Louis Szalay Advertising Art Collection
name: label: Creator
content: Szalay, Louis, 1911- (art director)
label: Names
content: Blue Bonnet
label: Names
content: Colgate Company
label: Names
content: Palmolive Company
label: Names
content: RCA
label: Names
content: Ted Bates & Co.
label: Names
content: Viceroy
topic: label: Topic
content: advertising
label: Topic
content: Art directors
label: Topic
content: Commercial art
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Louis Szalay, June 1991.
creator: label: Creator
content: Szalay, Louis, 1911- (art director)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Louis Szalay Advertising Art Collection
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Trained as an artist, Mr. Szalay began his career in 1931 as an assistant art director at J. Walter Thompson, a Philadelphia-based advertising agency. In 1958 he moved to Ted Bates and Company on Fifth Avenue, New York, where he worked as Studio Manager (or Bull Pen Manager). In the early 1960s he was promoted to Manager of the Art Department, where he was responsible for the Art Directors, the Art Department staff and the Studio. At that time the Bull Pen consisted of about 25 illustrators, letterers, and mechanical men who pieced together the work of the illustrators and letterers. Painted in tempera or water color, with handlettered copy, the resulting comprehensives are nearly as fine in their execution as the final printed ads, and were used to pitch the account to the client. Those ultimately used can be identified by the comment, criticism, and authorization notations in the margins. By 1967, management at Ted Bates & Co. had determined that the ad comps system was too costly, and switched to the use of art director's roughs -- rough conceptual sketches executed in magic marker. At the same time, the account management system was restructured, with creatives and artists assigned to individual accounts instead of receiving their assignments through the Art Department Manager. Mr. Szalay retired from Ted Bates & Co. in 1968.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Cubic feet (3 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1963-1968.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0412
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Comprehensives
label: Type
content: Layouts, page
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Divided into 2 series.

Series 1: Advertising Comprehensives, circa 1965

Series 2; Art Directors' Rough Layouts, 1966-1967
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: This collection was processed by Mimi L. Minnick, archivist.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Comprehensives
label: Genre/Form
content: Layouts, page
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Original artwork produced under Mr. Szalay's supervision as Art Department Manager at Ted Bates & Co., 1965-1967. 

Series 1 consists of 36 comprehensives or "ad comps", circa  1965. Original artwork and mechanicals created for the Blue Bonnet margarine account make up the largest part of the collection, which also includes original artwork and mechanicals for Black & White scotch, Schmidt's beer, Palmolive soap, Viceroy cigarettes, Colgate toothpaste, and Colgate Kitchen's prepared foods, a new brand exploratory.

Series 2 includes 32 art director's rough layouts or "roughs" for clients including Breeze cigarettes (a Brown & Williamson new brand exploratory with menthol and clove flavorings), Blue Bonnet margarine, and RCA televisions, all circa 1966-67.