Walkin' the Talk, and Talkin' the Walk.

The Parrot Talks for Itself, and the Poll-Parrot shoes Speak for Themselves, so it's all good!

The Parrot Talked - and Walked! PFF #54

Back in November of last year, I posted an image of a Parrot Confectionery receipt - with an image of a  Poll-Parrot Shoes bookmark with which I had "enhanced" the old paper. This Parrot wasn't eating peanuts in my room at the Western Heritage Artists show the middle of March. It flew the coop like the little guy in the return address.

This is the Thank you I sent to a couple of folks who now have Breakfast Brownie Doughgirl and The Walkin' Talkin'  Good Tastin' Chocolate Bookmark.

I'm also in the game today for Postcard Friendly Friday, my 54th. If you like to look at mail art, hop on over to Beth Niquette's The Best Hearts Are Crunchy where she plays hostess for the day.

Walkin' The Walk, Talkin' the Talk

Have you ever heard of the International Shoe Company? Neither had I, until I started doing some research on a bookmark I'd seen, while looking into a piece of brilliant advertising ephemera on Inherited Values. This site is dedicated to "Antiques and Vintage Collectibles, NOT by the book". I thought that Deanna Dahlsad, (the author of the article about bookmarks) actually had her tongue in her cheek, given the aforementioned tag line I found when I hit their Home page. She didn't have a lot to say about the bookmark she'd chosen to highlight in her article (actually an interview with a bookmark collector), but it was a Parrot. A Poll Parrot to be exact. More about the Poll Parrot bookmark later in this story.

Several weeks ago, I published a post about another bookmark fan by the name of Michael Popek. He has a blog called Forgotten Bookmarks. As he works in the family's Antiquarian Bookstore, he has ample opportunity to find what others leave behind in books of every stripe. A couple of weeks ago, he published a book, and I covered that in this post.

Long before Michael had decided to publish a book, he had posted a piece of billhead, and the top line item was Baby Ruth Candy Bars. That post is a good example of what I really enjoy about the people I meet on the way to acquiring my old paper. The receipt was dated 1934. It was used. It was high time it was recycled, and I was the guy to get that done. Michael gave it to me. For the asking. He got a Thank You.

Bookmarks are good. Good for books, and good for my art! How good? This post will give you some idea about books and bookmarks and how I find a steady source, helping me put my love of history and art together.

A couple of weeks ago, I was in The Parrot Confectionery, talking to the owner, Brian Ackerman. Brian let me have some billhead - both old and new, but unused. I like the kind that have served their purpose, whether the business owner used a typewrite or wrote it out in long hand, because it's still richer in history than a pristine piece of  letterhead or billhead. Every piece of Parrot paper that I had previously received from him I'd put in new homes. I knew I wanted to do more of the Parrot that "Talks for Itself", so I asked Brian if he could let me have a few more pieces of the "old paper". He let me have some of it.

I was no sooner home and sitting at the computer looking for my old templates for the Parrot and doing a little bloghopping, when I came upon the Poll-Parrot bookmark. Which started my research journey - What do shoes that "Speak for Themselves" and Parrot Chocolate that "Talks for Itself" have in common? A lot.

In 1911, Roberts, Johnson & Rand Shoes merged with the Peters Shoe Company and became the International Shoe Company with office in St. Louis, Missouri. Apparently, St. Louis was the home for more shoes than you can shake a walking stick at. About the same time that International was taking over shoes businesses (there were others), Paul Parrot was busy making shoes - in St. Louis - as well. In 1922, International bought Mr. Parrot's business, right down to the soles. Oh yes - they took at least one cue from Paul - he had a talking Parrot in his shoe store, and it was a very popular advertising "gimmick". There's currently all kinds of Poll Parrot ephemera floating around in the vintage collectibles market - anything from whistles and buttons to Radio Programs? For real. Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention Howdy-Doody. Poll Parrot Shoes sponsored Howdy-Doody. Yup. I'm surprised International didn't convince Howdy to introduce his Poll Parrot friend. A Parrot Puppet. Someone to talk to, you know - Puppet to Puppet.

I digress.

The Parrot Confectionery began business in the same location in downtown Helena in 1922, the same year International began marketing Poll Parrot shoes. I don't know if Poll Parrots were sold in Helena, (we did have a Buster Brown), but we did have The Parrot. An old functioning soda fountain. Booths. A Wurlitzer jukebox. And Parrots. Lots of them. The also have the Avian equivalent of the Turtle - The Parrot. Oh Yes - A facebook page.

The Parrot I've placed on The Parrot billhead is slightly twice the size of the original bookmark - which I've seen and touched. The owner would not sell it. It was die cut (the curved line around the tail) so the only thing that would be sticking out of the  book would be the Parrot's head. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet besides getting it matted and framed. The Parrot isn't talking.

The Parrot - Talks for Itself

When I went searching for old paper over a year ago this past January, The Parrot Confectionery was one of the first places I stopped. Brian and Kelly Ackerman had purchased the business from the Duensing family, and were in the process of learning what they needed to know about the chocolate business. I inquired about old letterhead or billhead, but was discouraged to hear that the Duensings had no letterhead, and the billhead was destroyed to eliminate information such as credit card numbers to protect the privacy of their customers. The business itself is one of only two businesses on Last Chance Gulch here in downtown Helena that are still in operation in the same location since 1922.

