Jay Ward and the Art of Self-Promotion, part 6

This week, part of the barrage of publicity materials put out by Jay Ward's "Operation Loudmouth," trading cards!

Those are Allan Burns' drawings on the reverse of the card.  Yes, the same Allan Burns who went on to create the format of The Munsters (with partner Chris Hayward), My Mother the Car (again with Hayward) and The Mary Tyler Moore Show (with James Brooks).

Next, Jay Ward's Traveling World's Fair:

 Special thanks to former Ward staffer Art Diamond, who seemed to keep virtually everything produced for "Operation Loudmouth."

Jay Ward and the Art of Self-Promotion, Part 5

As detailed in Chapter 4 of The Art of Jay Ward Productions, Jay Ward had been burned by what he felt was a lack of promotional effort by ABC on his first series, Rocky and His Friends, so when NBC picked up The Bullwinkle Show for an evening time slot, Ward and his staff went into overdrive to create a blizzard of promotional materials to get maximum attention for the series with a campaign dubbed "Operation Loudmouth."  George Atkins handled the writing and Allan Burns handled the artwork with publicist Howard Brandy providing on the ground tactical support.  The studio generated a lot of ephemera for this campaign and over the next several weeks, I'll be showcasing many rare items, most of which haven't been seen in over half a century.   

This week, apparently Jay Ward publicist Howard Brandy was so good at his job, he got an April Fools insert into TV Guide magazine as well as a full fledged article detailing some of the studio's shenanigans.  Following are scans of the issue, cover painting by Sam Clayberger, interior art by Allan Burns.  Bonus points if you can name Bullwinkle's friend in the image below.

Christmas with Jay Ward

Six months out from Christmas seems as good a time as any to talk about the holiday, maybe even better since it's easier to focus on Christmas without the Christmas rush.  As seen in many of my previous posts, Jay Ward had a keen sense of self-promotion and Christmas provided yet another opportunity for Jay Ward to showcase his sense of humor.  Each year a different artist was tapped to create the holiday greeting and each chose a different format.  Some of these images are featured in The Art of Jay Ward Productions but some of them didn't make the cut, mostly because of space issues.  First up, Sam Clayberger, who did three different versions for a Christmas card, Jay chose two of them to produce as 18 x 24" posters:

 

Jay Ward caricatured as the "Jay Bird"

Perhaps too dark to be made into a Christmas card...

Allan Burns took a shot at one:

Shirley Silvey also did a Christmas card (that was also a Christmas ornament) which promoted upcoming shows, including some that were never produced:

New shows included Watt's Gnu?, Simpson & Delany and Hoppity Hooper

The artist for this Christmas songbook is unknown but clearly the counterculture had taken over Hollywood:

Fractured Flickers

 As his production slate grew, Jay Ward redeployed Allan Burns and George Atkins from promoting The Bullwinkle Show to other productions, including the barely remembered show featuring overdubbed silent films, Fractured Flickers.

 Although both Burns and Atkins wrote for the series they also contributed to promoting it.  Chapter 9 in my book, The Art of Jay Ward Productions, features art that went into the making of the animated opening titles and end credits for this show. Today I feature some of the material generated to promote the series:

Decals and letterhead art by Sam Clayberger, other art by Allan Burns.

Jay Ward and the art of self-promotion, part 4

Jay Ward and his publicity machine--Howard Brandy, publicist; George Atkins, writer; Allan Burns and Sam Clayberger, artists--continued their assault on network apathy for The Bullwinkle Show with two other events, this time on the East Coast.  Roughly equivalent to the West Coast's Bullwinkle Block Party, Jay threw a Picnic at the Plaza at New York's famed Plaza Hotel. Here's some of the paraphernalia from the event:

Art by Allan Burns, lettering by Sam Clayberger

 For those having trouble reading the box lunch menu, here are the details:

Moose Burgers Flambe, Hot Moose Dogs, Bull Shrimp

Smoked Loin of Pork

Devilled Disjointed Chicken

Roast Duck

Assorted Meats:

Pate Maison

Bologna

Salami

Boiled egg

Whole tomatoes

Raw celery

Elbow macaroni salad

Gruyere chees

Red radishes

One seeded buttered roll

Salt and pepper

Assorted ugli fruit

Cole slaw, Dill pickles 

on tables

Bullwinkle's crown (vanilla)

Brandied strawberries jubilee flambe'

Cookies

Coffee

Jay also staged the Coney Island Film Festival at where else, that mecca for cinephiles, Coney Island.  Here's a piece of letterhead for the event:

You can read more about the Picnic at the Plaza in Keith Scott's essential history of the Jay Ward studio in The Moose That Roared and you can see more cool art from the studio in The Art of Jay Ward Productions.

