7up BOTTLES ~ OUTSIDE THE BOX

[Bass Assassin]

Great work Bob. I have thoroughly enjoyed this thread.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

iggy and Bass

Thanks - I'm glad you enjoyed it! However, I just discovered something that might be another clue. It started when member cowseatmaize hinted at a possible Esther Williams connection. But because swimmer/actress Esther Williams was born in 1921 and didn't graduate from high school until 1939, there's no way she could have had any influence with anything related to 7up between 1928 and 1935. When the Slenderizing Lady paper label was trademarked in 1931, Esther Williams was only ten years old. But regardless of that, it was definitely cow's mention of Esther Williams that inspired my diving platform theory that I presented earlier. Plus, I heard from Bill Lockhart again, who was replying to some of the theories I presented him with early on, which at that time did not include my mentioning anything about Esther Williams or diving, and yet one of the ideas that Bill came up with on his own was that the curve and square-lip might in some way tie in with the swimsuit girl and/or something to do with swimming. Which in turn led me to ...

(To be continued)

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Which in turn (in a round-about way) led me to this 1932 ad where I underlined in red the word "Sylph-like" ...

(To be continued)

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Because I was curious about the term "Sylph-like" I researched it further and discovered it was used in advertising at least as early as 1810. But because there are at least 20,000 newspaper listings that use the term "Sylph-like" its impossible for me to look at every one of them. But I did discover that during the 1920s the term was used on a regular basis in advertisements involving women's clothing and losing weight, with the majority involving weight loss. Of course, not all of the "Sylph-like" ads include images, but of those that do, many of them show women wearing bathing suits. Of particular interest are the ads from the mid 1920s that pertain to a brand of gum called "Silph Reducing Chewing Gum." The gum was advertised nationwide and appears to have been extremely popular at the time.

The points I'm trying to make regarding "Sylph-like" and "Silph Chewing Gum" are ...

1. The term was used long before Charles Grigg ever conceived 7up
2. Charles Grigg did not invent the term
3. The term was already being used in advertising when 7up was invented
4. Because Charles Grigg was involved in advertising at least as early as 1910, he had to be well aware of the term
5. Charles Grigg probably used the term because it was a popular craze when he invented 7up
6. Because many of the 1920s "Sylph-like" advertisements show women wearing swimsuits, Charles Grigg had to be
aware of that as well

Question:

But does all of this mean the curved background with the square lip on the 7up swimsuit label has anything to do with "swimming" and/or "diving" ?

Answer:

Possibly



Silph Gum ads from ...

1. The Decatur Daily Review - Decatur, Illinois - September 27, 1925 (Notice the diving board)

2. The Joplin Globe - Joplin, Missouri - February 28, 1926 (Joplin and St. Louis are both in Missouri)

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Even though Esther Williams was too young to have had an influence on 7up, there was another swim star that might have.


Meet ...

Annette Kellerman

In 1952, Esther Williams made a biographical movie about Annette Kellerman titled "Million Dollar Mermaid." Even though Kellerman wasn't exactly what I'd call Sylph-like, she definitely was well known and even had a major influence on the style of women's swimsuits. I wonder if ol' Charles Grigg had a thing for Annette Kellerman? When Annette hit it big in the United States in 1917, Charles Grigg was 49 years old. But because of Kellerman's star-power, Charles Grigg was certainly aware of her.


"After underwater ballet performances in London, Annette once again combined her swimming and theatrical skills, creating her own stage show complete with dancing, singing and diving. By 1917 Annette had become the United States’ highest-paid female vaudeville performer."

"Annette’s choice of swimwear attracted controversy. In 1907, after moving to the United States, she was arrested on a beach in Boston for public indecency as she was wearing a boy’s one-piece bathing suit. In response to this event, she designed and popularised a women’s one-piece swimming costume composed of a tunic over the top of a one-piece. This contrasted with the common restrictive women’s swimwear of the time, which involved a smock and pantaloons that went down to the ankles. By wearing better fitted swimwear, Annette had more freedom of movement and was able to swim better and compete at the highest level. In her book, How to Swim, she states, ‘There is no more reason why you should wear…those awkward, unnecessary, lumpy “bathing suits,” than there is that you should wear lead chains.’



http://feminartsy.com/swimming-against-the-tide-the-life-of-annette-kellerman/



http://books.publishing.monash.edu/...an’+Women+on+Global+Display/173/OEBPS/c01.htm


Link to 1931 Ad shown below ...

https://witness2fashion.wordpress.com/tag/stockings-with-swimsuits-bathing-suits/





Plus this article - Date unknown

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

There are literally hundreds of newspaper articles and advertisements for Annette Kellerman, and she even had her own line of women's swimwear for many years. I won't bombard this thread with those ads, but its important to know how influential she was as a swimmer and diver in the 1920s and 1930s. Of course this doesn't mean that Charles Grigg designed his first 7up paper label because of her, nor the later ACL label, but he 'might' have.

This particular ad is from ...

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle - New York - August 6, 1930

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Based on what I've been seeing, its no exaggeration to say that Annette Kellerman almost singlehandedly defined women's swimsuit styles in the 1920s and 1930s. It was because of her that women's bathing suits went from gunny sacks to single piece suits. Nor do I believe that an advertising man like Charles Grigg was not aware of Kellerman's influence when he designed his Slenderizing Lady in 1931. Take for example the following Kellerman ad from 1927 and compare it to the 7up ad from 1931. And be sure to check out them-thar clouds ...

Annette Kellerman ad from ...

The Fitchburg Sentinel - Fitchburg, Massachusetts - July 8, 1927

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

P.S.

While searching the newspaper archives I scrolled past an Annette Kellerman ad that actually showed some bubbles, which appeared to be rising from water, or possibly a swimming pool, but when I went back to look for it, I couldn't find it again. So I'm going to take another and will post it if I find it again.

(To be continued)

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

I can't find the Annette Kellerman 'bubble' ad. There must be at least 10,000 ads that mention her in one manner or another. Because I jumped around so much between the 1920s and 1940s, I have no clue what year it was from. All I can remember is that I scrolled past it and planned on going back to open the entire ad, but then got side-tracked and couldn't find it again. It probably wasn't anything definitive anyway, but it just bugs me now because it slipped through my fingers. But regardless of that particular ad, suffice it to say that Annette Kellerman could very well have been on Charles Grigg's mind when he came up with the Slenderizing Lady in 1931. You can do a quick Google search on Annette Kellerman and you'll soon see how influential she was in her day when it came to anything related to swimming and swimsuits. She died in 1975 at the age of 80.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Here's a Wikipedia link and picture of Annette Kellerman around 1904 when she was about 18 years old ...

http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/annette-kellerman