Thursday, March 6, 2008

1958 Chevrolet Station Wagon Catalog

This was my contribution to the 1958 Chevrolet Announcement program. I got to Campbell-Ewald on the 2nd or 3rd of January and started in the sales promotion group. Harry Borgman was my boss and his assistant was a fellow named Paul Samuelson. Another art director named Tom Clark started at the same time. Tom and I shared an office that was too small and we had our drawing boards facing each other to save room. No matter, we all got along together and had fun. I had broken the $10.000 a year barrier and would have worked anywhere. We all had to go through Jim Hastings to buy our art and that was a real learning experience for me. And I mean that in a positive way. Jim Hastings was the best art critic I have ever known. He was also a very talented artist in his own right. He was a gentleman but could be tough when necessary. He may have done more to help Chevrolet become the American icon that it is than anybody--at least on the print side of the advertising. The newspaper art style he developed for Chevrolet has never been equaled. More about him later.   Lots of my art from the Wagon catalog was used in magazines which made me feel I had done a good job. You can still buy one of my catalogs for about $25 or $30 if you can find one . How about that.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Jim! Got this link from Harry who I am regular contact with. My name is Jeff Clarke and I'm the son of Tom and Joan Clarke. Love the blog and postings! I actually worked for many of the people you mention here as well! Anyhow, my dad''s still doing great and now lives in Vegas. If your interested, Email me for more information -- I'll let my dad know about the site as well! Thanks a billion! jeffc@dreamworldstudios.com

Thanks! Jeff.