Wartime propaganda logos

Eisenhower

Lawrence and others....

I was browsing the latest EMP one sheets when I stumbled across this bland stone litho...and noticed something unique in the bottom left corner...a interesting WWII propaganda logo that was part of the printing of the poster. Ive never seen this on a movie poster before. Lawrence, you or anyone else seen this type of design in something other than a war movie poster? 

Poster


Blow up of the logo. 



"Let's go USA"  "Keep 'em flying" typed around some cool planes. 

David

I never saw that...then I only had eyes for Gene.

HONDO

Here are a few more with the logo. Song Of The Islands, A Yank In The R.A.F., My Gal Sal and the earlier Rings On Her Fingers were all released in the U.S.A. in 1942 after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and America entered the war. All the four titles were released by 20th Century Fox , so it is possible they were the only distributor who applied this log and it appears for only a very short span of time. 

HONDO

                                              Two more - This Above All & Moontide from 1942 and both 20th Century Fox releases as well.

Eisenhower

Thanks, Lawrence! Appreciate it! Very cool that 20th Cent made those on the design of the overall poster.

I've a theory they were trying to spice up those "bland" stone lithos!

HONDO

I will shortly supply some more information and some history behind the wording on the logo and also the actual period the logos were printed on the Fox posters. 

David

You realise Mark you have just started a whole new sub-genre of poster collecting

Eisenhower

Whoops! Nothing to see here people, keep on walking, no need to look...

David

Eisenhower said:

Whoops! Nothing to see here people, keep on walking, no need to look...

Better check with the financial controller as there's a few more although interestingly, not a lot of the 'war' movies featured the logo and like Lawrence suggested it was short lived, I didn't see any on posters from 1943 on.

Ten Gentlemen From West Point (1942)




Terry Toons stock poster from 1942.



Thru Different Eyes (1942)




To The Shores of Tripoli (1942)




Whispering Ghosts (1942)




Who Is Hope Schuyler? (1942)

Eisenhower

Thanks for investigating/posting those pictures David. Some of those are great looking posters. That Whispering Ghosts is amazing!

i'll start looking as well & post more if I find some. 

HONDO

                                                      I have established the '' Let's Go U.S.A. Keep 'Em Flying'' logos started appearing on the 20th Century Fox film posters in August 1941 and appeared on almost all the feature film Fox posters up until August and September 1942 when the logo started being left off and within these two years individual posters to be released were printed some with and some  without the logos. By October 1942 the logo appears to have disappeared all together. The Fox release on the 28-11.1941 of Marry The Boss's Daughter was one example of when within the logo the logo was being  mass printed it just didn't appear on any posters of this title, probably due to human error. The logos began to appear on Fox posters less than four months before the U.S.A. entered World War 11, so we can rule out that the start of the war was the reason to start using the logo, The following is the reason behind the slogan.

''The slogan '' Keep 'em Flying'' according to the Communications Airforce site, the phrase was coined om May 17, 1941 By Lt.Col. ( later Maj. Gen. Harold N. Gilbert while developing a picture caption for a recruiting ad for the Aviation Cadet Program.The idea was to enjoin Americans to support the planes that were our air defence as well as the men that flew them.''  ( The Photographicalist'' source ). 

You can now draw your own conclusion to why the logos were printed on the posters.

Footlight Serenade and Last Of The Duanes are two more examples of where the logo appeared on Fox posters.

My guess as to how many individual full length feature film title posters 20th Century Fox produced in 1941 and 1942 with the logos on, during the period this took place would be somewhere between 50 and 60 titles.  The size of the logo varied with the majority very small in size but a few times were produced in a larger  than usual size.

The image at the top left of this posting shows a pinback button displaying a very similar logo to the one used on the posters, and is is currently available to purchase on ebay if anyone is interested, and very inexpensive. It would be good to own it, especially for anyone who intends to collect  this type of  20th Century Fox logo poster in the future.

Note that I have only dealt with feature length films while discussing the logo usage. Some information regarding the short subjects will appear soon. 

David

Nicely researched

HONDO

David said:

Nicely researched

Thank you David.

