On Tap: National Beer Drinking Day

Our man Bolles pulls a pint for us to celebrate this effervescent occasion.  The subject matter was as far removed from his speciality as could be, but he still really nailed it. It should be no surprise that at the same time he painted this cover in 1922 he was busy working as a food product illustrator for one of the largest advertising companies in the U.S.  Bolles himself was only a modest imbiber who never would be found in any of the gin mills his fellow "picture-makers" frequented such as the Kit Kat club.  His grandson once told me he went rediscovered a taste for beer late in his late 80s!  A decade later this cover reappeared, the editors of Judge had another artist duplicate this image (or try to) and they were equally lazy to the point of recycling the exact same copy line.  Bolles was long gone from Judge by then, but he was prideful enough about his work that if he happened to have passed it on the newsstands he wouldn't have been any too pleased.

Judge for yourself

I haven't posted many of Bolles covers from Judge, the periodical that launched his magazine career back in 1914.  Here we see one of his most his most energetic compositions, published in 1924.  Enoch crowds more ladies on the page here than he has in all but one other example (do you know?) among his other 560 (and still counting) magazine covers.  After this, he would go on to paint only a few more covers for Judge and my guess is that Bolles, like the majority of artists and writers who contributed to the magazine, ended up getting stiffed more than once and finally said enough is enough. 

Among magazine editors the staff at Judge had a notorious reputation for delaying payment.  Theodor "Suess" Geisel was thrilled to get his first regular gig with Judge but within two months they had not only reduced his pay, but would then resorted to an odd form of IOU' vouchers that Geisel could redeem for products or services of companies that advertised in Judge (not that he had much of a choice,Judge consistently lagged in selling ad space) but not money. The editors even dared to skip paying James Montgomery Flagg until he showed up unannounced at the editors office and threw a pique until the cheque was cut (more than likely he demanded cash).  Bolles milder temperament was not conducive to such tactics and by 1924 he had diversified, not only painting covers on a regular basis for Film Fun, Snappy Stories and other periodicals, but also producing art for the advertising and film industries.  Norman Anthony, the art editor at Judge, would likely have been thrilled if Bolles had just put one dancehall on this cover but to his delight and ours, Enoch packed the house.

August 5 is National Underwear Day: Our man Bolles does his part

Here's a terrific cover from 1931, in all her original unaltered glory.  Enjoy!

June 22: National Handkerchief Day

No, it's not. For once I'm kidding about it being a special holiday.  But there is a small thread of connection between this image and the previous one I posted so I figured why not. She's the only reason I could imagine celebrating the handkerchief. I can't image many people under the age of 30 (40?) even know what a hankerchief is, much less ever used one.  Sorry about the image quality. I don't have a copy of this issue, but do have a photo of the actual painting, which alas will have to await the book.  And on that topic, my agent just told me a couple of publishers are interested so perhaps it won't be that long before you can see our knotty girl in the original.  

Last, I noticed that this blog just reached a sort of milestone, 250 followers!  In gratitude for all your support and interest, I'll be sharing some extra special Bolles work in the next few weeks.   

Thanks!! 

May 25: Happy Towel Day from Bolles!!

From 1932.  Nothing really to add to this one.  Enjoy!

Cha Cha!!

I've long been frustrated by this cover-or I should say how it was treated.  Published in the waning days of 1937, barely six months later Bolles was gone, not only from Gay Parisienne but also Spicy Stories, Breezy Stories and even Film Fun.  In short he was out of the magazine illustration business entirely. An entire year passed before he painted a new cover for Film Fun, and in the interim the corner of the publishing landscape Bolles had long toiled had been plowed away. With the exception of Film Fun every other magazine he'd worked for had folded, along with just about all the rest of the so-called smoosh mags.  It was as if when Enoch left the building he took the entire genre with him. 

There will be more to say about this when the Bolles book gets published, and frankly this is why the pace of posts on this site has ebbed.  During the last year I've been directing a lot of effort into the manuscript and now that it is off off to my agent I need to become a bit more selective about what goes on the blog, lest I give away too many goodies that need to be debuted in the book.  But not to worry as I have scans of over 500 Bolles covers and plenty else to share.  

So back to this cover. The printing, as far as I can tell (alas, this issue is not part of my collection) was lamentable, as was the rule for this title.  The dramatic shadow over the girl's eyes, her sombrero, and the fan were all overexposed into a dark blob. The color of the entire composition muted. And you know that Bolles would not have painted her this way.  So I judiciously applied a little photoshop to create what I think is a truer version, though you can bet the original (do I wish she was still around) would be even livelier. 
Ole!  

Pattern Recognition: Today is Tartan Day

This cover from late 1942 is one of Bolles very last of all.  Film Fun, which started in 1915 folded two issues later, having had its second class postage privileges revoked by Grant Walker, the Postmaster General. He may have pulled the pulled the plug on the magazine, but it was by the directive of the Catholic National Organization for Decent Literature, which regularly sent his office lists of magazines they deemed too "stimulating" for the general public.  Film Fun sent some lawyers to Washington to plead their case but it was to no avail.  The final issue included a short tribute to Bolles who aside from the occasional fan letter, had not garnered any mention within its pages since the late 1920s.  Along with this being a really nice painting, it's an example of a trend in Bolles work that had only just starting showing up in his art. 

Take a closer look.  Can you see a pattern in this cover and the others I've posted?  Well of course you can, and therein lies the trend.  Bolles was starting to integrate complex patterns in his outfits: tartan, stripes, gingham, none of which were evident during the previous three decades of his career. He had resorted to the occasional polka-dot and a lot of outfits included floral motifs (strategically positioned to hint at anatomical details) but that was about it.  But in 1941 he started a series of covers with excruciatingly exacting patterns, beginning with stripes.  They are great but you have to wonder why all the extra work.  Then there was his mathematical tour de force, the showgirl cover for the first issue of  Titter, with the exquisitely rendered fishnet stockings.  Published in 1943 it was his last cover.  What a going away present for his fans, then and now.