Click below for photos on FLICKR
Ghost Signs
jeanne m elliott
Ghost Signs - Advertising's Apparitions
Faded Advertisements
Ghost signs are faded advertisements that, in the United States, were painted on buildings primarily from the late 1800's through the mid 1950's. While some advertisements were painted on barns, as was the case of the prolifically painted Pouch Tobacco ads, brick was a preferred medium. Unlike wood, the paint absorbed well and had greater longevity on brick.
Ghost signs are represented by simple black and white block letters as well as bright complex designs. Across the nation corporate products such as Coca Cola, Wrigley's Gum, and Owl Cigars can still be seen as well as fading ads for local and regional products or businesses that have long been closed. Traversing the downtown area of cities and towns will reveal faded brick advertisements in alleyways, high on the buildings' facia and along their sides at eye's view. Sometimes, as fate might have it, when a building has to be torn down a ghost sign is revealed on the adjacent wall as it was in Butte Montana in late 2011. Look at my blog see part of this recently re-discovered sign advertising Sweet Caporal Cigarettes.
Ghost signs are represented by simple black and white block letters as well as bright complex designs. Across the nation corporate products such as Coca Cola, Wrigley's Gum, and Owl Cigars can still be seen as well as fading ads for local and regional products or businesses that have long been closed. Traversing the downtown area of cities and towns will reveal faded brick advertisements in alleyways, high on the buildings' facia and along their sides at eye's view. Sometimes, as fate might have it, when a building has to be torn down a ghost sign is revealed on the adjacent wall as it was in Butte Montana in late 2011. Look at my blog see part of this recently re-discovered sign advertising Sweet Caporal Cigarettes.
Wall Dogs
The men who painted wall signs were called "Wall Dogs." Some say the name came from how hard they worked. Wall dogs were frequently expected to put up a sign a day and they spent many hours high on a building without the benefit of modern scaffolding or safety gear. Some wall dogs were primarily sign painters and moved where the work took them; others did general painting and painted the sides of building as part of their employment with a paint company. Others were fine art painters picking up work as needed to make a living. Their signatures can occasionally be found in a corner of the ad.
With the advent of billboards for painted signs diminished and the craft died a slow death. Fortunately, a contingent of passionate "modern day Wall Dogs" are perfecting their work. In 2010 "The Ritual Project" documented the step by step production of painting a Stella Artois ad on the side of a New York City building. A fantastic video "Up There" resulted which will let you live for a few minutes through the Wall Dog's eyes from on high.
Owner Signs and Privilege Signs
Painted advertisements of that time period fell into two categories: Those referred to as "owner signs" which were sponsored by the owner of an establishment or building to represent their product or business name and those called "privilege signs" which were advertisements supported by national companies such as Owl Cigars.
The sponsors of privilege signs typically hired individuals to paint their images and gave the business owners a smaller credit on the wall for allowing them to use the surface of their building. The privilege sign below, found in Drummond, Montana, where rodeos are a part of the community, is likely sponsored by Lee Rider for their jeans in the late 1940's. The beneficiary of the advertisement is Greany's Dry Good Store, who sold the pants.
Copyright Jeanne M Elliott
The black and white sign below identifying the establishment as the Mueller Hotel and Milwaukee Tavern has a sign below in faded black and white. It appears to be a graphic but unless an old photo of the building is recovered, or someone's descendant reveals what it said, it will go forward as the apparition it is today.
Copyright Jeanne M Elliott