It's October and time for the "Halloween Number" of En-ar-co's National News trade journal. Aside from a few pumpkins, there's not much in this issue that stands out as particularly Halloweeny. No witches, no monsters, not a trick-or-treating child anywhere. Although, I must say, the huge pumpkin on the cover is quite impressive. I guess I'm just used to the over-the-top Halloweeniness of things today. And after all, these guys were just trying to sell you their petroleum products.
Night Driving Part 1A little solo night driving in cars taken from the yet-to-be-invented Monopoly game, under a full moon (one with a face yet), two cemeteries, and two examples of early twentieth-century road rage. Although the first angry guy looks like he's cursing the long-buried dead, I'm pretty sure he is mad about the cheap low-grade oil products he has used in his car. (See angry man #2).
Of course the smug, contented pair on the bottom used the good stuff from En-ar-co and putt happily along in the dark.Night Driving Part 2
This drawing combines the Monopoly-piece car with the Halloween Jack-O-Lantern theme. Racing down the road at night lighting their way with a candle in a pumpkin seems a bit reckless to me, but... it is just a cartoon.
If only the speed crazed couple above took their eyes off the road for just a second they might glimpse the moonlit scene below. Cornstalks in the moonlight.
A TreatI just like this drawing. Strong hand-lettering. A hearty handshake between an engineer and a barrel of valve oil. The border around the title and even the enigmatic artist's signature together make this one a treat.
Oil through the night
At this time in the mid-west of the U.S. not all farms had electricity. Farmers relied on kerosene or other fuels to bring light into their homes at night. En-ar-co was one of many suppliers of light oil for the home.Jokes
Here's a handful of knee-slappers for you. A smart-mouthed kid joke, a joke in black "Rastus" dialect, a Jay Leno-newspaper ad joke, a joke about a cross-eyed girl, an Italian dialect joke, another Rastus joke, and a nice aphorism to finish things off.
Random Drawings
Now that's scary!
Oil for your auto, oil for your lamps, for your incubators, your tractors, stove.
And oil for your constipation.
It's mineral oil. It's not a laxative.
It just greases the sluice, so to speak.
Is it customary for mineral oil to be produced by a petroleum oil company? I don't know, it just seems weird to me.
Get wise !This is nice. A big drawing of an owl, top and bottom.
Sorry about the yellow crayon across the eyes. I'm sure the culprit has been apprehended.