Eisenhower

Thanks for the research Lawrence! :plus_one:  Love the history behind the little details of a movie poster. Would have thought the slogan only would have been used during wartime, but not so. Button is also neat, will have to check out eBay. 

HONDO

                                                                                        

Belle Starr ( 1941 )  & Carefull, Soft Shoulders ( 1942 ).

Thanks Mark for your comments.The two Belle Starr's ( Gene Tierney )  for David and I really like the Careful, Soft Shoulders artwork that I wanted to share with everyone. I have images for the majority of the logo featured posters. If you would like to see more just let me know and I will post images of the ones with best artwork?. Note on the Belle Starr posters one logo is larger in size on one than the other. 

David

I think I'd give my vote for the Belle Starr on the left

HONDO

 The ''Secret Agent Of Japan'' ( 1942 ) insert logo is more colourful than the logos I have located on all the numerous one sheets featuring the logo. 

Eisenhower

Nice Lawrence! I'm headed over to EMP to see what I can dig up!

HONDO

 Some nice images here. The Hot Spot insert has a more more colourful logo than the one sheet version.

Eisenhower

Very nice set of posters! Makes me realize 20th Century put out some really sweet paper. Wonder why only the inserts so far the logo is printed in color?

HONDO

Now is the time for you to use your detective skills. 32 one sheets and two inserts have been displayed so far with the logos appearing on them all. There is an interesting fact about two of the posters, which has nothing to do with the logos, that make them different from all the other remaining posters. Any ideas ?

David

32 posters...a half decent clue would help!

Eisenhower

David said:

32 posters...a half decent clue would help!

My poster observation skills what they are-i was lost in a sand storm during the Great Warner Brothers logo debate- a clue or two would be helpful...

HONDO

 While you ponder my previous question asked regarding the two different posters, and never fear a clue will be forthcoming soon, here are three more posters to admire.

David

Have fun(ds) with your sub-genre collecting Mark 

Via Heritage: https://movieposters.ha.com/c/search-results.zx?N=54+790+231&Nty=1&Ntt=20th+Century+Fox,+1942&ic4=ArchiveTab-071515

1. Careful, Soft Shoulders (20th Century Fox, 1942) 3SH
2. Footlight Serenade (20th Century Fox, 1942) 3SH
3. It Happened in Flatbush (20th Century Fox, 1942)
4. My Gal Sal (20th Century Fox, 1942)
5. On the Sunny Side (20th Century Fox, 1942) 3SH
6. On the Sunny Side (20th Century Fox, 1942) Insert
7. Right to the Heart (20th Century Fox, 1941)
8. Roxie Hart (20th Century Fox, 1942)
9. Small Town Deb (20th Century Fox, 1942)
10. Son of Fury (20th Century Fox, 1942)
11. Song of the Islands (20th Century Fox, 1942) Insert
12. Song of the Islands (20th Century Fox, 1942)
13. Ten Gentlemen from West Point (20th Century Fox, 1942)
14. The Mad Martindales (20th Century Fox, 1942)
15. This Above All (20th Century Fox, 1942)
16. Whispering Ghosts (20th Century Fox, 1942)

                

110x75

There's a bunch of argentinean one sheets from the 40s with a big "V" and the text "America libre y unida" (America, free and united)

HONDO

110x75 said:

There's a bunch of argentinean one sheets from the 40s with a big "V" and the text "America libre y unida" (America, free and united)

This new logo has sparked an interest from me in this logo. For the bunch of Argentinian one sheets from the 1940's containing this logo that you are aware of, is it possible to list all the titles, if there aren't too many and it isn't too time consuming, of the foreign ( non-Argentinian films ) ? 

110x75

I'll check my image archive

110x75

The other style of "Saludos Amigos" doesn't have it. Apparently the logo was used for 1942 and 1943 films. Some posters have it, some don't. Not sure what was the criteria to decide when use it and when not.

110x75

Bruce

110x75 said:

I'll check my image archive

Your image archive seems an awful lot like my image archive (not that there is anything wrong with that, because my archive is my gift to the entire hobby!).