We're not sure what this commercial illustration (ca. 1960) was intended to depict, because we don't know the nature of the assignment or the client. Rather than impose a narrative, click on thumbnail to view enlarged image, create your own storyline, and post it in the Comments. If you happen to have a magazine tearsheet of this illo, please advise so we can settle all arguments before things get out of hand (which is, actually, what the scene above depicts).Update: Mystery solved: see comment #5. Source: Parade magazine, May 25, 1958.
6 comments:
My first guess is this:
The picture is about poorly-managed law enforcement. Serious disasters are happening all around (flooding, car accidents, destruction of a government building, a man exposed to the midday sun without a hat, etc.) but the police officer is harassing a citizen for the minor offense of tossing an apple core on the ground.
Plausible scenario, Harley, but it doesn't entirely explain the illustrated debacle. In 1960, the term "lady driver" was common and derisive, so Flora wasn't being "equal opportunity" in portraying a female at the wheel smashing thru City Hall and terrifying a pedestrian (or municipal clerk, or driving instructor). And why is water pouring out the windows of the rear building? Whatever the cause, it's not a law-enforcement issue—it's a matter for emergency first-responders (assuming the building is occupied).
This case remains open.
Women drivers and littering are the root of all evil! I don't know, I'm kinda at a loss here. Maybe an early storyboard for an episode of Mama's Family?
In illustration, it's often best if the words leave some things unsaid, and the images leave some things unsaid. It can be redundant if everything is spelled out twice. This may be a case of an image which simply will not reveal the full meaning of the combined piece.
I'm at a loss as to why the building in the back is flooding. It looks like some sort of municipal building, so I guess it's not a home in which, say, the kitchen, is not being properly attended to.
Mystery solved. None of the above.
Glad to know just what that pretty schoolmarm was up to!
Post a Comment