Thursday, June 20, 2024

Weatherbird Shoe cutouts, 1920


I love it when a new paper doll takes me down a research rabbit hole. 

Did you know the Weatherbird is the longest continuously running newspaper cartoon? It is the mascot of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

On February 11, 1901, the paper introduced a front-page feature called the "Weatherbird", a cartoon bird accompanying the daily weather forecast. "Weatherbird" is the oldest continuously published cartoon in the United States. Created by Harry B. Martin, who drew it through 1903, it has since been drawn by Oscar Chopin (1903–1910); S. Carlisle Martin (1910–1932); Amadee Wohlschlaeger (1932–1981); Albert Schweitzer, the first one to draw the Weatherbird in color (1981–1986); and Dan Martin (1986–present).[21]

That means the illustrator of this advertising cut-out is S. Carlisle Martin. It's copyrighted 1920 Peters Branch International Shoe Co.

Here's more from Wikipedia:

Weatherbird brand shoes for children, using pictures of the Weatherbird in advertising, were offered starting in 1901 by the St. Louis-based Peters Shoe Company, later part of International Shoe which continued to base the brand's image on the Weatherbird until 1932[13] (the brand itself continued at least through the 1950s).[14]

Two of the original windows from the Peters Shoe Company factory, featuring pictures of the Weatherbird, adorn the Weatherbird Cafe in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch office.

A life-size Weatherbird costume is used by the Post-Dispatch for promotions such as meet-and-greets at local bars.


 


 

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