Ads from Architectural Forum Magazine

It’s been a while since I thumbed through my old Architectural Forum issues for hilarious (yet insightful) ads for architectural and interior building products. This time I grabbed the October 1940 issue  and sorted through the ads looking for anything that made me shift in my chair a little bit. As it turns out, almost every ad had something to offer, but these were some of the best. I hope you enjoy them just like I did – with one hand over an agape mouth and the other clutching at a pearl choker necklace.

Reminder – all of these ads can be clicked in order to enlarge the image so if you want to really get in there and read and study them – knock yourself out.

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Remember, 3 Butts to a Door

Sure, it’s 3 butts to a door but it takes 4 butts to party…

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Sunchek Blinds launder easier than curtains. Simply “tubbing” them in warm Lux or Ivory Flakes – metal parts and all – then rehanging at the window to dry, restores their natural beauty and freshness.

I love that they used the words “tubbing” and “freshness“. In my mind, “tubbing” sounds more like a fraternity hazing experience than anything associated with beauty and freshness.

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We know how you’ve felt about it and we, too, have done some tossing and turning

Let’s see … some dude laying in bed, it looks like he has “pitched a tent”, and is tossing and turning while he’s thinking about a dozen men calling on him … not that there’s anything wrong with that.

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When you realize that the pitch and gravel roof not only has greater resistance to wind damage, but also greater resistance to sun damage, to water damage, to hail damage, to fire damage …

But apprantly it has no resistance to “googly-eye” damage

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Workers have slowed up! Production has bogged down! Morale is low! Costs are high! And it’s all the fault of Simon Degree … the silent saboteur of production and profits.

Let’s see … handlebar moustache – check. Cowboy hat – check. Whip (for impacting the workers) - check. Uhm, pretty sure that Simon Degree was modeled after historical caricature from around 1860,  …. hmmmm – I just can’t quite put my finger on it. I could probably figure it out except I’m distracted by those fancy boots he’s wearing. They look a little too fancy for someone who a whip cracker.

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No icy floors in our house!

Couldn’t they have rotated that baby just a little bit more so he could have been spared a life of therapy and a diet of canned beans and antidepressants? No?

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Today Mrs. America has to be sold, too, and she’s far more interested in operating equipment than she used to be.

Yes, we get it – snake oil salesman, a huckster peddling Dr.Popper’s fix all linament juice … but that is a sporty coat he’s got on. The cane is a nice touch – paints a fuller picture.

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No fooling! … Those glass block partitions go up faster’n they can make vice presidents.

Nothing says glass blocks are classy like tall thin blonde’s, bald servant’s carrying cocktails on a platter, and an art deco hand rail.

I hope you have enjoyed another installment of really silly ads from a long time ago. I know I have.

Cheers.

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