The Lost Rockwell Crush Ads...

[surfaceone]

Ok, collectors of soda ephemera or go withs, or perhaps someone with lots of old Saturday Evening Posts might have an example of one of the supposedly unknown Norman Rockwell Crush ads.

For your Thanksgiving Eve consideration, there's this story.

Though this is not one of them, and why the heck couldn't they list/illustrate the known Rockwell Crush ads, I'm wishing you all the Happiest of Thanksgivings.

 

[surfaceone]

Well the above link certainly worked poorly. You can reach the story at the bottom of the above link, or read it here:

"Friday, November 27, 2009

The Orange Crush Company wanted twelve advertisements featuring Norman Rockwell paintings...
(continued)






Crush International, as it is known today, was just a soda pop company in 1921. Its original name was The Orange Crush Company in 1916 when the business started.
At the time of these advertisements, the company made three flavors of Crush, Orange, Lemon and Lime.
The advertisements were published in a wide variety of magazines. Collier's, The Literary Digest, The Youth's Companion and The Christian Herald are just a sample of the distribution.

Rockwell's Last and Only Contract

The Contract with Crush was the only contract Rockwell ever accepted for advertising work. The contract called for twelve paintings at a compensation of $300 per ad. That seemed and indeed was a lot of money at the time.

After the first couple of paintings, he had to really stretch for additional ideas. He even tried reciting one of Crush's slogans, "The Delectable Refreshment," over and over for inspiration. More ideas for new paintings were still difficult.

Rockwell also felt hamstrung by one restriction placed upon his paintings by the company. That restriction: the product had to appear in the painting and the label had to be legible and readable.

Rockwell gives his thoughts on the matter in his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator:

"By the time I got to the eleventh and twelfth picture I was dreamimg about bottles of Orange Crush Soda Pop - long lines of them - quart size, regular size, marching down on me witl all the labels distinctively readable. A stampede of bottles. I'd wake up in the middle of the night screaming, ORANGE CRUSH, ORANGE CRUSH!"
He was apparently approaching the limits of his creativity by the completion of the twelfth painting. Norman Rockwell never again accepted a contract for multiple paintings. He felt another contract would again hamper his creativity.

A Question and a Challenge

I have only been able, so far, to find five of the twelve paintings. Norman Rockwell: A Definitive Catalogue by Laurie Norton Moffatt, from the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge Mass, only lists four. The Advertising World of Norman Rockwell by Donald and Marshall Stoltz, founders of the Norman Rockwell Museum of Philadelphia, shows only three.

Where are the others? Surely they were published.

Please help. I am certain that I am not alone in my desire to see the other seven paintings.

Towards the bottom of this page, you will notice a mechanism that allows you to contribute. If you have other Norman Rockwell Crush ads or just know (without a doubt) where and when others were published, please let me know. Don't forget to leave your valid email address on the confirmation page.

Do you have more Norman Rockwell Orange Crush advertisements?


If you do please share your riches with the rest of the Rockwell collecting community.

Don't forget to enter your valid email address and check the box on the next page to give me permission to contact you about your contribution."

 

[ancientdigger69]

this seems to be the most popular as well as the only one on ebay. although, i do not see a bottle with the name on it in this one. so is this part of that series of 12? or is there more?

 

[dcoffin5]

Interesting. Let's see the other four that you have.

I'm guessing that this one was toward the end of the series for Rockwell and that he broke the rule about the bottle label - showing a fountain soda scene. Maybe that's why the company never published some... he failed to paint the bottle with label into the picture?

 

[surfaceone]

Hello Drew,

Thanks for posting that picture from the bay. I went back to Rockwelland and found the 5 ads. Here's yours with the ad copy:

Found here.

Interesting. Let's see the other four that you have.

Hello Dean,

To be clear, I don't have any of these. I was looking for Thanksgiving themed illustrations and came upon the above article that mentioned the missing Crush ads. The Rockwell site is kinda hard to work with for me. Anyhow, here are the remaining 4 ads that I found. Perhaps there was a calendar made with the original 12. Has anyone seen one of the missing 7?

The Home Run :

Found here.

The "Bribe" (1921):

Found here.

Here's "Young Girl With Orange Crush" (1921):

Found here.

I liked this last one, mainly because of the boy with the straw hat. "One Touch of Nature"

Found here.

I know this is a resourceful group with broad historical reach and interests. Perhaps one of you will locate one of the Missing Rockwell Crush ads...

 

[cobaltbot]

Interesting. Anybody have 1921 - 22 magazines to search?