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!

Coke Crossword Puzzle Answers

Thanks to everyone who tested their skills on our Coca-Cola Crossword Puzzle from 1925. Below, you will find the image of the original crossword puzzle art from our collection, which was also run as the puzzle solution in the April 15, 1925 isse of The Red Barrel. Hopefully, you got all the answers right!

Coca-Cola Crossword Puzzle

I came across a curious contour bottle-shaped crossword puzzle in the Archives a few years back. I had no clue what it was at the time, but then about a week ago, while flipping through pages of The Red Barrel magazine, the monthly magazine published by The Coca-Cola Company from the 1920s to the 1950s, I came back across the puzzle, this time with the clues. It turns out that this was the Coca-Cola crossword puzzle winner in the March 1925 issue of The Red Barrel. That's right, readers would develop original crossword puzzles containing words pertaining to Coca-Cola to be published in the magazine. All you crossword puzzle enthusiasts can try your hand at this one, and I'll share an image of the original completed puzzle artwork soon so you can see how well you did! Use the comments field to ask your peers for help and anything else related to the puzzle.

I'll give you one answer: 7 Horizontal - The average enthusiast consumed three bottles per day in 1925, according to the puzzle. Good luck finding the rest of the answers!

Treasure Hunt for the 1922 Coca-Cola Polar Bear Ad

Did you know that Coca-Cola first used the Polar Bear in advertising in France in 1922? This is a piece that we have having in our Archives. Can you be the first to tell us where it is in the Coca-Cola Virtual Museum? This is a treasure hunt. Let's see who can find it first. Once you do, let us know where you found it via a comment! Ready, set, go:http://theverybestofcoca-cola.com

Monroe Laundry Company Wall Sign

The owners of the Monroe Laundry Company in Monroe, Washington decided to spruce up the side of their building by restoring a prominent Coca-Cola wall sign on their building in the historic district of town. The building was originally erected in 1908 as a hotel. Over the years, a number of businesses called what is now the laundry's space home, but they came in and renovated it once more, putting the finishing touches on the building with this classic "Drink Coca-Cola" wall sign. You can see below the before and after pictures. 

Coke On The Road

When I travel, I always note and quite often stop to photograph old Coke signs or vending equipment I run across.  As I was leaving Mt. Rainier National Park while on vacation recently, I saw a great Coke sign to add to the collection.  I could not help but notice the iron statutes all over the yard as I got out of the car to take the photograph.  It turns out I had stumbled across Ex-Nihilo, the outdoor sculpture park for Recycled Spirits of Iron by artist Dan Klennert.   I enjoyed the artwork and would have loved to have stayed longer, but after a day of hiking the mountain, it was time to move on.  If your travels ever take you to Washington State, take a side trip down State Road 706 to enjoy the art, and, as Dan says, "Welcome into my imagination, please wipe your feet."

Antiques Roadshow Films In The Archives

Last Saturday, the team from the popular public television program, Antiques Roadshow were in Atlanta filming for upcoming 2012 episodes.  While over 6,000 people brought their items to the Roadshow appraisal area to be reviewed, the Roadshow team sent a film crew to the Archives to record a segment.  The segment will focus on the three missing Norman Rockwell Coca-Cola paintings.  While Rockwell painted six for the Company, we only have three of the works and have been searching for the other three (Wholesome Refreshment, Office Boy, and Old Oaken Bucket) for decades.

First, host Mark Walberg and noted appraiser Lelia Dunbar were filmed discussing the importance of both Coca-Cola advertising and the works of illustrator Norman Rockwell.  Then Mark and I recorded a session discussing the three missing paintings and how people can contact us if they are found.  The team from WGBH was very professional and I would like to offer special thanks to producers Adam Monahan and Sarah Elliot for their guidance, and Bob Birkett and Charlie Collias, the camera and sound guys for making us look and sound good!

The program will air in 2012 and we will make sure to let you the date once it is set.

London Design Museum Video Blog

One of the more interesting things I did while I was in London a few weeks ago was film an interview with Bianca, who is a blogger on parenting, art and design.  You can read her blog here.  While we had scheduled the interview beforehand, I had never met her and I did not expect to see her show up dressed to match the 50s advertising posters we had on display at the Design Museum!  She was great and we had fun filming the segment and I hope you enjoy the video and scenes from the Design in Perfect Harmony event we did that night.  You can also read a blog I write for the Coca-Cola Great Britain website here.

 

 

The Brothers Hildebrandt College Poster Series

In 1977, The Coca-Cola Company commissioned illustrators, brothers Greg and Tim Hildebrandt to paint a series of illustrations which would be used as a promotional items for colleges.  The Hildebrants became famous when they were selected to illustrate the 1976 calendar for J.R.R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novels.  The 1977 version of that calendar sold more that one million copies becoming one of the best selling calendars of the era.   1977 was a good year for the pair as they also illustrated the movie poster for the first Star Wars film.

The artwork the brothers Hildebrandt created for Coca-Cola had typical college activites recast in a fantasy setting.  The posters were popular enough that McDonald's negotiated an exclusive distribution agreement with Coca-Cola until the program was discontinued in 1985. We have the original artwork in the Archives, but you do not see too many of the posters in the marketplace.

1911 Coca-Cola Models

We often hear stories about people who say they have relatives who modeled for Coca-Cola ads through the years. And, most of the time, they have the final ad which features a painted illustration of the person they say is their relative. Very seldom do they have an actual photograph of the model posing in the studio, so I was intrigued when I came across this photograph of the models who posed for the 1911 "All The World Loves A Coca-Cola" cutout. As you can see from the photo on the left to the final ad on the right, the artist decided to replace the male model's black shoes and hat strip, and it even looks like he added a big bow on his shoelace. I guess the lady's attire was ok in his eyes, but it looks like she forgot to bring her fountain glass and her Coca-Cola fan to the shoot.