Hillbilly Matchbook Covers! (Part 1)
Cartoon hillbillies! Was there ever anything more wonderful or joyous in this great country of ours than cartoon hillbillies?
No. Not even cartoon monkeys.
And cartoon monkeys certainly never possessed their own moonshine stills or huntin' dogs or rickety old outhouses. Nor were they deemed important enough to receive their very own series of matchbooks drawn by master cartoonist, Al Wiseman.
So today, let us celebrate the wanton drunken excesses of our downtrodden mountainfolk brethren. For without them, we are truly a sadder and more sober nation.
Above: A 1960 hillbilly matchbook.Safety Series matchbooks:
Safety Series Set 2.2 (1952) "Drive As Though They Were Your Own"
Safety Series Set 4.1 (1955) "Slow Down at This Sign!"
Safety Series Set 5.5 (1956) "Don't Jump the Signals"
Hillbilly matchbooks:
Hillbilly Set 13.1(1960) "What's Brakes?"
3 Comments:
These were always some of my favorite drawings.
I remember going to the Monarch Match Company with Dad.
The company used to be in South San Jose, which is now Silicon Valley.
Interesting for me is the fact that that these matchbook covers were distributed nation wide.
I can't remember how many are in this series, so it's fun seeing them resurface.
Thanks Bill
JRW
Hey Jim,
Your dad did 8 sets, with 5 matchbooks in each set. So if my remedial knowledge of math is correct, that would put the total at 40.
He also drew 29 "Safety Series" matchbooks...
Well, whaddaya know? I went and checked my small collection of matchbooks and it turns out I already had two of these, but had never drawn the connection. If you don't already have them, I can provide scans of "Howdy, Sheriff!" and "A Rattling Surprise!" You're doing a great job with this site, by the way. Keep it up!
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