Christmas Card from the 1950s

Christmas CardThe boys of Bliley's were an outgoing group. The wining and dining of customers at nightclubs was a common practice with plenty of good cigars. The usual Christmas card often featured humorous cartoons of people at work that were perfectly acceptable to all of their customers and employees.

The Christmas card featured on this page was published by the Brown & Bigelow company of Saint Paul, Minnesota. For over 30 years, the Brown & Bigelow Company published greeting cards featuring the pin-up art produced by famed artist, Gil Elvgren (1914­1980). Elvgren created commercial art for calenders, cards and advertising for such notables as Coca-Cola, McCall's, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and Woman's Home Companion. His biography and a nice collection of his varied work is available on the Web on The Gil Elvgren Web Site.

Elvgren's pin-up artwork would be considered modest by today's standards, but was welcome anywhere "real men" hung out or worked in the 1950s!

VIEWS OF THE CARD

The card has two cut-outs on the front that let the Santa Claus and the ribboned box show through. It measures approximately 6" x 8". And yes, the color of the cover has a magenta tint and the inside background is teal.

Outside Composite Thumb

OUTSIDE OF CARD

< Low-Rez (11K) 442 x 293

< High-Rez (33K) 884 x 586


INSIDE OF CARD

Low-Rez (18K) 442 x 293 >

High-Rez (44K) 884 x 586 >

Inside Composite Thumb