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 and the campaign for the 52nd state

Rather than presenting a key to the state of Moosylvania, Jay Ward presents a lock.

As a key part of their campaign, Jay Ward and his publicist, Howard Brandy, concocted a tour of the US, driving cross country to gather signatures on their petition to grant statehood to Moosylvania with the intention of presenting the scroll of thousands of signatures to President Kennedy.  Unfortunately for the duo, they arrived at the White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis and were unceremoniously turned away, receiving little or no publicity whatsoever for their efforts.

To make the tour, Jay decided that they should have their own vehicle in which to call attention to their campaign.  He gave artist Sam Clayberger a blank check to go buy a Ford Econoline van.  Sam was then asked to design the exterior and later execute that design.  Here are four of his concepts:

As you can see from the photo below, Jay chose the gaudiest, most attention-getting design, the one on the lower right.

And here are some shots of Jay Ward and Howard Brandy from the tour:

Barely visible behind the van, (I know, who's looking at the van?) is a steam-powered calliope that was carried in the rear of the van and which was deployed to announce the arrival of the campaign.

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?