http://streamlinermemories.info/?p=12419
Every year, announcing the opening of Yellowstone in June, the Union Pacific commissioned an artist (usually Walter W Oehrle, born in Omaha, largely self-taught in the field of art, although he later attended the Chicago Art Institute and the American Academy, Chicago) to paint the cover of its promotional brochure.
Oehrle at one time worked for Disney, he did cartoons of the mother of Ferdinand the Bull
so that would be 1937 or 1938, as the short animated film came out in 1938, and won an oscar
Walt Disney voiced Ferdinand's mother https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030128/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast
But nothing in the animation models shows that Walter Oehrle did the sketches on the film
after doing cover art for Action Novels magazine
http://www.philsp.com/data/images/a/action_novels_193006.jpg and he also created the Elsie the Cow mascot, by painting the ads for Borden's ice cream, Elsie was the wife of the bull Elmer, on (Borden's) Elmers Glue. https://americacomesalive.com/2015/10/19/elmers-glue-the-surprising-story/
She was the spokescow for Borden's Sweetened Condensed Milk, Evaporated Milk, and a bunch of other ingredients that were popular until about the 80s, when people stopped cooking good food. You might nor know, or remember, but the price of milk bottomed out in the late 80s to early 90s, and Borden suddenly was out of business competing with a gallon of fresh milk for under a dollar
These full-text magazine ads would appear in publications such as Life or The Saturday Evening Posts, and proved to be immensely popular.
and this original painting is in a Brooklyn antique store, they would like to be paid $1200
But let me get back to the Union Pacific's Yellowstone Bears:
the above images are even used in a Masters of Arts, American Studies, Masters Thesis https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1/1670/KressE0511.pdf?sequence=1
https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2013/06/essential-friends-gateways-west-yellowstone-gateway-town-worth-hanging-around23438
http://aurelina-b.tumblr.com/post/172117635007/shes-all-i-can-think-about-and-ive-been
Architect Robert Reamer, who designed the Old Faithful Inn dining room and Bear Pit Bar at age 29, hired Chicago artist Walter Oehrle (pronounced "early") to come up with a series of sketches that would later be turned into wood carvings.
the Old Faithful Inn
The inn's architect was 29-year-old Robert Reamer, an architect for the Yellowstone Park Company, which was affiliated with the Great Northern Railway. Reamer was hired by Harry W. Child, the president of the Yellowstone Park Company, who had met Reamer in San Diego through mutual acquaintances. Reamer designed the lobby and the initial phase of guest rooms, known as the Old House, which was built in 1903-1904,
The Old Faithful Inn is the largest log hotel in the world; possibly even the largest log building in the world, and located in Yellowstone National Park, with a clear view of the renowned Old Faithful Geyser.
The Inn features a multi-story log lobby, flanked by long frame wings containing guest rooms. With its spectacular log and limb lobby and 500-ton, 85- foot stone fireplace, the inn is a prime example of the "Golden Age" of rustic resort architecture, a style which is also known as National Park Service Rustic.
It is also unique in that it is one of the few log hotels still standing in the United States. It was the first of the great park lodges of the American west. Initial construction was carried out over the winter of 1903-1904, largely using locally-obtained materials including lodgepole pine and rhyolite stone.
These 12 paintings were produced sometime in the 1920s and '30s. Most are playful cartoon drawings of grizzly bears chugging beer, ordering off menus, and singing or playing in an orchestra, all were in order to celebrate the end of prohibition... "Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks" By Fodor's Travel Publications, Inc. page 34
The brown-and-white paintings were rendered into wood cuts that were displayed for several years inside the Bear Pit Lounge. A few of the woodcuts are now in the snack bar at Old Faithful Inn. Several years ago, some of the images were cut into glass and now hang in the Bear Pit and the Old Faithful dining room.
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/brochure-bear-pit-cocktail-lounge-1783904718
the Bear Pit Lounge, located off the dining room and a lovely refuge on its own. With a limited menu and an expanded drink selection, the Bear Pit Lounge doesn’t sport the same sort of traffic you see in the rest of Yellowstone at the peak of tourist season. As a bonus, you have the famous glass etchings inspired by the original wooden Bear Pit murals. The original Bear Pit Lounge was built in 1936 in the space now occupied by the Bear Paw Deli. The small room was known for its wood-etched murals. Alas, not all the murals survived a move of the Bear Pit Lounge to its current location in 1962, but some glass etchings based on those original murals did. Look for the rowdy bears, including one bear spraying seltzer on another bear.
The original paintings, which apparently never hung in Yellowstone, quietly disappeared into history, until 11 Bear Pit murals, each 20 by 24 inches and individually wrapped in delicate paper were found by Dan Fey, the grandson of architect William Henry Fey, who built the huge wooden map in the Map Room at Mammoth, in a cabinet with five large flat drawers, in the basement of his mother's Seattle house.
