George Washington’s Birthday Ads – 1961 and 1972

Today is Presidents’ Day. Up until 1971, George Washington’s actual birthday (February 22) was celebrated, but that changed when the Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved the federal holiday to the third Monday in February and all of the other Presidents (good, bad and mediocre) were honored as well.

In honor of the holiday, here are a few vintage ads from the Lorain Journal with the George Washington Birthday theme (sorry, Honest Abe).

The first one is a nearly full page ad for Hills Department Store that ran on Feb. 21, 1961.

As usual, Washington’s Birthday only meant one thing to lazy ad men struggling to come up with a slogan: stress the “I cannot tell a lie” line attributed to young George when confronted about his chopping down of the cherry tree. In this case, the slogan “To Tell the Truth” might have more likely conjured up thoughts of the TV game show.

Fast forward a little more than ten years, and here are a pair of ads from the Feb. 20, 1972 Journal. The first one is a blog favorite : Sandy’s.

Even though the old cherry tree myth was employed, at least the burger chain creatively offered a Free Cherry Pie with the purchase of any sandwich with French fries and a drink. (Now that’s what we Bradys grew up on – the idea of a dessert with lunch and dinner!)

Also on that same page of the Journal – right below the Sandy’s ad – was this one for Ponderosa Steak House. As expected, the steak restaurant served up all the not-so-rare Washington chestnuts.

But I do like the illustration of Washington as a true hatchet man, and the use of the phrase “by George,” by George!