Calendar art from 1922. Blogfinger collection. ©

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.

In 1922 there were certain companies that specialized in “calendar art” like our image above.  This is a  hand colored photograph that illustrated a sample calendar  designed for a company called Johnson Brothers,. purveyors of lumber-timber and moldings.  They  were from 45 Classon Avenue in Brooklyn, N.Y.  Their phone number was Williamsburg 3503.

The  cover sheet contained the photo titled Blithe and Bonny, no doubt descriptors of the young lady in the photo.  Also in front was a small (2  1/2 by 3 inches) calendar that was engraved on the outside , but inside was a January, 1922 calendar.  The total design was done in beige and gold, but the engraving was beige on beige, with raised letters that said, “May all happiness and prosperity attend you.”

They sure were serious about their calendars during the roaring twenties.  Probably the  next advance in calendars was in the forties and fifties when “pin-ups ” were the rage.  I can recall  going with my dad to a garage and surreptitiously  glancing at the pin-up calendars on the wall.

The title is interesting.  One could argue that the beautiful girl in the photo needs no introduction, however, blithe means “happy without worry” while “bonny” simply means “lovely.”   Blithe has another meaning which surely could not describe her.

STACEY KENT and JIM TOMLINSON   “The  Face I Love”