Christmas advertising through the years

In the spirit of the season, I went hunting interesting Christimas ads that have appeared in the Missourian over the years.

The first one that caught my eye had a rather glaring typo:

I've always been impressed with advertisements for the Buckner-Ragsdale Co., but clearly someone dropped the ball on this one. Still, at 50 cents apiece, I might be tempted to buy an "ite" or two.

Like the ad above, the following appeared in a 1917 edition of The Daily Republican (later renamed the Southeast Missourian). I like this one because it reflects the newness of electricity. Lighting Christmas trees with electric lights was a safety issue. In earlier times, trees were lit with candles.

I thought I would find tons of advertisements for children's toys and apparel. I was surprised to find that this wasn't the case. Most of the display ads in the Missourian were geared to adults and included ads for tobacco products, automobiles, adult clothing and financial institutions. There were also a lot of ads for shoe stores:

I'm not sure what kind of dance the three women are doing around that Christmas tree, but I'm guessing they're wearing Kayser "Mir-O-Kleers" nylons!

This ad from 1943 clearly illustrates the the time period:

Prominent in the ad is the name John Gilbert Sieck, who "made the supreme sacrifice" in World War II. Ensign Sieck, known as "Gib," was killed in an airplane crash on Nov. 10, 1943,  at Surinam (Dutch Guiana), just a month before this ad appeared in the Missourian.

Jumping ahead, I found that Santa Claus was taking flying lessons from Cape Central Airways at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport in 1972:

Finally, I'd like to offer my favorite ad. It was printed in The Republican in 1913.

Just like in the ad, I hope that all the "youngsters under ninety-nine" who are reading this blog have a very merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!