Saturday, February 20, 2010

SATURDAY EVENING POST, February 24, 1940

[photo by Lincoln Borgham]
Seventy years ago this week, the magazine above was on the newsstands. What strikes me as odd is the photographic cover on a magazine known for its illustrated covers. This is in contrast to the Noel Sickles painted cover for LIFE magazine, which was known for its photography, that I wrote about here. The interior of the magazine is packed with illustrations, both in the content and the advertising. I guess what's most amazing to me is that a magazine that presented short stories and articles accompanied by illustrations was one of the most popular magazines in the country. Before television, did folks really stand around the water cooler and discuss the latest short stories? Find an octo- or nonagenarian and get back to me. Meanwhile, in the tradition of one of my favorite blogs - Golden Age Comic Book Stories, I present a sampling of illustrations from this issue, with artist annotations but without comment. Some of the artists are unknown to me, so if I recognize something let me know.

F. R. Gruger



Stevan Dohanos


Mortimer Wilson
Denman Fink


George Brehm
Matt Clark

Ford ad [artist unknown]

Casite ad [artist unknown]


Champion sparkplugs ad [signed in lower right, but can't make it out]

Texaco [artist unknown]

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