear the influence of one of his favorite artists, piano great Art Tatum, in his playing. In addition to Art Tatum (who I also enjoy), Mr. Louw notes Carmen Cavallaro, Count Basie and Peter Nero among his favorites.

Thanks so much, Mr. Louw for sharing your Coke story with our readers! Also, a special shout out to Coke Conversations blog reader Jacob Clarence, who connected us with Mr. Louw! Cheers!

This is Albie Louw - Part One

About a month ago, when we found a 1959 record album with Coca-Cola artwork on the cover, we asked the question, “Who is Albie Louw (the recording artist)?” I wasn’t sure we’d get an answer. Lo and behold not only did we find out who he was, but a blog reader actually put us in touch with him! Mr. Louw is now 85 years old, living in South Africa and still playing piano gigs weekly! We’ll share the complete story of Mr. Louw, the Coca-Cola album cover, and even his memories of Coke growing up in two parts. Here’s part one:

The Beginnings

Mr. Louw started playing the piano as early as age 6, and began taking lessons at age 9. He became a very popular player while in college and he was unofficially dubbed “Cape Town’s Keyboard King.” Eventually, Mr. Louw landed a record deal to make somewhere in the neighborhood of ten albums for his recording label. His first album was entitled, “In Tune with South Africa”, and he continued each year with a new volume of the “In Tune” series.

The album with the Coca-Cola cover – “Wonderful One”

 “Wonderful One” was Volume 9 of the “In Tune” series, distributed internationally on the EMI label “His Master’s Voice” beginning in 1959. We have letters in our files from the Coke offices in both Argentina and South Africa about the record’s release in each respective country. The letter dated December 30, 1959 was sent to the international marketing department and it reads, “Enclosed herewith, I am sending you a jacket of a phonograph record recently released by Columbia Records in Argentina. You will notice that the illustration on the front of the jacket is a reproduction of a color photograph from our 1958 Pattern Campaign.”

Another letter written from our Johannesburg office on April 7, 1960 reads, “I thought you might be interested in seeing how we capitalized in conjunction with a local recording company, on the wonderful New York produced calendar material.” [The original Coke ad featured on the cover was produced by our office in New York and featured in calendars]. These letters in our Archives and a photocopy of the album were the only evidence we had that this record even existed. From there, we scoured the web to see if we could find it, and finally tracked it down from an obscure record collector’s website out of South Africa.

Mr. Louw went on to tell me that the songs on the album were all played in two sittings, roughly 20 minutes per side with a small pause in between each selection. They were recorded in this manner without any breaks for sound quality and consistency.

Stay tuned for part two which includes Mr. Louw’s story of seeing the Coca-Cola album cover art for the first time, as well as his memories of Coke from his childhood.

125 Years Ago... Life without Coca-Cola - Letter Six

As a thank you for sharing our 125th Anniversary Year with us here on the blog, we close out one last time from the voice of someone who knew life before Coca-Cola was invented, in his own words. J.H. Bobbitt of Raleigh, North Carolina, declared in 1892 that "Coca-Cola has come to stay." He turned out to be right. This letter is also on display in the Milestones of Refreshment Gallery at World of Coca-Cola, and I'll let you read his first hand letter below. Cheers, and here's to another 125-plus years for Coca-Cola!