ATTENTION TWINKIE LOVERS!! . . . the next Twinkie you eat might be your last! In case you haven’t heard, Hostess Brands filed for bankruptcy this week. That means all your favorite treats (Twinkies, Sno Balls, Ho Hos, and Ding Dongs, to name a few) may soon be a thing of the past. Here are some Hostess Treats that already cease to exist. Do you remember any of them?

Hostess Chocolate Cupcakes, 1928 Vintage Ad:

Hostess Zesty Lemon Loaf, 1929 Vintage Ad:

Hostess Devil’s Food Bar, 1929 Vintage Ad:

The snow is finally melting, the birds are singing, and we’re looking forward to Springtime! No more shoveling, no more hauling wood, and no need for six layers of clothing to step outside.

We can finally get back to business. So here we present another one of our most popular vintage ads. The latest and greatest as clicked on by you, our faithful customers.

This time we have a 1945 ad for Dixie Cups featuring a WWII Canteen Hostess. In addition to a regular Dixie Cup, she also holds our favorite . . . the Ice Cream Dixie.

Just a little bit of history on this chilly treat:

Manufactured by The Individual Drinking Cup Company, the Dixie was initially called the Health Kup. The flu epidemic after WWI led more companies to enter the cup-making business, so to set it apart from it’s competitors, the name was changed. In 1919, the Health Kup became the Dixie Cup, named after a line of dolls made by Alfred Schindler’s Dixie Doll Company in New York.

Why would they name a paper cup after some dolls? I couldn’t tell you.

After 1923, an idea came about to merchandise an individual serving of ice cream in a Dixie Cup. The company’s first contracts were with Weed’s Ice Cream Company of Allentown and Carry Ice Cream Company of Washington, D.C. A 5 oz. cup would sell for ten cents. The first experiments were a disaster, but the company soon developed a smaller, more rigid 2 1/2 oz. cup that would not absorb moisture or crumble in the filling process, that would sell for five cents. After that, Mojonnier Brothers, authorities on the engineering of filling devices, created an automatic machine to fill a paper cup with two flavors of ice cream at one time. Ice Cream Dixies earned almost instantaneous consumer acceptance.

So there you have it. The Ice Cream Dixie!

We’ve just started listing some illustrated articles from the 1896 Jubilee Number of “The Dry Goods Economist,” a trade journal that began publishing in the 1850’s. With historical information on the textile industry in America and beyond.

One of our favorites is The History of the Corset, an antique 8 page illustrated article that includes two full page vintage/antique corset ads.

This week we’d like to spotlight one of our most popular vintage ads. Who would have thought that you folks would be yearning to see an elephant wearing pants. But according to our stats, many of you do. So without further ado, we would like to present our 1963 vintage ad for Sanforized Plus featuring—believe it or not—a photo of an elephant wearing pants! Isn’t he great??

The Horrors of Goitre, vintage ad from 1902. Creepy factor? The look on these poor people’s face says it all!

Halloween is almost here! Here are three of our favorite vintage Halloween themed ads. Have a spook-tacular holiday!

You can find these vintage Halloween themed ads in our store.

Have spent the last couple of weeks adding old articles and antique prints to the site. We know you love the vintage ads. We’ll be adding lots more of those in a few weeks. Stay tuned! In the meantime, check out our other categories for newly listed inventory.

So here’s our latest creepy vintage ad. Dated 1895, this one is sort of a mini-article/ad for the John H. Woodbury Dermatological Institute. The same John H. Woodbury who invented Woodbury Facial Soap, as seen here in this great old 1929 Woodbury Soap Ad.

Here we are told, “Dr, Woodbury does make over faces.” And there are photographs to prove it. For here we see a before and after picture. The first one shows a young woman with “an abnormal Roman nose, and a large wart on her cheek.” The caption for this one reads “Matrimonial prospects very weak.” Ah! This poor woman will most likely not marry because of her big nose and her wart! And then we see the vastly new and improved woman. “Now both disfigurements are gone, and she looks so much like another person that it is almost difficult to believe that both pictures are of the same lady.” And the caption here reads: “Matrimonial prospects above par.” Hooray! Perhaps she shall marry after all! We also learn that ear operations are a specialty and a picture is shown of a gentleman with “projecting ears.” “But for his ears,” we are told, he would have been good looking. Finally we see a photo of boxer Bob Fitzsimmons who sits in the static electric machine getting his semi-weekly treatments. “The electricity passes through his system and increases the circulation, makes the muscles supple, pliable, and hard, and tones up the entire system.” You might think that’s all somewhat creepy. But the creepiest part is this: In 1908, the John H. Woodbury Dermatalogical Institute was brought to court for practicing medicine without a license. In 1911, they filed for bankruptcy protection. The four page John Woodbury ad: A Few Cases in Facial Surgery, is available in our store.

The Volkswagen Beetle and the Volkwagen Bus have become iconic symbols of the 60’s.

Although the beloved, yet updated Beetle (also known as the Bug) is still being produced today, German production of the VW Bus with split-front windows (nicknamed the Splittie) ceased production in 1967. The bus could hold many people plus their belongings, and therefore was the ultimate transportation for the hippie counterculture, used in transporting them to concerts and anti-war rallies. The bus, in fact, was often called the hippiemobile. They were often seen with hand-painted peace signs or psychedelic murals.

At the end of the 1950’s, the ad firm of Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) was handed a difficult task in being asked to create a campaign for the Volkswagen. It was, after all, a small car at a time when larger, family style cars were all the rage. It was considered unattractive looking; even — dare we say it — ugly, by many. Not to mention that it was manufactured in Germany at a plant built by the Nazis only 15 years after WWII had ended.

But lo and behold, they managed to come up with an extremely clever but simple ad campaign that quickly won the hearts of Americans and created tremendous brand loyalty.

Both the Beetle and the Bus had one of the most prolific and recognizable ad campaigns of the 1960’s. These ads live on as a part of history. We’ve posted some of our favorites here. We also have a large selection of vintage VW Beetle and VW Bus ads available in our store.

Here’s our first creepy ad of the month. This one is a contest ad.

Clara Kimball Young was one of the first real stars of the Silent Screen era. In 1919, she starred in the popular film “Eyes of Youth.”

This ad is undated, but I’m guessing it appeared as a result of that movie. It’s a photo of a young Ms. Young (no pun intended) with her eyes missing. Pretty creepy, huh? The text reads: “Clara Kimball Young’s eyes are the most distinctive of any screen artist’s, and it should not be difficult to draw them.” It goes on to say that the facial expression doesn’t matter. The winner will be the one who comes closest to the likeness of Miss Young’s eyes.

Are they kiddin’ me? Even someone with an art background (which I happen to have) would have a hard time with this.

Strange contest. But most of all . . . just plain creepy.