Friday, August 27, 2010

Advertising

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Inside the advertising car.



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3 comments:

Dave said...

I wish I could I D this gent. The counters are where the litho hods were dated and made up. I wish someone would demonstrate this process for the camera before we are all dead.

Underneath are bins for each size litho- one for half-sheet flats, one for half-sheet uprights, one for one-sheet flats, one for one-sheet uprights, one for panels etc etc plus storage for the larger posting sizes and for the dates for the next week.

Note the terms like "one-sheet uprights" not horizontal full sheets, and not vertical. A panel is not a streamer and a tail is not a snipe or a banner or a tag. Everything had its name and for the most part these are no longer used correctly.

The worst offense is to call large posting sizes "multi-sheets" which is a term invented by some arm-chair collector who didn't know a one-sheet from a postage stamp.

Generally large paper which I call simply "posting paper" was identified by size and subject such as "six-sheet clown" or "nine-sheet hippo."

I spent nine years on the advance and worked with many old timers who had been on all the famous cars of the past. I knew one old billposter who referred to Ben Wallace as Colonel Johnson. Another who had worked for Mugivan's Robinson's Famous.

I even knew a guy who had trouped with the Frank Janes-Cole Younger Wild West and I knew several who had been with Buffalo Bill. Now I am an old man myself and I sit on the porch and think about the long ago. I also gripe a lot.

7:21 PM
Anonymous said...

Dave, who other than you would know what to demonstrate?

The photo of the car isn't 1951 or 1954.

Maybe the staff listings in the RBBB route books would lead you to discerning the identity of the gentleman in question?

The counters, cabinets, etc., were all removed from the interior of the ad car, which served other purposes afterwards. Maybe one day they will be re-created so that the future will have some idea as to what an ad car really looked like inside?

For those seeking a terminology source, there's an article by Frank Norton, "Hods, Daubs and 24 Sheets" in "Bandwagon," December 1961, which you will find useful.

It also pays good dividends to look up the articles that Dave has penned on related topics.

8:51 AM
Bob Cline said...

For those that might not know, mr. Dave price has authored several articles in the Circus Historical Society's journal, the bandwagon, on billing. You might consider looking at these past articles.

( at least the first one is available online at the CHS website. The other issues are available as back issues. Go to http://www.circushistory.org )

Memories of a Biller - Jan/Feb 1967

Roland Butler's last painting - July / Aug 1982

Billposting and Miscellany - May / June 1995

8:25 PM

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