Walking into this candy store is like walking back in time. There is a Wurlitzer juke box, booths and a real soda fountain. They make all of their own chocolate and it is all displayed in five foot high glass cases.

During my first brief visit with Brian I offered to design a piece of vintage letterhead that they could use for special occasions in exchange for several of them that I could put my art work on.
Brian agreed to look at whatever I came up with, and he finally settled on the lettering that you see on their web site. I did not do the parrot, but the design outfit that created their logo did, since the one that I had done was not in color.

In going through the old papers in the office, Brian discovered several pieces of old billhead from the fountain, and he gave them to me. This is the last piece that I have, as the other two have since gone to new homes.

What They Received

Christmas is now in the past. This year I did art work for my brother, sisters and wife. A couple of pieces of mail art, two that went through the mail (under cover), and one that moved across the room.

My wife of thirty-nine years received a Parrot Confectionery box, and the Parrots (similar to a Turtle) came in a separate box because I made a shadow box of the original. I couldn't scan the box since all that I could see that wasn't in deep shadow was the top. My son, who bought himself a new Blackberry, took the photograph for me.

Judy, my youngest sister, is the quilter. She received a pattern for a tea cozy that looks like the cat on the envelope, besides the envelope that she can hang on the wall if she wants to do that.

Jenny likes Carousel Horses, so she got a piece of mail art she can put on the wall. Oh yes, and her favorite color is blue.

Dan, my brother, is the drummer and long-time collector of Drummer Boys. He also reads a lot, so he got three bookmarks that I made, laminated and added gold threaded tassels.

Penny, my oldest sister, acquired FIVE pieces of Cline Piano Company paper for me from our good friend Mary Patterson in Seattle. Since she found the paper for me, I thought I should make certain that the piano player in the family got a piece of piano paper to hang over her Wurlitzer.

I didn't get a stocking this year. ;o( But what I did get from sisters Penny and Judy was a book that contains Charley Russell's illustrated letters from the Museum collection, called Your Friend, Charley Russell. I have most of the books by or about him, but this one is special, because my folks took me to see this collection in 1953, and started me on the path of mail art that I'm still doing, even today.

BURIED TREASURE – Gus Wants to Polka-Polka

About a week ago, Seth Apter of The Altered Page Blog posted a call for a collaboration of hosts of Art Blogs to repost one or two of their ‘ancient’ posts and then link to his Blog (as I did above) where he would post a list of all the Art Blogs that agreed to participate in his Hunt for Buried Treasure. I decided to go with this piece for more than one reason, but I’ll give you those after I tell the musical tale of Gus Smith, Musical Connoisseur Extraordinaire.

On the 28th of February, 1903, only four short years after the introduction of the phonograph, Mr. Gus Smith walked into the Montana Music Company at 119 North Main Street in Butte, Montana, and purchased three records. What’s really nice about this billhead, as such pieces of ephemera are called, is that this would not normally be a piece of ephemera that I would purchase for the simple reason that it’s just too fancy. The only saving grace was that when I first saw it, it looked like it had spent at least seventy years on the floor, and was so dirty and stained I had to spend a couple of hours cleaning it up before I even dared put a pencil to it.

My first thought was to use ”His Master’s Voice”, which came to the United States via Berliner's disc records. Victor was a partner to Britain's Gramophone Company (of "His Master's Voice" fame) and eventually used the same dog-and-gramophone trade mark. Victor was America's main record company and evolved into RCA. When I thought about how common the little pooch really was, I went looking elsewhere for visual ideas. After looking at thirty or forty labels that predated February of 1903, I decided to settle on a more obscure record label that Gus might have purchased. I found this British label with a colorful and almost Art Deco Parrot on it, and after looking at the title(Echo Polka), I knew I’d found THE label for Gus and the title for this piece all in one fell swoop. So… Gus Wants to Polka ------ Polka came to be.

The other reason for reposting this one is that it just very well may be the very first piece of ‘altered’ old paper that I sell. I entered this and Sody-Licious!!! in the Blackfoot Valley Art Auction to be held August 7th and 8th in Lincoln, Montana. Gus is Lot number 135 on Friday evening, and the Sody-Licious Bottle is Lot number 220 on Saturday evening. The proceeds of this auction are split between the artist and the Parker Medical Clinic in this small town. So, I get some good ink, (hopefully) a good sale and some exposure for some art on old paper that most people have never seen.

Polly Wants HOLSUM!

A Spokane Bakery Company receipt for Holsum Bread. The parrot and the advertising lettering is from the side of a Holsum Bread delivery truck. Oh yes - I never met a parrot I didn't like.

Gus Wants To Polka-Polka

Gus gets three records at the Montana Music Company in Butte, Montana, in 1903. I decided to find a record label that didn't have a dog on it (Victor, His Master's Voice), and I came up with this British label from 1902. I wish I could find more music store paper like this, because I've got an excellent source for some really nice labels from 78 RPM records.

This piece was juried into the Blackfoot Valley Art Auction, and is scheduled to be auctioned on Friday Evening, the 7th of August.