Van

Is anyone familiar with a 1950's gag illustrator who signed his name simply as "Van?" The no-necks, the balloon-shaped bodies, the fun sense of no holds barred cartoony exaggeration-- LOVE IT! Any info concerning this unique artist would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

All gags above can be found in the Sept. '57 issue of TV Girls and Gags.

"Float!"

Trapped at home on a freezing, blizzardy, spring night such as this (don't ask, it's a STL thing), it's time to raid the fridge and see what we can come up with for a special tasty treat. Let's see, we have soda... we have ice cream... we have some fruit too-- perfect! Now, this beautifully designed booklet from 1961 recommends five great ways to improve upon straight 7Up, but we all know that Mountain Dew works just as deliciously (as does practically every other soda on the face of the planet too.) So do yourself a flavor... make a float now!

Rock City

High atop Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga, Tennessee sits beautiful Rock City, a 10-acre tourist attraction / wonderland retreat erected sometime in the 1920's, and finally opened to the general public in 1932. Features include a long stone trail lined with colorful gardens and a variety of bizarre rock formations, ie: 1,000-ton Balanced Rock, Fat Man's Squeeze, and the infamous "Lover's Leap." Two other sections of Rock City are reserved for what we here at AEET cherish most: the Fairyland Caverns and Mother Goose Village, aka: rock caves decorated with blacklight storybook characters, detailed sets, and painted backgrounds. Enjoy these great travel series photos from an old 1960's Plastichrome booklet, and if anyone has been to Rock City lately, let us know!

Twelve to Tone, Trim & Slim

When I was a kid I remember my grandmother having an arsenal of pocket-sized "Dell Purse Books", and I loved looking through them, (especially the ones on astrology, dreams, and crossword puzzles.) But the hairstyle and fitness books were the ones with the sexy covers (is that Kim Novak?!) plus the equally cute illustrations inside... take for example the leggy little bobbed hair darlings from a chapter of "A New Figure in 30 Days" (1965.)

"You're a Young Lady Now"

"You're a Young Lady Now" is an informative booklet published by the Kimberly-Clark Corp (Kotex) in 1952 and deals with issues relative to that certain time of the month. Now on one hand it's a very helpful guide for girls on the verge of becoming a woman, but on the other hand it's also a great example of how perfect artist Irving Nurick was at precisely capturing just the right cute and clean visuals required for a booklet and advertising campaign such as this.

Find out more about Irving right HERE!

"Bust with Humor" (ADULTS ONLY!)

Hidden behind a cleverly deceptive "Modern Dictionary" cover (see the very last scan in this post below), are 20 illustrated depictions of female breasts in all of their glorious shapes and sizes, labelled with appropriate, hilariously slangy 1950's names... umm, you know, for easy comparison / identification. "What's Yours?" the booklet asks, "Lolly Pops" or "Bird Seed?" "Heavy Artillery" or "Sand Bags?" The AEET Comments Board is now open!

(PLEASE NOTE: I made no effort to clean up these dirty scans. --Karswell)

(Fake Cover)