Figure 1.--Here we see the cover of a promotional comic book published by the Townsend-Ueberchein company, a manufacturer of boys' clothes. It ws published August 1931 as mothers were buying clothes for the new school year.. |
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Here we have some pages from "The Knicker" (August 1931). This of course just the time that mom's would be buying clothes for the upcoming school year. The booklet is a company promotional comic magazine, obviously designed to appeal to boys. I'm not sure just how it was distributed. We have noted references to company promotional literature in early 20th century advertising. This is one of the first examples of this type of promotional literture that we have been able to find. It features the adventures of a boy named Tim. It was an advertising giveaway for a clothing company that sells knickers and other garments for boys, they mention shirts, ties, knickers, suits, caps, longies, coats, and underwear. They mentiin knickers and longies, but not short pants. Tim was a company symbol rather like Buster Brown. I'm not sure who the illustrator was. One source indicates that he was apparently associated with Disney Studios. There seems to be a pre-occupation with pie-eating in this issue along with finding the right suit for pie-eaters. I'm not sure just what this meant. I guess a pie-eater was what a hip kinda kid-type person back then. Perhaps our readers have heard of this term. Eddie Cantor makes an appearance in a large photo and that about covers the booklet. There are a lot of interesting 1931 clothing advertisements in comic format. The booklet itself is 12 pages long. The company was Townsend-Ueberchein, a company located in St. Joseph, Missouri. They were an official Boy Scout outfitter.
Here we have some pages from "The Knicker" (August 1931). This of course just the time that mom's would be buying clothes for the upcoming school year. Tghe cartoons dealt with the adventures with a boy named tim. Eddie Cantor makes an appearance in a large photo and that about covers the booklet. There are a lot of interesting 1931 clothing advertisements in comic format. The booklet itself is 12 pages long. The comics do not seem that exciting, but then again 1931 was during the Depression and a lot of kids couldn't come up with a dime for a real comic.
The booklet is a company promotional comic magazine, obviously designed to appeal to boys. I'm not sure just how it was distributed. We have noted references to company promotional literature in early 20th century advertising. This is one of the first examples of this type of promotional literture that we have been able to find.
The booklet features the adventures of a boy named Tim. Tim was a company symbol rather like Buster Brown. There seems to be a pre-occupation with pie-eating in this issue along with finding the right suit for pie-eaters. I'm not sure just what this meant. I guess a pie-eater was what a hip kinda kid-type person back then. Perhaps our readers have heard of this term.
The company was Townsend-Ueberchein, a clothing manufacturing company located in St. Joseph, Missouri. We know very little about the company at this time, except that they were an official Boy Scout outfitter.
It was an advertising giveaway for a clothing company that sells knickers and other garments for boys, they mention shirts, ties, knickers, suits, caps, longies, coats, and underwear. They mentiin knickers and longies, but not short pants. I'm not sure if the list they provided was incomplete or that the company did not make shorts. While knickers in 19312 were widely worn by boys, shorts pants were quite common during the summer, especially for younger boys.
I'm not sure who the illustrator was. One source indicates that he was apparently associated with Disney Studios.
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