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.

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.

Jay Ward and the art of self-promotion, part 2

Jay Ward staffers George Atkins and Allan Burns continued to churn out promotional material for The Bullwinkle Show, even following up the success of "Sing Along with Bullwinkle" song book with a sequel:

How many caricatures can you identify?  Think 1962.

The duo continued to come up with wacky promotions, anything to remind people of the show:

What was once considered a joke would in some circles today be considered a call to action

.

Reusing the same artwork for another campaign except for eliminating the teeth in the character's mouths:

Shortly after the debut of the show in 1961, Bullwinkle was featured in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade as one of the balloons, and on the West Coast Bullwinkle appeared on a float in the 1962 Rose Parade.  Sam Clayberger designed the float, entitled "Columbus Was Wrong,"which featured Bullwinkle navigating a ship off a cubical Earth:

Last but not least, some very cool embossed letterhead for the show, oddly enough in the landscape format:

Jay Ward and the art of self-promotion

Decorations at the Bullwinkle Block Party, art by Sam Clayberger

Jay Ward had been burned by a lack of promotion by ABC on his first series, Rocky and His Friends, so he had little reason to believe that his new show, The Bullwinkle Show, would fare any better on NBC.  Figuring he needed to toot his own horn, he launched "Operation Loudmouth" as a way of making sure the media, and by extension his intended audience, knew about The Bullwinkle Show.  Writer George Atkins and newly hired cartoonist Allan Burns were given the task of generating ideas for promoting the show.   

The Bullwinkle statue unveiling with Bill Scott, Sheriff Peter Pitchess and Jay Ward

Operation Loudmouth was aptly named as Jay staged several large, over-the-top events and continually bombarded the media with a wide variety of mailings, all with one goal in mind: to make sure everyone knew about about The Bullwinkle Show.  Perhaps his biggest event to help promote the show's debut was the Bullwinkle Block Party, which closed down one lane of busy Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.  The Bullwinkle statue was unveiled that evening and celebrity guests included LA County Sheriff Peter Pitchess and Jayne Mansfield.  Here's what the invitation looked like:

And here are the badges for the event, included with the invitation:

The Bullwinkle Song Book for singing at the event:

Writing by George Atkins, art by Allan Burns for all five items.

A ribbon, poking fun at NBC and their lack of promotion for the series:

And travel stickers:

Context for some of the above stickers: Billie Sol Estes was a Texas businessman jailed for state and federal charges of fraud, Newton Minow was Chairman of the FCC and famously derided television as a "vast wasteland."  Supposedly, the SS Minnow on Gilligan's Island was named as a sarcastic shot at him.

Next up, Jay Ward tries to add another state to the Union...