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Text on Button | JAZZ AND GET FAT |
Image Description | Black text on a white background with a red and white checkered outer edge |
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Additional Information | Comic Motto Buttons, as they became known sometime in the 1940s (previously known as Comic Celluloid Buttons), hailed from Johnson Smith & Co. catalogues and became popular in the early to mid-20th century. Recognized by their iconic checkered border and featuring salacious slogans and witty banter, the catalogue promised, “Get acquainted – wear these comic celluloid buttons. Slip one or two of these buttons on your lapel and then wait for the wisecracks to begin. The girls get lots of fun out of them. At parties, you break the ice right from the start. Just give one of these to your guest, and it gives the party a flying start.” Johnson Smith & Company began in Chicago, Illinois in 1914 as a mail-order novelty and gag gift supplier, settling in Racine, Wisconsin in 1926. Johnson Smith & Co. or Johnson Smith Company sold an array of toys including pinback buttons with suggestive slogans meant as ice breakers. While there’s no evidence that 'jazz and get fat' was a widely used phrase in the early 20th century, there is a strong connection that exists between jazz culture and New Orleans. The Jazz Age, marked by speakeasies and rebellion, mirrored the celebratory excess of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, where 'Fat Tuesday' symbolizes feasting before Lent. |
Sources |
Birnkrant, M. (n.d.). Small things: Remembering Johnson Smith & Company [blog post]. Mel Birnkrant.com. https://melbirnkrant.com/recollections/page49.html Johnson Smith & Co. (1938). Johnson Smith & Company Catalog No. 148. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/johnson-smith-company-catalog-no.-148-1938 Johnson Smith & Co. (1951). Novelties Johnson Smith and co 1951 catalog. Internet Archive. https://ia803405.us.archive.org/5/items/novelties-johnson-smith-and-co-1951-catalog/Novelties%20Johnson%20%20Smith%20and%20Co%201951%20catalog_text.pdf Johnson Smith Co. (2017). About Our Company. Johnson Smith Company. https://web.archive.org/web/20170929033510/http://www.johnsonsmith.com/aboutus/ Mob Museum. (n.d.). The rise of jazz and jukeboxes. Prohibition: And Interative History. https://prohibition.themobmuseum.org/the-history/how-prohibition-changed-american-culture/jazz-and-jukeboxes/ National Park Service. (1993). Jazz origins in New Orleans. National Historical Park Louisiana. https://www.nps.gov/jazz/learn/historyculture/history_early.htm Ted Hake. (n.d.). Johnson Smith famous novelty supply house 1930s funny saying button with rebus [auction listing]. TedHake.com. https://www.tedhake.com/JOHNSON_SMITH_FAMOUS_NOVELTY_SUPPLY_HOUSE_1930s_FUNNY_SAYING_BUTTON_WITH_REBUS_-ITEM804.aspx Ted Hake Vintage Buttons & More. (2019a). Johnson Smith famous novelty supply house 1930s suggestive slogan button [Make it hot for me] [eBay listing]. eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/141168405871 Ted Hake Vintage Buttons & More. (2019b). Johnson Smith famous novelty supply house 1930s suggestive slogan button [I’m a red hot mama] [eBay listing]. eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/141168405896 |
Catalog ID | IB0599 |