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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Carnation Can-Can

Carnation's Easy-Does-It Cookbook [1958]

Vegetables Continental will spark the tired vegetable appetite, or intrigue the most sophisticated guest! Try these intriguing new ideas!

"By Jove! She is a corker!" *monocle pop*

Am I wrong, or is this the flimsiest excuse ever for a picture of a monocle and top hat wearing, bow tie sporting gent ogling a can-can dancer ever? I'm not complaining, I'm just saying.

Additionally:
*Where are those sparkles coming from?
*Why does the woman in the right back have no body?
*Have her companion's legs been replaced with tentacles?
*Where is Monocle Man sitting?
*The dancer's ankles. Those bows seem suspicious. They may have malicious intent.

I suspect the involvement of the Green Fairy in this work.

9 comments:

  1. I'm not sure those are sparkles. I think she's kicking up dust from the dirty floor.
    Since it is for Vegetables Continental, this must be what Carnation thought the average American housewife would think Europe was like, the elegance of Monocle Man and the carefree wildness of the cancan dancer and her impossibly skinny ankles.

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  2. That isn't what Europe is like?

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  3. This looked suspiciously like a scene from the 1958 movie "Gigi" to me...maybe Carnation and the cartoonist were trying to connect the movie to the product in a subliminal way...?

    Here's the plot of the movie:

    Weary of the conventions of Parisian society, a rich playboy and a youthful courtesan-in-training enjoy a platonic friendship. Gaston, the scion of a wealthy Parisian family finds emotional refuge from the superficial lifestyle of upper class Parisian 1900s society. When Gaston becomes aware that Gigi has matured into a woman, love adds a surprise twist to this delightful turn-of-the 20th century Cinderella story. Written by Anonymous

    However, sadly, there seems to be no scene in the movie that showcases or mentions Carnation products...

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  4. That, that there, is NO little girl!
    I believe they do wear carnations at times though, perhaps that is the connection.

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  5. They ( Gaston & Gigi ) do go to a salon where Can-Can dancers are performing in the movie, as depicted in the cartoon and yes, sometimes their costumes have flowers, usually a neck ribbon with a flower or a headpiece with flowers...that must be it !

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  6. I believe the tentacles are the tails of the companion's coat. But, I could be wrong--it could be the inspiration for Doctor Who which started just a few years later.

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  7. Now how does a good Mormon girl know about the Green Fairy?

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  8. Time traveling in the late Victorian period in Paris.

    Or high school art history. You pick. ;)

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