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Monday, August 8, 2011

1927 ad: Grandmother is still dancing!

A 1927 issue of Pictorial Review featured this lovely illustration by Corinne Dillon in a full-page ad for... I'm going to give you a minute to guess.


I love the ladies' bobbed hairdos and Flapper dresses -- wonderful examples of 1920s fashions.




The ad title is "Grandmother is still dancing," and the ad copy begins like this:


Grandmother is no longer a bored spectator at the dance. No more does she decorate the side walls, wishing the party would end. No, indeed! 


At the first note of the music she is right out on the floor. There she stays throughout the evening, doing the very latest steps. And she's just as reluctant as anyone else to hear the music of the last dance fading away.


Of course, there's a secret about her enduring vitality -- a simple secret she's perfectly willing to pass along.


Blog readers, can you guess the secret?


Her secret, it turns out, is Feen-a-Mint, the chewing laxative.  And you thought something like arthritis medicine might be the secret to an evening of dancing!


Corinne Boyd Dillon, a Kentucky-born artist was a very busy illustrator in those days. Her artwork was in most of the national magazines of the day, as well as many children's books and novels. I wonder how she felt about creating this beautiful art for a laxative advertisement... I guess it helped pay the bills!


Feen-a-Mint, incidentally, resembled Chiclets and its box warns that it is "A medicine, not a confection."


Keep dancing!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Ha! I definitely chewed a few pieces of Feen-A-Mint gum as a youngster...blame it on my grandmother! The only dancing it made me do was to the bathroom...hurriedly. LOL! Great picture though:)

ScrappnBee said...

LOL! That is too funny! Thanks for sharing (I was guessing depends...oops it was the opposite!). Love vintage adds! -Amanda

Anonymous said...

Beautiful vintage illustration.
Thank you to let us know this artist.
Sylvie