Sunday, January 09, 2011

From Tim Tegge #4


Finally, a familiar Donaldson stock image (half sheet) of a female wire walker that was used by many shows throughout the 1930's. This particular image is among my very favorites from that era, by the way. Most often these stock bills would be cross-lined with block titles, but every now and again a show would spend a bit more time and effort (and I would also imagine cash) in having the lithographers "sex up" the printed title a bit. That approach lends itself so beautifully to this poster, don't you think? The Tom Mix show also used this same sheet for a while, and also with their own animated text.

I'm currently preparing items for an exhibit I will be opening soon in the Midwest, so as I sift through posters and photographs to be included in same, I will try to pass along more images for your readers to savor. Thanks so much for always sharing your items with us!

Tim Tegge

Posted by Buckles at 1/09/2011 05:42:00 AM

2 comments:

Chris Berry said...

As Tim mentions, these Russell Bros posters are all great images produced by the artists at Donaldson Lithographic Co in Newport, Kentucky. The company founder, William Donaldson (who started in the printing business during the Civil War) actually continued to run the company until 1931 when he died at the age of 91. Although the firm stopped producing show paper not long after Tim's Russell Bros posters were made, it did continue printing material (as both Donaldson Litho and Donaldson Art Sign) until 1987 when it closed due to bankruptcy.

09 January, 2011 14:46
Dick Flint said...

Donaldson was absorbed into the show printing "trust" (U.S. Printing and Litho, then Consolidated, etc., as it struggled financially) of the early 1900s. Several of the printers continued to use their own name but each name gradually faded from the scene. The Donaldson poster plant, with only "three little offset presses" according to the late Andy Donaldson, closed in 1936 and some of its machinery went to Erie Litho, also part of the conglomerate. After that, Andy Donaldson (the last generation in the printing business) worked for Strobridge and was the senior officer when that firm was sold. The Donaldson Art Sign business was a separate operation.
Dick Flint
Baltimore

10 January, 2011 00:41

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