Here Ann Blyth is promoting Whitman's Sampler as well as her current film All the Brothers Were Valiant, and it is 1953. The image of Ann is an illustration rather than a photograph; hand-drawn illustrations were commonly used in print ads of the day, which is part of why advertising from this period seems so stylish and glamourized. Despite the very glamorous studio photography of the era, it seems there was something even more effective in the use of what was then termed commercial art: It focused the image towards message of the product. And the product is the star; the Hollywood star is the supporting player.
We can find images of Hollywood stars advertising an array of products from those decades, from cigarettes to soup. Were they effective? Did sales soar? Perhaps. These kinds of print ads are like looking through a scrapbook of American pop culture.
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