Pray for Sex

Category
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Text on Button PRAY FOR SEX
Image Description

Blue text on a light green background

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“Pray for Sex” is a humorous play on a surfing term and refers specifically to graffiti painted on a rock on Makua Beach in Oahu, Hawaii. Local surfers originally used the common phrase “Pray for Surf” which evolved to “Pray for Sets” referring to “sets” of waves. In the 1960s, “Pray for Sex” was spray-painted on a Makua Beach rock and has since become part of surf culture lexicon.

Sources

Not a hawaiian aphrodisiac chant – pray for sex beach. (2014, January 31). Hawaii Aloha Travel. Retrieved February 12, 2021, from https://www.hawaii-aloha.com/blog/2008/10/11/not-a-hawaiian-aphrodisiac…

Catalog ID IB0598

Joy Oval

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Text on Button joy
Image Description

Orange text on a white background

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Joy is a great feeling of happiness.

1960s era fonts were often used in slogans which promoted peace, love, and joy rather than war. The war between the USA and Vietnam went from Nov 1, 1955 to Apr 30, 1975.

The peace, love, and joy phrase was used by Hippies, short for hipsters, a subculture which began in the 1950s beatnik coffee house scene predominately in San Francisco. Hippies continue to exist today with new generations of liberal minded activists who believe in peace, love, and joy.

Catalog ID IB0603

Jazz and Get Fat

Category
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Sub Categories
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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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

I've Got Green Roots

Category
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Text on Button I'VE GOT GREEN ROOTS!
Image Description

Green text on an illustration of a person with orange hair wearing a green suit with mushrooms on the ground.

Back Paper / Back Info

$1.00
MADE IN U.S.A.
1980
HALLMARK CARD

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St. Patrick's Day began as a religious holiday in honor of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. A national holiday in Ireland, St. Patrick's Day is also a celebration of Irish culture. This latter meaning is the primary focus of St. Patrick's Day celebrations throughout the Irish diaspora.

In the United States in particular, St. Patrick's Day is a celebration of Irish ancestry, or "Irish roots". A significant number of Americans claim Irish heritage. In 2013, for instance, 33 million US citizens, or ten percent of the population, claimed Irish ancestry. Boston, Massachusetts holds a large St. Patrick's Day parade every year to honor the Irish heritage of many of its citizens. Nearly a quarter of Massachusetts residents claim Irish ancestry.

Sources

Irish Americans. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved July 21, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Americans#Sense_of_heritage

St. Patrick's Day. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved July 21, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Day

Catalog ID IB0602

I've Got a Crush On You

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Text on Button I've got a Crush on you
Image Description

Blue text on a peach background

Curl Text 5710 MADE IN U.S.A.
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“I’ve got a crush on you” is a phrase used to tell another person that you have romantic feelings for them. A crush is usually a short period of strong romantic feelings for a person that often goes unrequited. The phrase is also a title of a popular 1930s song performed by George Gershwin and written by Ira Gershwin.

Catalog ID IB0592

I Could Jazz All Night

Category
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Text on Button I Could JAZZ ALL NIGHT
Image Description

Black text on a white background with a red and white checkered outer edge

Back Style
The Shape
The Size
The Manufacturer
Additional Information

Comic Celluloid Buttons (or Comic Motto Buttons, as they became known sometime in the 1940s) 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.

"Jazz" originated as slang in the United States in the early 1900s, meaning liveliness and energy; it later became associated with the energetic and exciting musical genre around the 1910s. Some sources suggest that a sexual connotation may have developed, likely suggesting a desire to continue experiencing the excitement, energy, and perhaps the more illicit pleasures associated with the Jazz Age and its music.

Sources

Birnkrant, M. (n.d.). Small things: Remembering Johnson Smith & Company [blog post]. Mel Birnkrant.com. https://melbirnkrant.com/recollections/page49.html

Cambridge University. (n.d.). Can’t take something. In Cambridge English Dictionary. Retrieved July 29, 2025, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/can-t-take

Johnson Smith & Co. (1929). Johnson Smith &. Co, Catalogue. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/1929johnsonsmith0000tony/page/308/mode/2up

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. (2017). About Our Company. Johnson Smith Company. https://web.archive.org/web/20170929033510/http://www.johnsonsmith.com/aboutus/ 

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 IB0600

How Dry I Am

Category
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Text on Button HOW DRY I AM
Image Description

Red text on a white background with an outer blue and white checkered edge

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"How Dry I Am" is an old drinking song that laments Prohibition, or the "dry" movement of the early twentieth century. Little is known of the song's origins, except that it takes its tune from an even older hymn, "O Happy Day". Early reports record the refrain as follows:

How dry I am! How dry I am!
Nobody knows how dry I am.

In 1919, Irving Berlin recorded a song entitled "The Near Future", which borrowed from and popularized the refrain. By the 1930s, the song was making regular appearances in popular media, especially cartoons, to indicate drunkenness.

Some prohibitionists embraced "How Dry I Am" as an anthem of the movement's success. This has led to some confusion among collectors over the intended meaning of pinback buttons that bear the phrase. Some claim that the buttons advocated for Prohibition while others describe the items as "humorous" or "cheeky".

Sources

A dry and wet discussion. (1920, August). Current Opinion, 69(2), 228-230. Retrieved from https://books.google.com

Morris, J. (2010, August 5). Prohibition songs and baseball's summer classic. The Mercury News. Retrieved from https://www.mercurynews.com

The Near Future. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved August 1, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Near_Future

Catalog ID IB0597