Happy Halloween from Karl Hoefle — 1955

by Paula Bosse

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Getting ready for the big day, polishing her broom… (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

Before Karl Hoefle entered the consciousness of most Dallasites with his fun phone book covers, he was a hard-working commercial artist. This 1955 Halloween-themed drawing was done for a magazine cover, and, like those phone book covers, he rewards the observant viewer with lots of little jokes. It might help to zoom in and look at some of the details.

The first one is a little fuzzy, but the calendar is from the A-1 Witchcraft Supply House: “Everything for the discriminating witch. See the all-new ’56 jet broom with ‘floating ride.'”

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The witch has some handy-dandy Bonson’s Broom Polish (“with added anti-sliver compound”).

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Her bookshelf contains works such as My Ghoul in Life, the Encyclopedia of Witchcraft (Standard Revised Edition), and Haunting Melodies. And the smiling ghost portrait adds a nice homey touch.

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A crumpled-up note on the floor reads “Call Merlin.”

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Mice are scaring each other, and the V8 Jet Broom appears to be revving.

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Thank you, Karl!

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Happy Halloween!

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Sources & Notes

This illustration by Karl Hoefle was drawn for the September-October, 1955 issue of Among Ourselves, a local publication for the Pollock Paper Corporation Employees. I found this image in an old post on the website of the fab establishment in Lakewood, Curiosities. The post from 2014 is here — it includes two more Among Ourselves covers by Hoefle.

I’ve written only one Karl Hoefle post so far: “1971 Yellow Pages Cover: SMU Gets the Karl Hoefle Treatment,” here.

More Halloween posts can be found here.

All pictures are larger when clicked/tapped.

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Copyright © 2018 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.