Saturday, January 01, 2011

another assist from Wes on the Whaler Bar Mystery

Wes, it turns out, is the name of Salivating in Absentia the blogger who tipped me off to the Whaler Bar origins story. But as if that wasn't good enough - he also may be on the trail of the Willie artist!

You can read his remarks in the comments for the previous post, but they say in part:
Welll, this ebay listing says Alain who is perhaps better described here.
His link is to a postcard for the Whaler Bar.

I actually bought a postcard for the Whaler Bar several weeks ago from ebay (and a book of matches) which looks exactly like the one he links to. And it did cross my mind that perhaps the artist of the Whaler Bar postcard, "Alain" could also be the Willie artist, but I do have some doubts. The Whaler Bar postcard is much smoother than the Willie art.

On the other hand...


The archives of The Reading Eagle are every bit as fascinating as the old New Yorker issues. And as with the New Yorker, the ads are as interesting as (or maybe more than) the articles.

And in the very same issue of the Eagle that Wes linked me to for the info about the Whaler Bar origins, there appears this ad:



OK, is it me, or do these men seem unusually catty? They're saying bitchy things about the guy in the old fashion swim outfit, while flaunting their own bodies in the new modern chest-baring swim togs. I heartily approve! Not them being catty/bitchy, but flaunting their bodies - these guys are unusually hot for men in an advertisement. I especially like the jaunty sailor cap on the one guy.

But the best part is - the graphic style of this ad reminds me a little of the Willie art - and even MORE so of the postcard art by Alain (aka painter Daniel Brustlein. )

Could it be they are ALL done by the same person?

The game's afoot!