Monday, March 9, 2009

Manic Monday--Hostess Ads, 1947 Style

From Wow Comics #57 (1947):

Not quite as good as Captain America whening over the Cosmic Cube with snacksYes, they had Hostess-style ads back in 1947. Except they weren't for fruit pies, they were for Wildroot Cream-Oil Hair Tonic. And instead of starring a Marvel or DC hero beating a up a villain lamely underusing his powers to get sweet treats, they involved private dick Sam Spade.

Let's take a closer look, shall we?

RADIO listing in a NEWSPAPER? How quaint...Yes, a sunny day at the beach in casual swimwear is so noir. That's what I think of when I think of Sam Spade...

...and I only love you for your hair!"Water's bad for your hair?" Water is bad for your hair?? Far be it from me to pick on the grooming habits of our forebears from the forties, but really?

You moist be perfectly groomed while fighting crime, you seeTheir priorities are straight--police first, then hair tonic!!

Next, he kills her with a boneYou know, I can't decide if that's just a symbolic box of Wildroot Cream-Oil Hair Tonic hovering over the cliff, or a looming 2001-style monolith that's altering the minds and DNA of everyone in 1947. The latter would explain an awful lot about what's going on here...

Should I even ask how it can be both a cream AND an oil?? Grooming mysteries of the ancients...

3 comments:

Sea-of-Green said...

Believe it or not, it IS possible to have a product that's both a cream and an oil. I found this out when I became a parent, and ended up buying "baby oil" that was actually a cream -- but had oil in it. It's all pretty darned weird.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh...the good ol' days. When all women had to do was hang on arms muscled-up by Charles Atlas and go fetch a guy's oil-cream.

(To Ragnell: Just Kidding. Don't kill me.)

Anonymous said...

My Grandfather used that stuff. It smelled like kerosene when he stood in the sun. But he could push his 'do to the moon!