Monumental

Designed in Moose, Wyoming: 1988—

Little can be added, except for a bit closer look—

Yes: it is possible to make the big heads look even freakier than they already did...

The original price tag—just to add another medium, along with sculpture and needlework.

And perhaps to add another layer of kitsch, in case more was needed.

Sew or Save?

The lithography and country of origin make this pre-World War II: from the 1930s at the latest, though I expect it was made earlier.

Although this type of button was rather workaday, the card seems like a souvenir. The shape is striking, and the design gets in Mt. Fuji...

...torii gate and shrine...

...and Buddhist temple motifs.

I can't decide if the card was originally diamond-shaped. Maybe the manufacturer had the horizontal edges cut to taper, or maybe that was done later, by a purchaser (American shop-keeper?) The taper does look a bit more uneven than I would expect, if it was done when the card was made.

Even if Japan used to export a lot of pearl buttons, early 20th century cards are usually rectangular. The main card decoration I've seen before has been either label art, or the man's shirt theme:

More examples.

And a couple of nice litho cards here.

Brought To You By...

Other side—

Clever 1990 move, following Philip Morris' previous sponsorship of "smokers' rights" campaigns. That is, the company promoted such things in public, while acting behind the scenes to stifle speech against its carcinogenic products.

It needs subscription or library access, but the Journal of the National Cancer Institute headlined its article, "Philip Morris and National Archives Light Up Bill of Rights." And the piece reprinted this, by the great Herblock—

When anti-smoking groups objected, the company claimed—

"The campaign has nothing to do with cigarettes. It's about the celebration of the Bill of Rights," Guy L. Smith, vice president of corporate affairs for Philip Morris, said today.

"We're just sponsoring the messages, and the Archives is helping us to make sure they're historically accurate."

Smith added that as of this morning, 200,056 people had requested a copy of the Bill of Rights offered by Philip Morris.

"The Bill of Rights belongs to everybody," said Smith, likening his company's sponsorship of the campaign to that of American Express raising money to refurbish the Statue of Liberty.

Along with corporate image cleansing, there may have been an attempt at subliminal historic endorsement. As Howard Wolinsky noted in this article for the American Council on Science and Health, those Founders from Virginia were tobacco growers.

Wolinsky saw the Bill of Rights tour as a move around the 1971 ban on TV cigarette ads: tour sponsorship advertised the Philip Morris corporate brand, sans Surgeon General's warning. "Most important," wrote Wolinsky, was that

... Philip Morris has sullied our Bill of Rights. For years, it has cried out for its own rights to free speech in advertising, while depriving others of their rights by selling them a product that addicts, disables, and kills.

ACSH added this editorial note—

As Mr. Wolinsky reminds us, the Bill of Rights, in which Philip Morris is now wrapping itself, guarantees our right to free speech. But, as the just completed ACSH survey on the coverage of cigarette dangers by U.S. magazines indicates, the advertising by companies such as Philip Morris clearly has chilled the right of free speech when it comes to discussing the health risks of smoking.

"Bill of Rights For Rent," said NYT op-ed.

Oh well: late in the last century it was for rent; by now, it's reduced to pretty much a throwaway (with one big exception).

Though it is true that Amendment One has recently been found useful for buying elections.

Today, the booklet's surface sincerity about the meaning and importance of each Amendment seems almost as quaint as the facsimile within ("copy mailed on request"):

The initial section present 142 of the "200 Facts" in question and answer format. These include a capsule history of the Constitutional Convention and the writing and ratification of amendments (Facts 1–39); "WHAT IS IN THE BILL OF RIGHTS?" (40–124); "WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS?" 125–142).

These are followed by sections on Supreme Court decisions, and "People Who Made A Difference." The latter starts with James Madison, and ends with Martin Luther King, Jr. (whose name had to be corrected in a booklet insert, to add the "Jr."}. There are nods to Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, and Clarence Darrow. The latter's blurb ("His famous cases include the trial of Eugene v. Debs...") also had to be corrected in the insert: "Fact 170 refers to the labor leader Eugene Victor Debs."

Nothing about less famous names, some of whose cases are very much about the Bill of Rights.

For the booklet's final section, we have the dazzling display of money and the latest technology—

ON THE ROAD WITH THE BILL OF RIGHTS
V.I.P. TREATMENT OF A PRICELESS DOCUMENT
... Tour personnel are backed by state-of-the-art security equipment, including dual-tech motion detectors, satellite communications, and the latest in sophisticated camera equipment.
... The document's spectacular lighting and audio/visual effects are made possible by over 600 automatic functions fed by computer-controlled laser disc players and hig-definition projectors.
... The Bill of Rights Tour visits each city in an armored, bullet-proof, six-wheel, custom-made van that projects a museum-like environment, even when on the road.
... The living record of the thoughts of visitors to the exhibit will be made possible through an experimental video kiosk — the first of its kind.

