More Matches

A friend recently shared this photo of old match books he found while going through his father's belongings:


It reminded me of my earlier post about match books from the basement.

What a different world it was, when the people promoting brands of milk and ice cream thought match books were an appropriate medium for reaching their target audience.

And what is the obsession with spades? The slogan for Beebe (lower left) at least makes sense in a gruesome way ("You won't need a spade to BURY your ANIMALS if you use Beebe Vaccines and Drugs"), but the green match book promoting the Belmont Hotel in Madison, Wis., is unintelligible: "But you don't need a spade to dig up our location."

Maybe there was something on the other side of the package that has to be read first. That is my only hope.