Category: Ads From The Days Of Yore

note:  information for The Hecht Company found on Wikipedia

The Hecht Company of department stores started in 1857 in Baltimore, Maryland as a used furniture store.  The company’s proprietor, Samuel Hecht, Jr , a man of Jewish descent, came from Germany to America in 1847, along with his brother and mother. 

The Hecht Company enjoyed pretty decent growth through the decades, having 81 stores in several states from Pennsylvania to Tennessee and North Carolina.  After 102 years of operating as a family business the now-defunct The May Department Stores Company bought The Hecht Company in 1959.  The Federated Department Stores stepped into the mix in 2005 and dissolved The May Department Store Company.  By Fall of 2006 The Hecht Company stores, known as The Hecht, Hecht’s and Hecht Brothers, became Macy’s, guaranteeing Federated Department Stores of even more success with a nationally known brand name.

I wonder if Samuel Hecht, Jr is rolling in his grave seeing his family owned business become an overly priced Zayre’s Department Store?

note: the following information was found on Wikipedia.

The Clorox Company began in 1913 in the San Francisco, California area as Electro-Alkaline Company, producing an industrial-strength bleach called Clorox, a play on words of sorts as the main ingredients of the product are chlorine and sodium hydroxide.  The company changed it’s name to The Clorox Chemical Company in 1928.  In 1957 Proctor & Gamble purchased the company, though it became an independent company again in 1969 after the purchase was challenged by the Federal Trade Commission.  The Clorox Company now owns/produces many products, from bleach to paint to food to restaurant equipment.

On to the ad.

Pretty much you are guaranteed that if you use Clorox, not just any old bleach, in your fridge then you have less chance of your food spoiling.  Clorox went a step further by claiming your food inside a Clorox clean refrigerator is…VICTORY FOOD (“Food for Victory!”)!  Really, in 1943 you could have thrown the word VICTORY! in front of any product and it would fly off the shelves.  VICTORY GLOVES!  VICTORY TOILET PAPER!  VICTORY…well, you get the point.

Something I really love about this ad is the look on the woman’s face.  She is smiling, yes, but you can clearly see that her thoughts are more along the lines of “Like I don’t have enough damn work to do around this house, now I am expected to constantly bleach out the icebox”.

I’m fairly certain the Butch the Clorox Bottle was invented in 1928 when the company threw itself up on the SFSE.  He apparently, like the actual Clorox bottles, started out with a rubber stopper head and changed to a screw on/off cap with the start of WWII.  I’m trying to imagine him waddling around.

This ad was found in a newspaper dated the day after John F Kennedy was laid to rest in 1963.

According to the FCC if you still have one of these portable televisions you can still use it!  As long as it is connected to a digital receiver.  I’m not sure, but that seems as though it would be less portable. 

Heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from another…that REO Speedwagon (the band) got their name from REO Speed Wagon (this automobile).† 

I found this ad in the July 15, 1923 issue of Southern Ruralist Magazine.  I had initially called my husband to look at the magazine because of the date.  I didn’t realize that I had any newspapers or magazines prior to 1930 until I saw this.

REO Motor Car Company had first produced wagons, then later motorized vehicles.  The Speed Wagon was considered very dependable, a quality vehicle.  They were introduced in 1915 and, according to Wikipedia, produced “through at least 1953”.

So here you go!  The “Ancestor of the Pickup Truck”!

†My husband thought that this would be an awesome introduction…he also counts on the song getting stuck in everyone’s head for the day

This ad for Prem is from June 1943.  Prem is pretty much SPAM, just a different company.

How horrible of an ad is this?  A take off of “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater”, this Peter in the ad is just a jerk.  Granted, Peter from the original poem was a jerk, too, but this is ridiculous.  He wouldn’t even share a tiny bit of meat with her until she started buying Prem.  Then the only reason he would share with her (I’m betting) is because he had such a hard time gagging down the whole 12 ounces by himself.

Another problem with this ad is that it claims “In every can, 12 full ounces of solid meat-no waste”, but if you take a good look at the can it says “ NET CONTENTS INCLUDING JUICES 12 OZ”.  So it isn’t all meat!

The last, and to me most disturbing, part of this ad is the recipe at the bottom.  I don’t know if they mean to have some cold Prem on a plate, potato chips on the side and then an avocado topped with fruit or if they actually mean cold Prem, potato chips on top, avocado on top of that and the whole thing topped with fruit.  Either way, cold Prem?  Gag.

(DISCLAIMER:  I try to refrain from using adverts that have store names and/or addresses and usually, if that can’t be avoided, will “erase” it from the ad in an effort to keep people who may not realize that the offer is no longer valid from attempting to procure the item or service.  I did leave the store in this ad for a reason, though. THIS AD IS FROM 1947 AND THEREFORE NO LONGER VALID.  KROGER/PIGGLY WIGGLY IS NOT OFFERING THIS ANYMORE AND HASN’T FOR 64 YEARS.  DO NOT GO TO KROGER/PIGGLY WIGGLY EXPECTING THIS.)

I tried to find information on this particular camera, but I couldn’t.  I did, however, find a Wikipedia page about twin lens reflex cameras here.

How great was this camera?  Let’s see!

Mistake Proof!  See the entire picture you want!  Just frame and snap!  No more headless and legless people!

This woman was super thrilled with her new camera!

You want to know why I really chose this ad for today?  Finding out that Kroger and Piggly Wiggly were at one point in time the same store.  I never knew that.  I looked it up and apparently after Clarence Saunders, the founder of Piggly Wiggly, lost out on a ton of money the chain was divided up and some stores were bought out by other chain supermarkets, including Kroger.

Anyway…pretty much all cameras now make the same claims, but the quality of the photo still relies on the photographer.  A good photographer can take a decent photo with a terrible camera and a bad photographer will always take bad photos with even the best equipment.

I looked up the history of The Waldorf toilet tissue and found on several websites that initially the Scott Tissue company was just as embarrassed to have their name on a roll of toilet paper as people were to buy the stuff.  According to Webster’s Online Dictionary: “later 19th century: Scott Paper Company sells toilet paper on a roll, although initially they do not print their company name on the packaging. Toilet paper was sold under the name of various industrial customers, including the Waldorf Hotel, which led to the popular Waldorf brand of toilet paper.” 

I guess asking for “The Waldorf, please” was classier than “hey, I need some toilet paper”.

Both the ad and the recipe were found in the November 1, 1942 edition of the now defunct The American Weekly.

Looking up the Scott’s Emulsion pretty much made me gag.  Not only because it’s cod liver oil, but also because you can still buy this product and it comes in flavors: Original, Cherry and Orange.  Blech.

Now for something more appetizing.  This recipe for Corn Meal Soufflé sounds pretty good, though I would probably use more cheese. 

The October 1938 issue of Woman’s World Magazine, the same issue of the magazine in which I found last week’s ad, is a wealth of interesting ads.  This one caught my eye with the “Why fear Childbirth…when you can turn the waiting months into ease and comfort.”  Well, if this product is so great maybe every pregnant woman should use it!

According to The Quack Doctor Mother’s Friend has been sold in the US and Canada since around the mid-1880s.  In fact, you should go check out that website, because they have all sorts of information on the claims that the manufacturers of this product made including: 

Painless Childbirth!

Painless Pregnancy!

Smart Children!

Pretty Children!

No Morning Sickness!

Quick Delivery!

You can still buy Mother’s Friend, though it is now advertised as a stretch mark cream.