https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/historical-park-art-presumed-stolen/article_001967f1-834a-50e7-8d81-82ae9ec5ff31.html
http://shewasabird.blogspot.com/2012/08/elsie-borden-cow-1948-1955.html
http://www.cremora.com/elsies_story.html
https://www.amazon.com/Yellowstone-Train-History-Americas-National/dp/1575101297
http://cow-creamers.net/advertising.htm
https://patents.google.com/?inventor=Walter+Oehrle
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTIQUE-1950-s-BORDENS-ELSIE-THE-COW-COOKIE-JAR/202552565343?hash=item2f2912de5f:g:XjcAAOSwpFtb9ybo:rk:14:pf:0
He did a watercolor, and signed it, the first piece of art I've found that has his signature / autograph
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1920s-union-pacific-walter-oehrle-1887667707
and this oil painting from 1924
https://www.etsy.com/listing/465823152/antique-artist-walter-oehrle-original?show_sold_out_detail=1
AND Walter W Oehrle was a syndicated comic strip artist! Steve found 2 newspapers his comic strip "Henry Wise" is in! The 1926 October through December Palantine Enterprise, and the Cook County Herald!
and in 1922, 23, and 24, the duo who did the comic strip above, Walter Oehrle and O. Lawrence Hawthorne, made books of 3 childrens poems
author was Hawthorne, illustrations by Oehrle. Possibly just a compilation of work they had done for the Western Newspaper Union, as it was only 4 pages ( the middle book)
So, when it became impossible to find any thing more on this artist, and I wondered why he wasn't anywhere in the history books, after inventing one of the top 10 advertising icons ever made (Elsie, was named one of the Top 10 Advertising Icons of the Century by Ad Age in 2000, Elsie the Cow has been among the most recognizable product logos in the United States)
it was because he changed his last name
I maybe wrong, but I think this would be the Eskimo Pie referred to in the article
the above 3 are the only ones I found with Walter Early's signature on them
and he also did the advertisements for Borden's other canned drink, something like malted milk, called Hemo: http://www.ghostofthedoll.co.uk/retromusings/bordens-hemo-drink-adverts-1942-1946-illustrations-by-walter-early/
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/David-Reid-creator-of-Elsie-the-Cow-2545594.php states that David Reid, here in his obit, created aspects of Elsie, as this article was slanted by the writer to appease the family of the dead, but is simply easy to understand and forgive from that perspective.
After all, the same obit article also states David Reid was a distinguished and decorated B-26 pilot, but there is nothing else online to substantiate that, and in my experience, all pilots of WW2 bombers are listed online, all nose art is easy to find, and with 63 missions? So, maybe that newspaper article was written by the family and emailed to the newspaper who just printed it. Also, can you believe that he was the creative director of the ad agency that invented Elsie, but since he wasn't an artist, you be the judge of the matter. So, guess who gets the credit? Walter Oehrle / Early. David Reid isn't even mentioned in 99% of all the things I've seen about Elsie
The Advertising Age Encyclopedia of AdvertisingBy John McDonough, Karen Egolf
Elsie the Cow was voted one of the 10 top icons of all time by Advertising Age magazine and was so famous that marketing surveys in the 1940s found that 98 percent of the American public recognized Elsie. At one time, she was better known than such imaginary figures as Mickey Mouse, and a 1952 poll found that Elsie was better known than such real life celebrities as Robert Taft, a candidate for president that year, and Van Johnson, the actor.
https://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?1045655-Pacific-B-17-Base-1942
https://clarencesimonsen.wordpress.com/2016/04/20/destroyers-for-bases
http://b29s.koreanwar-educator.org/noseart/0noseart.html
By 1947 he was doing paintings as advertising art for "The Yearling" original movie 40's print ad. black and white illustration. (Walter Early art) Original 1947 Liberty Magazine Art
above https://www.amazon.com/Yearling-Original-Illustration-art-Original-Magazine/dp/B01FWUFB9M
Special thanks to Steve B for driving to a couple of libraries to find the only biography that exists of Walter W Oehrle!
https://posterromance.com/2013/12/30/ice-cream-air-conditioners-and-anti-freeze/
Just wow. Thanks for the post. I like the bears at the gate with their tool kit and crowbars. Did you see the busted key? May be in an earlier post. All this train artwork is cool.
ReplyDeletebusted key, lower left corner by the bears foot.
DeleteThanks! I happened across this site, and once I find that they have a little bit of good stuff, I then find myself going through the whole site to see of there is something more in their archives. I added one more image in this post, that I found late this morning.
It turns out that this artist is nearly unknown, even though he invented one of the great marketing mascots in American products, and according to the NY Times, worked for Disney... though, that obit is tiny, and off limits unless you subscribe, so, I can't see it and get more info. I'll see if Steve can.
Click those links and see a LOT more.
train art! Enjoy! http://streamlinermemories.info/Mfrs/GM44TenthAnniv.pdf
DeleteI never knew that Elmer was Elsie's husband or that Elmer's Glue was made by Borden. From the Elmer's glue website -
ReplyDelete"Borden® (yes, that Borden - the dairy company) purchases the Casein Company of America, the manufacturer of Casein Industrial Glues. Three years later, they introduce Casco glue, the first consumer glue made from casein, a milk by-product."
I have original works and sketches by Walter Early. Any interest?
ReplyDeleteyes, of course, but you didn't mention in what way.
DeleteI share the stuff I find, and this post is what I found and shared.
I don't have any money, I can't purchase them, but I would like to share them if you could send me good photos of them.
My email is jbohjkl@yahoo.com
Or if you just want them to go to someone who will appreciate and display them knowing why they are important? Then I am a good candidate. I will gladly pay you to send them to me. Even that is stretching what I can afford. But that's because I spend my time adding to this website, instead of working for pay during the same time.