1955 Christmas Ads: The Many Faces of Santa Claus

A detail from a 1955 Kroger ad featuring our pal Toppie the Elephant 

It's interesting how Santa Claus has been depicted in ads that ran in the Lorain Journal over the years. The year 1955 seems to have been a year in which the traditional image of the jolly old elf clashed with more modern, stylized renderings.

Perhaps it was due to the popularity of the clip art books produced by such companies as the Harry Volk Corporation, which regularly issued collections of themed, license-free artwork that could be reproduced or actually cut apart (or clipped) for use in ads.

Thus a newspaper like the Lorain Journal had this new artwork being made available along with the older illustrations that the paper already had on file.

Here's an ample sample (what else?) of how Good Saint Nick appeared in ads that ran in the Journal just in time for Christmas 1955.

First are a few traditional renderings.

Then there are the more 'cartoony' illustrations. I really like these.

Then there are the ones where Santa is a little more stylized. Some of these are cool.

Looks like Santa replaced his reindeer with our favorite pachyderm

Lastly are a couple Santas that are out of this world. Check out the crosslegged Santa in the Boston's ad! I wonder if he wears mules (whatever those are)?

But no matter how he's rendered, somehow Santa is always recognizable.