Peelabanana!

1

Couldn't resist this one. Illustration from an ad for the United Food Company in the December, 1957 issue of Good Housekeeping. The ad also had recipes for Holiday Banana Quick Bread and, ahem, Banana Nog. Check out the Mid-Cent Xmas set on Flickr for more retro design goodies.

Shrunken Head

1

I ran across this old ad the other day and had to post it. Shrunken Head was one of my favorite craft kits as a kid. You would carve up an apple, hang it over a light bulb, and then decorate the dried out fruit with hair, white beads for teeth, and black beads for eyes. The ad is late 1970s, I'd say.

Miss Baldwin

1

Color woodcut, 1870, from the Library of Congress. Looking for some spooky and monstrous images to get you into the Halloween spirit? Head on over to Monster Brains.

Edie (and Stan)

Edie Adams passed away today at the age of 81. Here she is in 1965, starring in one of her many commercials for Muriel cigars. Best of all, she's sharing the spotlight with the great Stan Getz. Good stuff.

Push Your Business

1_2

Check out the signage system employed by this turn of the century sign maker. Talk about putting your money where your mouth is. (I especially love the elephant.) Starting from this Omaha building in 1895, Renze has grown over the years to become a national leader in trade show exhibits, point-of-purchase solutions, and environmental graphics. I guess the signs worked.

Society in Decline Project

1

2

6

3

9

11

Society in Decline Project: Intrastate Commerce is a wonderful Flickr set comprised of 445 photos (and counting) of old neon signs. Definitely worth a look. Lots of vintage design goodness.

Fiberglass Mascots

2

1

3

4

5

Take a few minutes to flip through this wonderful Flickr pool of Fiberglass Mascots. It's especially fun to see how the same fiberglass figures get revamped for new uses. From muffler guy, to burger guy, to Mexican food guy...

Slack Power

1

With great slack power comes great slack responsibility. View some more amusing vintage ads here.

Via Martin Klasch.

Crushy

1

2

3

4

5

Crushy represented the Orange Crush soda brand for almost thirty years. The top ad shown here is from 1929. The bottom is from 1947. Not only did the Crushy mascot appear in ads, he appeared on glass bottles, and on tin signs wherever Orange Crush was served cold ("Thirst Aid" stations). I love his original design; a stylized figure (a C?) literally crushing the juice out of an orange. By the end, he had morphed into a rather typical soda jerk character.
   You can find a lot more vintage soda pop ads, organized by brand, over at Nostalgiaville.

Precision Tested Spares

1

Via Found in Mom's Basement.