Wednesday, January 30, 2008

1962 Chevrolet full page newspaper ad

This is another four car newspaper ad that followed the one below. We had gained the confidence of Pete Booth,the creative director, and competed with the regular Chevy group for some of the ads. I say competed because we were a group called Experimental and Development. We were to find new and better ways to make Chevy ads without the pressure of everyday activities. We also had as an ongoing responsibility, the advertising for Corvette and Corvair, but that didn't take up all that much of our time. David E. Davis Jr. and Ray Clark were the copy writers. Chuck Felt was the group leader but he had jumped to the Pontiac business and was not replaced. We just kind of worked together and had some fun. Gerry Edmison was my assistant. He was a graduate of Art Center in California and could render layouts that looked like an art studio had done them. The guy eating lunch in the middle of the freeway takes the sting out of an otherwise straightforward illustration. It brings a little humor and humanity too. I wish I could remember who did the illustration. We had so many talented artists who could illustrate our newspaper ads to the quality we wanted. Charley Schridde, Jim Jackson, Jack Mills and Jose Calvillo come to mind and there were others at studios in Detroit like Ferd Prucher's who had artists that used the line drawing style we required. There was also a West Coast group that did many of our ads. I think David E. wrote the copy for this ad.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi do you know anymore about Jose calvillo? I have a piece of his work and I wonder if it is a self portrait. It's dated 1937 any help.

Thanks
Dennis

Anonymous said...

11 years after this post but I'll give a response a shot. Jose is my father in law. He lived in Detroit for his adult life and was an accomplished artist and businesman. His artwork ranged from the commercial work ahown in this post to etchings and portraits. I'd love to see the work you have, if you still have it. hoffma52@gmail.com