The Guy That Put The Tan In Montana

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Text on Button I'M THE GUY THAT PUT THE TAN IN MONTANA
Image Description

White background with black text. Illustration  has yellow, red, blue and peach and portrays a rancher with a long-mustached, big hat and bandana around his neck. It is signed "TAD" and not the usual Goldberg signature.

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Quality Tokio Cigarette, Factory no 649, 1st Dist. New York, The Whitehead and Hoag Co.

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Rube Goldberg, the cartoonist responsible for this line of "I'm the Guy" buttons is more famously known for his illustrations of inventions that were funny and complicated. His name is in the Webster dictionary and is defined as "accomplishing by complex means what seemingly could be done simply". He was a dedicated cartoonist, doing both political and comical cartoons. Goldberg is also a founding member of the National Cartoonist Society whose Reuben Award is named after his proper name, Rueben.

The popularity of the "I'm the guy..." slogans caught the eye of tobacco marketers. So if you wanted one of these buttons back in the 1910's, you'd have to buy some of their cigarettes. 

There was even an "I'm the guy" song !

However, this illustration was created for the "I'm the guy" line by one of Goldbergs contemporaries, Thomas Aloysius Dorgan, or "Tad". Professionally, Dorgan worked as a cartoonist for the New York Journal, writing and drawing for the paper's sports section. He is responsible for coining numerous American slang terms such as: "for crying out loud", "applesauce", "the cat's meow", and his most notable and controversial phrase "hotdog". While the phrase "hotdog" took off as a reference to the newly created sausage, Dorgan's usage of the term is originally linked to a now lost illustration of a dachshund dog between two buns he is said to have created. Today there is much dispute about whether Dorgan really did or did not coin the term first.

Catalog ID AD0347