Janet's MARVA Pool Party

Right to Left: Greg (me), Janet, Grant and Bill.

Yesterday afternoon MARVA member Janet Stout invited us up to her house in Essex, Maryland for a pool party. Grant, Bill, Jim and I were able to attend, as well as Janet's sister and her friend (I don't remember how to pronounce her name so I won't butcher it here, but it started with an R).

We had a fantastic cookout on Janet's patio by the pool and everyone enjoyed the hot dogs, hamburgers and Janet's homemade potato salad. I also particularly enjoyed the large, home grown tomatoes and sliced cucumbers with vinegar and onions (you won't find that just anywhere).

Janet's awesome salt water pool.

It looked like the day would be cloudy and overcast and possibly rain a  little, but the sun showed up just in time to bring on a fantastic afternoon spent outside. After eating, a few of us swam, a few of us talked and a couple of guys who will remain nameless fell asleep in the sun.

Janet also had some great covers saved for me:

We'll start this off two really interesting ones. The Hi-Ball Bar from Kansas City. This bar was directly across the street from the Kansas City Power & Light and I can just imagine how packed this place got after each shift at the power company. I particularly like the big H and little i dotted with a baseball.

The next one, Jane's Grill, is interesting for two obvious reasons: It's an older cover, most likely the 1930's and the name, Jane's Grill suggests a female owned business before many females were owning businesses. Here's where it gets interesting, the term Tables For Ladies has a pretty important meaning.Tables for Ladies:

"alludes to a recent social innovation, in which dining establishments advertised "tables for ladies" in order to welcome their newly mobile female customers. In the past, it had often been assumed that women appearing alone in restaurants or bars were prostitutes in search of business; now, dining on their own or with other women, they would be treated respectfully."

Source: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/31.62  (check out Hopper's painting, it's pretty interesting, too)

So here we have what might be a female run business, the socially innovative "tables for ladies" message, and a naked woman riding a... ahem, hot dog. Who knows, maybe ole Jane had a good sense of humor about it.

A few really nice matchcovers for men's clothing. Today it's polo type shirts, but back in the 1930's and 40's it was real shirts, what we call now dress shirts. The color and typography on the two Mark Twain covers is pretty fantastic.

A few more very nicely designed covers with excellent type and color.

I love coffee matchcovers like this. Why? Probably because I dig the old metal cans like this that they used to come in. These type of cans were so plentiful and cheap at Richmond's Bellwood flea market in the late 90's, I had a whole bunch of them. Anyway, these are some nice examples, great color, great type and I noticed that these ones have the little metal keys included in the illustrations.

Two matchcovers for two motels with the same name.Although the green The Surf motel cover is nice, it's the Surf Motel I think is the finer of the two entirely because of the wild 1950's architecture. 

The Surf Motel as it appears today.

A lot of these old places have been bulldozed and replaced with a Starbucks or Chipotle in some new, soulless type of building that has no character. However, I looked it up and the Surf Motel is alive and well in San Francisco.

Three nice covers from what were probably pretty swinging nightclubs in California, Alaska and Missouri.The Premier Club is probably the most interesting of the three as far as design. 

A stock cut girlie I've seen before.

This older cover for Airmate Hosiery is a major award of sorts.After World War II and nylon hose was again available to women in the U.S., I guess it needed to be advertised. This one takes the cake with a lady riding on an airplane, reining it in like musher on a dog sled.

This cover for King's is most notable for its unconnected script lettering and extra long descender used in the word "in". 

Also notable is this M.C. Escher-like woman who impossibly seems to be inside, outside, around and going through the martini glass all at one time. Reminds me of this:

Last up is this bobtailed Sigari Marconi cigars cover from at least the 1930's. 5 cigars for 10 cents? A true bargain.