The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-20
MENU CARD DESIGNERS.
An Occupation for Women Artists.
Some Interesting Tricks of the
TrndeN

some Interesting Tricks of tn.
Trade
From the New York Evening Post
Many women who are skilful with tho
pen, pencil and brush make a fair liveli-
hood in designing menu cards for hotels,
restaurants and steamships. The trade
varies with each customer; one class BUYS
a design and uses it for long time until
IL believes that the customers have grown
weary, when it adopts a second. Another
class changes its designs at intervals; a
third has set of designs, one for each
day of the week, or one for each week
of the month, while a fourth and most
eXtravagant wish handmade designs two
and three times a week. One of the de-
signers has gone step fSrther than the
rest and makes a speciality of getting I'D
railway menu cards for occasions. She
is SO skiful that she practically orders
the meal of which the card is the guide.
She has comD.Ied a series of quotations
from the poets and prose writer's, which
fit different dishes, wines, coffee and CT
gars, and another collection which dan
be applied to places of interest, from a
railway officials or tourists point of
view. Each card is drawn upon a large
scale, reduced by photography to plate.
from which as many cards are printed as
are required This number is far in ex-
cess of those actually used on the train,
According to the artist, IAN attractive
card is souvenir, of which every traveller
wants copy for himself or herself, and
as many more for friends and kindred az
he or she can obtain from a good natured
waiter or steward One of my designs
was for a Pacific railway company, and
of it more than 100000 copies were print
ed never regarded it as being particu-
larly good, but -on the contrary thought
it too conventional. 1t had a grizzly, a
buffalo, a prairie dog, a mountain lion.
Rocky mountain trout and a few other
Western fishes as decorative forms and
a suggestion of Pixies Peak and other
famous SUBMITS as distant background.
There was, of course, an Indian in one
corner, and microscopic cowboy in full
sallop in another. 1t would be difficult
TO get up anything illustra tive of West
ern life without running in these
incidents. The details must have
been arranged so as to catch the pub
ular eye. Every passenger kept his card.
and at least half begged the steward for
others as souvenirs. The officer with
whom / had business relations laughed
when | asked him if he wanted another
des gn of the same sort, and said that he
thought one of the kind was enough and
that the next one should be a model OF
simplicity and unattractivene s More pro-
htable than these regular cards are those
employed for special occasions. Official
excursions and the receptions to distin-
guish guests usually bring in orders for
special menu cards. Here we seldom re-
sort to photogravure. In the simplest
styles the written matter is printed, and
the decorations applied by hand. Some
times l design a plate from which the
cards are printed, and the coloring is then
put in separately. This applies to compO-
sitions in which we have national flags,
fower-pieces, and gayly dressed person
ages. An Oregon card had on it an Indian
on horseback moving through a forest. It
would have been sombre but for the col
Oring of his blanket and the multitude
of flowers l put along his trail.
Another design which made quite
hit was that of a locomotive. which OPEN
ed. and had inside the bill of fare. Still
another on which ! rather prided myself
was a train snow-bound, the locomotive
being in the center foreground. and the
last cars being almost invisible in the
storm. It. made a person cold to look at
it, and was therefore very appropriate IN
July and August, when it was used upon
the train tables There is a tendency in
our business to combine beauty and ad-
vertising. When 1 draw train l must
have on the cars the name of the com
pany which employs me. LII ketch lahU
scape 1t must be labelled some point
reached only by the company's road. Ore
gon and Washington roads will object
strongly to pictures of Colorado canons
or Of Arizona cactus plains. On the other
hand, the Southern lines would be dis
gused with Northern cascades ana plhs
forests. ! know of one railway man out
West who thinks that his road should
have copyright of all yucca palms, ana
another who feels affronted If rival cor
poration employs a gila monster or
banana plantation in its posters
Designing these cards pays very wen
If you have enough orders, The prices
range from $25 upwards. and for SCI Q.
fifty hand-painted cards I once received
$3.50 The business would be better ous
for the competition of photographers anu
romo-lithographers These | must say
do admirable work. and do II for prices
with which no card designer can COM
pete"