A Slice of Christmas Cheesecake – 1953 Edition

Yesterday's post about Woodrow the Woodsman was kiddie-oriented. Today's post is directed more for men – specifically bachelors.

That's right, it's time for my annual parade of cheesy cheesecake-type ads with a Christmas theme. The Journal ran these types of ads during the holidays, from the 1950s right into the 1970s. The year 1971 was particularly fruitful; and this post featured a multi-pack of ads from 1959, 1967 and 1968.

But sorry, guys – there wasn't much of a parade of ads around Christmas 1953 that would be seen as sexist today. In fact, there was only one piece of clip art that seemed to be used over and over. 

And here it is, first used in an ad for Atkinson & Williams Ford A-1 Used Cars. I suppose the idea was that shopping for cars was man's work. The ad ran on December 3, 1953.

The leggy Santa's helper turned up again on December 10, 1953 in this manly ad for Oros & Chevers Sport Shop. I like the typography at the top of the ad, but the small picture of the pointer in the 'O' makes the company name look like Ros & Chevers. 

Lastly, our Santa Baby made one last local appearance in this ad for K. D. Construction Company which ran in the paper on December 18th. At least the Journal layout artist spaced out his usage of the artwork over a few weeks so readers wouldn't get too used to it.

Unlike the second ad (where the woman has nothing to lean on) at least this one uses the clip art properly.

I've mentioned before how I started my career as a paste-up artist at an old printing and mailing firm in Downtown Cleveland in 1985. We had tons of clip art on file, including some stuff like this. But I don't think our art director would have approved my using it, especially since we had a lot of stuffy clients such as the Cleveland Rotary Club.