Q: Where do Volkswagens go when they get old?
A: The Old Volks home.
I’m so sorry.
Not-really-fun fact: The Volkswagen Beetle was originally named the Volkswagen Type 1 and marketed as the Volkswagen.
More VW Beetle trivia here via Mental Floss.
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Find out a bit more about Bruning via Forgotten Chicago.
I think the “ordinary translucent paper” mentioned in the ad copy might’ve been vellum or onionskin, but I could be wrong.
What the hell is Diazotype, you ask? MoMA has you covered.
“…an awe-inspiring flight over realistic scenery…”
Lies! All lies! See for yourself below.
Thanks to this software, and trying to learn how to fly on an Atari 1200XL computer connected to a black and white TV set in the mid-1980s, I decided that I did not want to become a pilot when I grew up.
I thought the vector art used in the ad and packaging was pretty nifty tho.
Ooh! subLOGIC had a Telex number! Fancy.
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Run away!
Fun fact: O.J. Simpson was once the Vice President of Promotions for Hyde Athletic (Spot-bilt’s parent company).
Another fun fact: Spot-bilt almost landed Michael Jordan back in the day before he went with Nike. Ouch.
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Fin de Siècle (translation: end of the century) — Merriam-Webster has one heck of another definition for it:
“of, relating to, or characteristic of the close of the 19th century and especially its literary and artistic climate of sophistication, world-weariness, and fashionable despair”
Fashionable despair.
Fashionable despair and beef tea.
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Pear’s Soap has several claims to fame.
It was the world’s first transparent soap.
It is the world’s oldest continuous brand.
And as chairman of the company, Thomas J. Barratt is known to some as the father of modern advertising.
Would you like to learn more about saponification? Of course you would! (You don’t.)
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Ever see The Wicker Man movie? The one with Edward Woodward, not the iffy remake with Nicolas Cage. Oh, no reason.
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Joseph A. Campbell III: “We need the perfect word that’ll really get these beans flying off the shelves!”
Tommy Thompson: “How about… ‘digestible’?”
Campbell: “Thompson, my boy, I see a VP title in your future!”
