Here's a couple of post cards I bought a few weeks ago in Arlington's Civitan flea market, with a nice gag cartoon about making pea soup. The pea soup empire grew well - it still exists!

And here's Pea Soup Andesen's website since I'm posting their cartoon.Their website says about the cartoon: "In the early thirties a cartoon appeared in the old "Judge" magazine. It was one of a series by the famous cartoonist Forbell, under the heading of "Little Known Occupations." The cartoon showed the little known occupation of splitting peas for pea soup, with two comic chefs standing at a chopping table, one holding a huge chisel, splitting peas singly as they came down a chute."

More information on Charles Forbell can be found in Biographical Sketches of Cartoonists & Illustrators in the Swann Collection of the Library of Congress.

Bath Again this year?

I've found and written about these two times in the past (1 and 2). Here's another one of the hillbilly and pretty girl comic matchbook covers.

 The other piece is a brochure for Primitive Passions lingerie featuring Lili St. Cyr. It's got several different artists working on it, but the cover shown here looks like Bill Ward to me. I've got a query in to the comics historian Craig Yoe* to see what he thinks. I suppose Eric Stanton could be the artist - I'm not great with identifying these types of artists.

Both of these were picked up at a flea market in Arlington.

*He thinks it's Ward too.

I stopped into the MARVA matchbook club meeting yesterday to hand off some old matchbooks (as you know, I love ephemera) and the group was very welcoming. They usually have piles they trade amongst themselves as everyone has to specialize. I found a few of cartoon interest:


3 hillbilly gag cartoons, probably from the 1940s or early 1950s, on matchbook covers.


"Won't Be Long Now" hillbilly cartoon gag on matchbook cover.


A cricket that looks a lot like Disney's Jiminy on a "Li'l Cricket Food Stores" matchbook cover.


Matchbook ad for Art Instruction, Inc, the school that Charles Schulz attended (via correspondence) and taught at before Peanuts.


Interior of matchbook ad for Art Instruction, Inc, the school that Charles Schulz attended (via correspondence) and taught at before Peanuts.


Cartoon matchbook spotlighting French cartoonist.


ANNÉE DE L'ENFANCE [aka, Année internationale de l’enfant : 1979]

Francisque Poulbout (1879-1946)
Dessinateur humoriste, POULBOT devient célèbre vers 1910, grâce à ses dessins inspirés des gosses de la rue. Il crée en 1920 le Dispensaire de P'tits Poulbots et la République de Montmartre pour aider les enfants nécessiteux. Le nom de poulbot est aujourd’hui passé dans la langue courante pour désigner un gosse de la rue.

Translation by Portugese comics scholar Leo de Sa:

INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE CHILD [1979]
Francisque Poulbout (1879-1946)
Cartoonist, POULBOT became famous around 1910, thanks to his drawings inspired by street kids. In 1920 he created the Dispensary of Little Poulbots and the Republic of Montmartre to help needy children. The name "poulbot" became the everyday-language designation for a street kid.