The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1916-05-30
WINDOW DRESSING
IS REvOLUT|ONIzED
II. T. EBERLE TELLS OF THE ART
AS HE VIEWED THE TRANSIT
TION IN PAST YEARS.
Gives His Experiences of Attempting
to Make a Change Which Was Not
Observation-Disclosures Today.

! When the editor of THE LEADER was
in conversation recently with H. T.
Eberle, the druggist, discussing the
special feature now being published
in this paper of incidents taken from
our files of forty years and twenty
years ago, he expressed himself as
much pleased with the feature, and
told of some of his experiences as a
window dresser in years past
Mr.. Eberle's father was engaged in
the manufacture of soap, but disposed
of his business interests and bought
a drug store on the west side of the
river, installing our present drug
gist, who had just returned from
college, as pharmacist.
The display windows contained GER
tain bottles of perfumes, fancy boxes
of candy, toilet articles, ETC., all placed
in certain positions on a certain kind
and color Of paper, and there the dis
play stood year after year.
! When it became necessary to clean
the windows, all articles were re-
moved, the windows washed, the bot
ties and boxes cleaned, new paper was
Iplaced and each article was returned to
exactly the position it had always
occupied.
On one occasion Mr. Eberle con-
ceived the idea that a change would
not be amiss, and when cleaning time
arrived he placed a few different ar
ticles in the window and rearranged
the display generally according to his
ideas of the more artistic. When his
father went to the store and discovered
the change the whole window had to
be arranged as formerly, no changes
being permitted.
This was not popularity of this
one store, for in those days all mer-
chants dressed their display windows
in pretty much the same manner year
after year, believing that a fixed dis
play would impress itself OH the pub
lie mind and induce trade.
In the same conversation Mr.. Eberle
told Of dry goods merchant who
used a box to display a bolt of goods
on in front of his store. The box was
covered with red calico, and when this
material would become faded and not
Iappeal to the merchants fancy he
would put on another covering of red
calico, and that box always in the
same spot, had it's covering of red
calico year in and year out.
Mr.. Eberle could not help remark
ing the change which has taken place
in window dressing in the years which
have passed. No progressive mer-
chant in these days underestimates
his display windows as an advertising
medium. Builders know this, and
when planning a store room the win
dOWs are part of the artistic plans
of construction, and the money in
vested in them is no small part of the
cost. The merchant employs every
means to display his wares to the most
advantage, looking always to the ar
tistic, and is a subscriber to maya
zines devoted exclusively to window
dressing. Besides this the wholesale
dealers and manufacturers furnish lit
erature offering many helpful sug-
gestions which the merchant gladly
accepts.
THE LEADERS GA Glimpse Into the
Past" of forty and twenty years ago
often bring forth comments from our
citizens which show a high apprecia-
ton of their value, and not infrequent-
ly lead to explaining in detail some
local condition much like Mr. Eberle's
experiences with window trimming,
changed condition which we in this
day hail as for the better, but also
present subjects of real historical value
Articles of this nature can be ex-
pected to appear in THE LEADER from
time to time.