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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.  Their 1929 catalogue touts, “These Buttons provide subjects for pleasant jokes and amusing conversations, and thus smooth the way to a more familiar acquaintance and cordial friendship. They are very wittily worded and quite unobjectionable. Wear one and see the effect.”

The phrase "Looking for a nut" emerged in the early 20th century as part of a trend in male humor that embraced playful, and somewhat lewd, innuendos and double entendres. 

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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.

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.”

The verb "lay" has a long history in English, meaning "to place or put down" something, and also in phrases like "lay an egg". The use of "lay" with a sexual connotation emerged as U.S. slang in the early 20th century. It's likely related to the idea of placing or putting oneself down for sexual activity, as the phrase "to lie with" has an archaic and biblical meaning of intercourse.

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During World War II, U.S. soldiers experienced extreme hardship, physically and emotionally, resulting in desired moments of joy and distraction. These patriotic checkered buttons were produced to lighten the moods throughout the war. The collection's color scheme and checkerboard style were a way to express gratitude, yet it consisted of borderline risque catchphrases and humorous taglines, providing light-hearted amusement for those who wore these pins.

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Go Easy, Mabel is a humorous song that was written in 1909 by J. Fred Helf and Ren Shields. The song tells the story of a young ribbon cutter, Percy, who takes Mabel to dinner. Mabel, who has mistaken Percy for a millionaire, orders an extravagant meal and many bottles of wine. Percy, worried he will go to jail as he does not have the means to pay for the date, exclaims “Go easy, Mabel! If you can’t go easy Mabel, go easy as you can!”

In 1922, a musical comedy, also titled “Go Easy, Mabel”, was introduced at Longacre Theatre in Manhattan, NY. The play, written by Charles George, was about a playwright who had been neglecting his wife. The husband and wife perform a series of antics to gain each other’s attention, which apparently worked because the play ended with the couple living happily ever after. Interestingly, the musical was shown again in the 1930s at the Federal Theatre. The Federal Theatre Project was part of the New Deal program (1935), which was created to provide work for performers who had been out of work. The project also had a program which produced plays depicting the African American experience. 

Black text and illustration on white background with red and white checkerboard edge

During World War II, U.S. soldiers experienced extreme hardship, physically and emotionally, resulting in desired moments of joy and distraction. These patriotic checkered buttons were produced to lighten the moods throughout the war. The collection's color scheme and checkerboard style were a way to express gratitude, yet it consisted of borderline risque catchphrases and humorous taglines, providing light-hearted amusement for those who wore these pins.

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The 1992 Summer Olympics basketball "Dream Team" was the first Olympic team that included professional players and marked the start of the United States' dominance in Olympic basketball. The team's most notable members were Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Larry Bird: widely considered three of the greatest players of all time. Joining them were all-stars in their own right David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Scottie Pippen, Christian Laettner, Clyde Drexler, and Chris Mullin. 

The Dream Team's first game in the Olympics was against Angola which they won by a huge 68-point margin. The team went out to defeat Croatia, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Puerto Rico, and Lithuania. The gold medal game was a rematch with Croatia, which—though more competitive than their match up in first round—the Dream Team won handily 117-85. 

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The saying seen here became a popular bumper sticker slogan in 1979 when nationally renowned art-furniture maker Ed Zucca printed up the first 100 stickers. According to a 2000 article in the Baltimore Sun, Zucca felt that TV was “transforming humanity into some kind of monster” so he advocated killing it before it killed you. 

After the first batch of stickers ran out, fellow woodworker G. Leslie Sweetnam took up the cause and went to progressive printers Donnelly/Colt to make more. The slogan has been printed on posters, stickers, buttons, T-shirts and coffee mugs.

Black text and illustration on a white background with checkerboard edge

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, 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.