Moosylvania, the 52nd state

In 1959, Alaska and Hawaii had been just been welcomed into the United States, a mere two years before the debut of The Bullwinkle Show, and the country seemed to be on a roll for admitting new states.  Continuing the effort to gain recognition for The Bullwinkle Show, George Atkins and Allan Burns came up with a campaign to keep the ball rolling and admit the fictional state of Moosylvania as the 52nd state.  (Bonus points if anyone can name the 51st state and triple bonus points if anyone can name all 57 states that the 44th President claimed were part of the Union.)  To give weight to the campaign, an island between Minnesota and Canada was leased as Moosylvania for several years; Moosylvania was also later incorporated into a story line on The Bullwinkle Show.  You can read more about the campaign and "state" in Keith Scott's seminal history of Jay Ward, The Moose That Roared.

Atkins and Burns came up with a promotional brochure to educate US leaders and the populace as to the benefits of admitting Moosylvania, including a map of the proposed state:

Once you were convinced of the merits of statehood, you could become a member of the Moosylvania Swamp Rat Patrol:

There's a good chance that your materials could have come in either one of these envelopes:

Once you were on board, you could march in support of statehood:

Wear a badge trumpeting your support of the new state:

 

 

 Put a decal on your car or dorm room window:

Sing songs from the Moosylvania songbook:

Or listen to the music from A Salute to Moosylvania:

For those so inclined, you can hear the album here.  The site suggests that Allan Burns wrote the liner notes but because George Atkins was the writer of record for all the other promotions, it's more likely that the notes were his work with art by Burns.

All art by Allan Burns except for the two envelopes, badge and decal which were done by Sam Clayberger.  It's clear that working on the campaign for Statehood for Moosylvania must have been good for one's health as both artists are still with us today.

Rocky and Bullwinkle shill for the US Treasury

The advertising agency behind General Mills' decision to sponsor the Rocky and Bullwinkle shows, Dancer-Fitzgerald-Samples, worked out a deal with the US Treasury to use the Jay Ward characters in a campaign to promote US Savings Bonds*.  Timed to coincide with the premiere of The Bullwinkle Show in September of 1961 was the Hollywood-produced short, Rocky and Bullwinkle Savings Stamp Club, promoting US Savings Stamps to school children, who would ultimately grow to become US Savings Bond purchasers.  Sam Clayberger color keyed and painted the backgrounds for this short (inexplicably giving Sherman blonde hair!) and a few of these keys can be seen in a previous post on this blog.  Art Diamond created this membership card for the club:

Allan Burns did these gag panels to promote buying US Savings Bonds:

which became the basis for this Sam Clayberger art for Boy's Life to encourage Boy Scouts to buy US Savings Bonds:

Allan Burns also created these promo comic strips aimed at getting adults to buy those same bonds:

*Jay Ward and Bill Scott had a tempestuous relationship with the agency, for more behind-the-scenes info read The Art of Jay Ward Productions and The Moose That Roared.

Jay Ward and the art of self-promotion, part 3

Once they began "Operation Loudmouth," Jay Ward and his publicist, Howard Brandy, managed to get Bullwinkle mentioned in places one wouldn't even think of, including a teen magazine.  Here is a recently surfaced item from a 1962 issue of Teen Screen magazine announcing a "Name Bullwinkle Contest."  Writing likely by George Atkins, art by Allan Burns and lettering by Sam Clayberger:

 No record on who won or how their visit to "Bullwinkle Court" went.  Did anyone out there win any of the consolation prizes, like an Official Bullwinkle Doll, an Official Bullwinkle Medal or Bullwinkle's autographed color picture?