Off the Bandwagon and Leading the Thought Parade - The Political Evolution of Dr. Seuss

The blogosphere buzzed like crazy earlier this month years ago when news that the UCSD had unveiled their Dr. Seuss artwork digital image archive. Everyone jumped on the bandwagon, blogging, tweeting, facebook-posting their favorite images from the vast collection of Theodor Geisel's advertising art that he created before his famed and beloved children's books.

For those of us who aren't Seussiana scholars, it is a joy to see this trove of early advertising, full of wacky characters in a zany yet familiar world. It's almost as if there's a new Dr. Seuss book, just for grown-ups, and of special interest to us in the vintage/collectibles world.

When I saw Collectorsweekly.com's post on this same Dr. Seuss Library, I assumed it was just another entry in the growing parade. But, I was wrong. This one was written by Lisa Hix, who's the sort not to follow, but to lead her own parade, and she delved deeper into the socio-political aspects of Geisel's early political cartoons, and WWII work. Read it in full here:  When the Wild Imagination of Dr. Seuss Fueled Big Oil

And in tribute, here's a little poem by me (Marianne Dow)

Ahem...

Pay attention cried the bloggers.
Those internet bit-floggers.

Look at this they all bleeted.
Then the news was re-retweeted.

One link led to others, and more.
Dr. Seuss did ad art in his days of yore.
A zany parade of characters drawn, creative and fun.
That remind us of books read when we were young.

Now that's where most stopped writing.
Time to change bandwagons they said.
But seeing some things needed righting
Lisa Hix did something better instead.
Not one to just follow the band-leaders
She forged a new route for her net-readers.

Prejudice had surfaced in fair Seuss Land.
Someone must take the matter in hand.
Upon seeing imagery of the incorrect kind
Lisa learned the good doctor did change his mind.
By chatting with scholars of Geisel's art history
And using her noggin she solved the mystery.
Dr Seuss's brain did evolve, becoming aware
Of pre-conceived notions that shouldn't be there.

People can and do change. Geisel grew and learned that all people matter. His consciousness raised to new heights.

"A person's a person." -- Dr. Seuss

"...Geisel became a voice opposing racism..." -- Lisa Hix

“I think it’s a wonderful tribute to his sensibilities about being in the world that as time went on and these things became known, he changed. I mean ‘The Lorax’ is nothing if not a big environmental message. ‘The Grinch’ is anti-consumerism. ‘The Butter Battle Book’ is about the idiocies of nuclear war etc. If nothing else, he kept up with the times.”  --Lynda Claassen

[Lynda Claassen is Director of the UCSD Mandeville Library (The Dr. Seuss Collection is housed in the Mandeville Special Collections Library, located within Geisel Library.]

Today's Treasure: Jackie Coogan Uncle Fester Celluloid Doll Toy

Jackie Coogan Uncle Fester Celluloid Doll Toy 1930s Rare

Just wanted to share this fun item I listed on eBay years ago.

• Adorable little 5.5" tall celluloid doll/toy/figure showing Coogan as he appeared in 1921 Charlie Chaplin film "The Kid."
• Marked on back with the VISCOLOID mark -- info on Viscoloid mark from this helpful doll reference site. They show a pic of this same mark.
• They say: " 1901 -1930's Viscoloid Company, of Leominster, MA (USA). 1915 they were bought by DuPont., made celluloid dolls, one of their markings is: USA - VCO. "
• Jackie Coogan was born into a family of vaudevillians; his father was a dancer and his mother had been a child star. On the stage by age 4, Jackie was touring at age 5 with his family in Los Angeles, California. Google Search
• From playing THE KID with Charlie Chaplin, to the unforgettable lovable "creepy and ooky" Uncle Fester on THE ADDAMS FAMILY 1960s TV show, and in films & TV shows untill his death in 1984, his career spanned almost 65 years.
• See the list of his performances here on the Jackie Coogan page on Internet Movie Database.

Antique Bookplate Collecting with Expert Lewis Jaffe

I really enjoyed this Antique Week newspaper article on collecting bookplates by Barbara Beem. She interviewed an expert in the bookplate collecting field, Lewis Jaffe -- here's the link to read it online.

The variety of images and subjects pictured on book plates is fascinating. The article has several illustrations, and you can see many more, and learn more, on Lewis's wonderful blog, Confessions of a Bookplate Junkie.

For more info, links, and a look at eBay listings, check out COLLECTOR WEEKLY's Bookplate Page. Ya gotta love CW -- they cover so many collectible topics, and so well!

They even have an article on bookplate collecting written by -- guess who? Lewis Jaffe.

More Bookplate history is in this British Museum book [Amazon]: EX LIBRIS

Springfield Extravaganza Antique Show Art Photography

My artsy photos of the Springfield Extravaganza Antique Show

_____________________

Photos by Marianne Dow

Collecting Lima ~ My Lima Ohio Virtual Museum Project ~ Bottles, Advertising, Antiques

Collecting Lima ~ My Lima Ohio Virtual Museum Project

As a long-time collector of memorabilia, advertising, bottles, and ephemera from Lima, Ohio, I have built quite a large collection of rare items, and am going to be sharing photos of my treasures here on this blog.

There are tons of antique bottles -- milks, whiskeys, beers, soda pop, medicines, and food products. But also tobacciana, vintage postcards and photos, tins, trays, signs, and other advertising items, all from Lima's historic companies.

I've also done a fair amount of research on some of the persons and companies that made or distributed these items. And thanks to the internet, there's more info available all the time.

My plan is to post the photos and info I have, and then add to the posts as new items, and/or info is acquired. Some of the posts will be short stubs, with maybe just a photo or two. Others will be ''meatier'', filled with lots of info.

It's going to take a very long time to photograph and write about everything I have. Advice to other collectors: document your items as you acquire them. I didn't.

There will also be posts about Lima businesses that I do not own items from, but find interesting. So that means this is not a sales catalog.

I'm calling this my ''virtual museum''. As you can see by the above photos, which represent a small portion of my collection, there's a lot of variety in the items to be featured. I hope you will enjoy seeing them, and reading a little history too.

I will still be writing about other non-Lima antiques, too. But I do have a lot of Lima memorabilia to document.

You can see the link-list to all my Lima posts, broken out by subject, in the right hand column of this blog's home page.