Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Butterscotch Fudgicles? Undated Vintage Poster

Looking through a stack of old prints and drawings the other night, I came across this vintage cardboard poster for Fudgicles—yes, Fudgicle, not Fudgesicle as most people say today. This great deco-inspired poster isn't dated, but from the typography and design, I'd say it was from the mid-late 1930s. I had no idea that Fudgicles also came in Butterscotch flavor! I've googled and really not found much on these confections, in a historical sense. The colors are still pretty vibrant, as it was framed with this side turned away from the light for most of its life because of the drawing on the back, below.

Interestingly, the poster has this crayon drawing of a sailboat, above, on the back of it. Until I took it out of the frame several years ago, I never knew it was first a poster. I'm pretty sure this was drawn by my aunt Hoohoo, who would have been 10-12 years old in the mid-late 1930s. This was still the time of the Great Depression, and I have several other drawings of Hoohoo's done on paper bags and the backs of cardboard boxes and other scrap paper. Money was tight after the stock market crash of '29 and my grandmother obviously intended to keep Hoohoo's creative juices flowing, even if it meant she had to use the backs of scraps rather than buying new drawing pads for her. There is something very touching to me about these Depression-era drawings.

9 comments:

  1. when my 3 brothers and i were very young, my mom would get wrapping paper from the kindly old butcher at the market. he would unroll a couple of yards of paper and give it to us. we could hardly wait to get home and start our drawing and coloring.

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  2. JIM, HOW FUN. SO MANY OF THOSE THOUGHTS JUST FLOODED MY BRAIN. OH TO BE A REAL ARTIST. I DREAM ALOT.

    GOOD MORNING CASEY.ALL IS WELL.

    GRANNY

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  3. My Dad worked for a printer after he retired from the service, so our house was full of ends of paper rolls and leftover paper from a job. He kept his little artist well-supplied. I have so many great memories of him coming home at night and giving me a new type of paper, or paper in different colors. I think gifts that foster creativity like that, and your butcher paper is exactly that type of gift, mean more, and the memories last longer than other gifts.

    we're all artists, Granny, it's just whether or not we do anything about it!

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  4. Wow! Hoo-hoo was clearly very talented -- that sailboat is beautiful and the drawing is very impressive for being done by a 10-12 year old! It's clear that your talent is a family thing -- and how wonderful that both you and Hoo-hoo were encouraged to express yourselves.

    Loe the Fudgicle poster, too!

    Paul, NYC

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  5. I remember as a kid getting bits of paper from the local printer as well. Little cut off pieces, I loved them. I try to tell my kids and grandkids of an era during the WWII years that things weren't just tossed out, some use was always found for the left-over bits. We were the early pioneers of recycling. Plus looking back on it, an era where gluttony was not king.

    Love the double art work. I would frame it between two pieces of glass and hang it. Then rotate the viewing side at whim. Love it!

    True, we are all artists (I have to believe that) but some are blessed with a real talent for art, I really do think it is genetic. There is limit to what can be learned, a raw talent kind of comes with the genetic package.

    My mother was very artistic but we don't have anything left to show of it, my brother is very artistic and his daughter (my niece) artistic as well. I wish I had their talent, but I try in my own way, but I wouldn't call myself an artist in the true sense of the word.

    I remember Fudgesicles, which I think are always fudge. I have never seen a fudgicle. That's one of those words you see and don't read correctly. I read it as fudgesicle as that was what I knew, until I read your blog. lol Brain tricks.

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  6. I didn't realize there was a difference between Fudgicle and Fudgesickle either, not until I researched the poster! I'm intrigued by Butterscotch versions, I've never seen those either.

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  7. Make mine butterscotch! Damn that sounds good!

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  8. Hey X, how about a little B&B on the rocks? LOL

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