Figure 1.-- This ad was for one of the best known brand names in America--Morton's salt. The company is best known today for its symbol of a little girl with an umbrella. This Morton Salt advertisement appeared in the Lady's Home Journal in 1966. Note the old-fashioned general store with the bins to the right, one of which apparently contains salt. We at first thought this was a real 1916 photiograph, byt increasingly see it as a modern recreation.

Morton's Salt is best known today for its symbol of a little girl with an umbrella. This Morton Salt advertisement appeared in the Lady's Home Journal in 1966. It was meant to show how old the compsny was. Note the old-fashioned general store with the bins to the right, one of which apparently contains salt. The boy pictured here wears typical 1916 clothes--a tweed flat cap with a bill, a bulky sweater with a muffler, tweed knickers buckled above the knee, and long woolen stockings.

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Under the photograph we have the image of a Morton Salt container and the following text: "There's always been a salt that sells for a little less, and there probably always will be. Just as a round steak will always sell for less than a T-Bone. That's the way it is. Even fifty years ago [i.e., 1916, as in the photo], a housewife could find some salt for less than Morton. It's true today, too. Morton still costs a little more. Maybe as much as ten cents, for the entire year. But, then why stop on a dime? Since all salt is so inexpensive, join the two out of three American salt users who shake the best. When it rains, it pours."

Clothing

The boy here wears knickers which were common in the 1910s. They look, however, longer anf cut fuller than I think was common for the 1910s. They look to HBC more like 1920s or even 30s knickers.

Reader Comments

A reader writes, "Are you sure that that this is a 1916 photo, and not a 1966 recreation? The thickness of the boy's bangs (in part becaise of President Kennedy's son) is very mid-60s. But more tellingly, wouldn't a woman of 1916 have had an extremely corsetted figure? Yes we have seen images of women with tightly corsetted waists, but I don't think this was the case of all womn. We have also seen photographs of quite portly women. That wasp-waist look could only be achieved by many years of tight corsets, and so it is hard to reproduce using modern women. The image here is obviously posed. The cat in the image in particular seems a bit contrived. The bangs do look rather like the 1960s. We have no information on the provonance of this ad other than it was used in a Morrton's salt advertisement. It may well a modern recreation, but is so is an extremely well done one.

Another reader writes, "Yes, your reader may be correct. The thought had occurred to me that the picture is a recreation of 1916. The other photo I sent you (another Morton Salt ad also from the same year, 1966, but supposedly showing a 1912 porch scene) actually shows a boy holding a basket with a modern Morton Salt box. I interpreted this as just an alteration or editing of the original photo. But perhaps the whole thing is a recreation--especially since the boy holding the basket is looking outwards at the camerman. Still, the clothes look to me very authentic, and I think the photo is worth using--perhaps with a caveat."

Model Report

A family member sent me a link to your page regarding the Morton Salt advertisements published in 1966: http://histclo.com/ad/910/admor916.html. In 1965 or 1966, I was a model (about age 9 at the time) in a Morton Salt print ad from that series. The photo in my case was a recreation of the interior of an old schoolroom, with myself, a slightly older girl and an adult "teacher". The photographer went to great lengths to make the end result look like an actual photo from 1916, but it was in fact a modern creation. Family rumor has it that the photographer was Richard Avedon, but I am unable to confirm that.

Sources

A family member sent me a link to your page regarding the Morton Salt advertisements published in 1966. In 1965 or 1966, I was a model (about age 9 at the time) in a Morton Salt print ad from that series. The photo in my case was a recreation of the interior of an old schoolroom, with myself, a slightly older girl and an adult "teacher". The photographer went to great lengths to make the end result look like an actual photo from 1916, but it was in fact a modern creation. Family rumor has it that the photographer was Richard Avedon, but I am unable to confirm that." [Fox]

Sources

Fox, Harry. E-mail message, September 8, 2008.

Created: 11:05 PM 11/30/2004
Last updated: 4:15 PM 9/8/2008