Black text along upper portion of button. Illustration of Jerry Lewis with untied bow tie, holding microphone in center foreground. Entire illustration is on a red background with small white stars.

The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon was an annual televised fundraising event for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) that usually lasted six hours on Labor Day weekend. Actor and comedian Jerry Lewis hosted the broadcast from its 1966 inception until 2010. In the 1950s, Jerry Lewis hosted a Thanksgiving Party for MDA, which raised funds for the organization's New York City area operations, the success of which led to the Labor Day Telethon.  

White text on a black background.

The button was manufactured by the Busy Beaver Button Company in conjunction with the David Bowie Is exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA). The exhibit, which originated at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and ran in Chicago from September, 2014 through early January, 2015, was the first major retrospective of David Bowie's career. The button was manufactured in the run-up to the exhibit—before the MCA had even officially announced it—and was distributed by the museum and its staff in the months leading up to the opening. The lightening bolt that replaces the “I” in David on the button is a reference to Bowie’s iconic Aladdin Sane album cover.

There are 8 hearts with faces forming a circle. Colors of the hearts are red, light and dark blue, light and dark purple, yellow, and orange.

Chris Uphues is an artist and designer from Chicago, Illinois who currently works out of Brooklyn, New York. His work, often including animated creatures and hearts such as the ones shown here, has been featured in galleries, street art, and in collaboration with clothing and beauty brands. He now produces gifts and greeting cards alongside his wife and studio manager, Jen Uphues. 

White text on a black background.

This button is a play on the name of Ai Weiwei, a Chinese artist and activist. Known for speaking out against corruption and human rights violations of the ruling Communist Party in China, he was arrested in April 2011 and held for 81 days without any charges filed. Before his arrest, he had spent many years residing and displaying his artwork in New York City. 

This button was made for his film, "Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry".

Black text and a black and white photograph of the back of a shirtless woman looking over her shoulder

Tads Pants and Jeans was a clothing brand from the 1970s. Tads was a subsidiary of the parent company H.R. Kaminsky & Sons, based out of Fitzgerald, Georgia. The "Cover it with Tads" campaign was developed by a Florida-based advertising agency and featured Florida model Mary Clark. The semi-nude photo appeared in print ads in both women’s fashion magazines and in certain adult magazines. In addition to the print advertising campaign, the signature image of Clark also appeared on buttons, stickers, and posters. For a time, Kaminsky & Sons included the image on their official company letterhead.

Illustration of two people in dresses holding an ax over their heads on a brown background with lightbrown text above and below

The Lennon and Gibbons clothing store of St. Paul, Minnesota opened in 1899. This button depicts two women advocating liquor prohibition in the early 1900s. The woman on the left is wearing a tunic for the Modern Woodsman of America (MWA), a tax-exempt fraternal benefit society that sells life insurance to improve the quality of life of their members. The woman on the right is temperance activist Carrie Nation, known for smashing saloon windows with a hatchet, which is also pictured. 

Black and white illustration of an elephant  being kicked in the hind quarters by a donkey with black text above and below on a white background with a red outer edge. 

Lithograph button created by Geo. Haumann, owner of Character Display Co. in Chicago, Illinois. His company made mechanical and animated store displays and 2 known mechanical pinback buttons . This small litho button is the same general design as it's larger 2 1/4" mechanical counterpart. There are two similar versions of the mechanical button, with the donkey kicking the elephant and visa versa. These were manufactured by Green Duck Chicago and then hand assembled by Geo. Haumann.

Illustration of a grey elephant being kicked in the hind quarters by a donkey with black text above and below on a light yellow background. 

This button was promoting the Democratic Party during the 1932 presidential campaign which took place during the Great Depression. President Herbert Hoover was repeatedly blamed for the Depression and the worsening economy. The Democrats and presidential candidate, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, attacked the economic policies of Republican President Hoover with slogans like ‘Kick out Depression with a Democratic Vote’ and ‘Sweeping Out Depression’. The Republican Party responded with a similar button of an elephant kicking a donkey which read ‘Bring Back Prosperity with a Republican Vote’. Roosevelt’s main strategy, while traveling around the country campaigning, was to focus on Hoover's inadequacies while promising better days ahead. Roosevelt won the election by a landslide. He won 57% of the popular vote and forty-two of the forty-eight states.

This lithographic button was created by George Haumann, owner of Character Display Co in Chicago, Illinois. His company made mechanical and animated store displays and two known mechanical pinback buttons (mentioned above). These were manufactured by Green Duck Chicago and then were hand assembled by George Haumann​. The third image above shows an original store display.

See more innovative and unique buttons in action on the Busy Beaver blog.

Image of Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carey) wearing the mask, yellow hat and suit. Ipkiss's eyes are bulging out of his sockets and his tounge is lying on a table. On the table is a small lamp and the words "The Mask" is listed above it in green capital letters. 

The Mask is a 1994 American fantasy superhero comedy movie directed by Chuck Russell.  Based on a comic books series of the same name and published by Dark Horse Comics, The Mask stars Jim Carrey. His character, Stanley Ipkiss, finds a magical mask which turns him into a grinning trickster with reality-bending powers uninhibited by anything, including physical reality.  The film was a box-office success and ranked among the top ten moneymakers of 1994. Carrey earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance and The Mask was nominated for Best Visual Effects at the 67th Academy Awards.  

Color illustration of a brown first aid helicopter. The abbreviation" M.A.S.H." is listed below the illustration in yellow letters. The number 4077th is underneath the abbreviation in yellow letters as well. Illustration and words are all over a red background. 

MASH was an American television showed that aired from September 17, 1972 until February 28, 1983.  The television show was loosely based off the 1970 movie, MASH (which was based on the 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, written by Richard Hooker).  The television show tells the story of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (acronym for MASH) and the team of doctors and staff stationed in Uijeongbu, South Korea during the Korean War conflict. During the first season, real life stories were added into the story line by real MASH surgeons that had been interviewed by staff directors.