Back to that inserted "Update"—

It has been nearly a year since we first wrote this Fact book. In that time, the United States Supreme court has decided a number of important cases regarding the Bill of Rights. We have also received comments and suggestions from many readers of the Fact Book. ...
...

We received a number of letters regarding the meaning of the Second Amendment...

Uh, yeah: I'll just bet they did... The NRA had been riling up the membership, ever since the "paranoid Libertarians' hostile takeover" of the organization in the late '70s, as recounted here. Earlier in the twentieth century the NRA had actually promoted gun control, before its ultimate direction—

The NRA's fabricated but escalating view of the Second Amendment was ridiculed by former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger—a conservative appointed by President Richard Nixon—in a PBS Newshour interview in 1991, where he called it "one of the greatest pieces of fraud—I repeat the word 'fraud'—on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime."

Despite Philip Morris' ad campaign, a poll of the time found only 33% of Americans could identify the Bill of Rights.

Another twenty years, another survey: "Forty-four percent were unable to define the Bill of Rights."

But who needs civic education, anyway? Inquiring minds now have the Internet, for the questions of real import—

i have an original copy of the bill of rights. the paperwork with it says it is a 200th anniv copy. phillip morris sent it from 2020 pennsilvania ave. what is it worth??

Puzzling

Nothing says "mail some fun today"...

...like a painting by Max Beckmann.

Not that this product offers any attribution, but the artist's style and imagery are unmistakable. A bit of image searching identified the painting: Begin the Beguine (1946), at the University of Michigan Museum of Art.

The museum's site attributes the painting:

Max Beckmann
Netherlands, 1884–1950

Although Beckman painted this while living in Amsterdam, that's no excuse for the bad history—not when the artist and his work are inextricably identified with Germany. The influence of German Gothic painting is often noted of his work, especially in the triptychs. "A German Goya," says one critic, who adds, "The triptychs are like medieval passion plays, although the moral is almost always unclear in Beckmann's work."

There was also that little business about "degenerate art": the Nazis held up Beckmann's work as a prime example, confiscating it from museums and firing the painter from his faculty post. As Hitler broadcast a rant against modern art, just prior to opening of the Entartete Kunst exhibit, Beckmann left immediately for Amsterdam.

Begin the Beguine was among the many paintings he did in the city where he and his wife were forced to remain for a decade, their entry to the US denied until 1947. Beckmann died in New York at the end of 1950.

And now: back to our product.

Step 1. Write stilted message:

Dear Jennifer,
I thought I would send you a greeting on this new and innovative product that is called The Original Puzzlegram and I think it is going to be a huge success. It is so much fun to send I can just imagine how exiting it is to receive in the mail. I know you will enjoy the puzzle over and over again. I picked this cute image especially for you. I hope to hear from you soon...
The Original Puzzlegram

I found some other TOP images; the generic "cute image" pitch does fit them, as they are of this genre:

Also found this:

This seems to have been done by a competing "original puzzlegram" publisher in Rockville, MD.

But whoever wanted to claim being there first with a "new and innovative product": these folks care to differ.

Genius at Work

More, from my 1980s frequenting of Japanese school supply departments and stationery stores—

Tracing paper pad

Get started: just pull out a sheet, and lay over this—

It's easy to be an artist—and, a genius ("tensai")...

Workers of the World

When did this bit of re-branding take hold? Before today, I never knew the International Workers' Day ignored in the US had become "College Decision Day."

I have a feeling that for much of a generation, it will turn out to be "National False Expectations Day," considering student debt, a "jobless economy," and the like.

Elsewhere...

No idea of the title, author, or publication date of this item. Front matter is exclusively in the same language as the cover. Maybe it's Malayalam, for Kerala?

The flag seems to be the banner of the Communist Party of India(Marxist).

Not to be confused with this Communist Party of India.

Plush

Two exposures do one pillow make—

They also double the fluffy kitten goodness: same kitty, two poses. The only difference is that on the front cover (right), the poor thing is missing a bit of ear because I tried to remove an annoyingly placed price sticker.

Inside this 1971 booklet, a very '70s bentwood and wicker bench is the main photo model for assorted handiwork.

I do like this other period approach, of making a Modern Design cozy—