Tuesday’s ad is for Miller High Life, from 1960. In this ad, one of a series featuring a nearly black and white ad, with only the beer in color, and the same man engaged in various activities. This time, he’s playing pool, excuse me, billiards, while wearing a tuxedo. He’s eyeing his next shot, and holding a beer in his hand. This is the last one of this series of ads I was able to find. There may be others, but these are the only ones I found. I also discovered that they were all created by an Australian illustrator named John McCormick at Kling Studios in Chicago. McCormick created the ads using a technique known as scratchboard, which is “both a medium, and an illustrative technique using sharp knives and tools for etching into a thin layer of white China clay that is coated with black India ink.” Uncle Ron was an intern at the studio in 1954 and met McCormick while he was there, and tells the story in his Uncle Ron’s Blog. Unfortunately it’s the only information I could find at all about McCormick’s amazing art.
And while I couldn’t find an image of the entire ad larger then the one above, I did find a larger detail of part of the ad centering on the man in black.
Uncle Ron misspelled his name, it should be John McCormack.
Thanks for that, but I can’t find any information by that spelling either. There was apparently a famous singer by that name, but nothing I can find about an illustrator. Do you have any source material you can share? Thanks.
I did a Google search for John McCormack Illustrator and clicked under Images where I found a link to a georgeladas.blogspot.com post for September 9, 2009 Improve your drawing – Part 1. It shows the scratchboard of Joseph Morgan Henninger.
The original “Most Interesting Man in the World”!
Definitely the singer McCormack – I own an old 78 (Victor label; handed down from my mom) from the 20’s. Side A is “When Irish Eyes Smiling”; B is “Wearin’g of the Green” (which has anti-Brit political lyrics).
Gents,
The artist was John Patrick McCormack born in Melbourne Australia in 1921and went to the USA at the end of WW2 where he had been in the Australian Army and then was with the American Red Cross in New Guinea.
He was a brilliant artist and was a master at Scraper Board (or scratch board as some called it). He did a series of about twelve similar adds for Miller High Life from about 1958 to 1962.
He was prolific in the black and white advertising world as that format transferred so well into print medium. He did work for Parker Pen, Pabst beer, Old Forrester, Omega Watches and many more but lost favour when the “Crazy artist” in him had some agencies drop him. He was a great friend and drinking buddy with Hadden Sunbloom who’s Santa pictures are still used by Coca Cola every Christmas.
He returned to Australia with his family (my mother, two brothers and one sister) in 1963 where he found his previous position in the advertising world was not to continue and did some very good work in that time but health got him and he died of cancer in January 1980.
If you would like any other details and other artworks I would be happy to oblige. Dad was a genuine genius and madman all at the same time but also my loving generous Dad.
Thanks for your interest,
Mike McCormack
Son of John McCormack