Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The City

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover New York's Animation Culture

Part of the book series: Palgrave Animation ((PAANI))

  • 207 Accesses

Abstract

In the late 1930s, animation became an increasingly significant element of advertising in department store windows, displays, outdoor signs and exhibitions. This chapter explores how this flurry of “motion minded” activity was creating vivid forms of dramatic and artistic advertising in two of the most prominent areas of New York’s commercial culture: the shopping district on Fifth Avenue and the entertainment district around Times Square and Broadway. In these locations, advertising designers were embracing a new art of motion display, situating animation within the fabric of metropolitan life and exploring the potentials of animated advertising. From debates over the acceptable use of motion in Fifth Avenue shop windows to publicity which heralded the intermedial qualities of animated billboards in Times Square, animated advertisements and displays became a lively subject of creative and cultural interest.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • “5th Ave. Assn. Trying to Set Example in Stand on Windows.” Women’s Wear Daily, April 27, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • “5th Ave. Stores Seen Not Foregoing Motion Windows.” Women’s Wear Daily, April 26, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • “5th Avenue Group Backs Franklin Simon Display.” New York Herald Tribune, September 12, 1940.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adams, Henry F. “The Relative Importance of Size and Frequency in Forming Associations.” The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods 12, no. 18 (September 1915): 477–491.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Adopt Principle of Stage and Screen to Window Displays Is Advice to Fashion Group: Cosmetic Section Hears Francis D. Gonda at Women’s City Club Yesterday – Elements of Good Showmanship in Displays Pointed Out as Light, Motion, Architectural Quality, Creation of Personality.” Women’s Wear Daily, July 21, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Advertising News: To Show a New-Type Sign.” New York Times, January 20, 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • Argence, Pierre. “A l’exposition de 1937. – Le Palais de la publicité et l’exposition du groupe de la publicité.” Vendre, October 1937.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Avenue Art.” Time, December 5, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bel Geddes, Norman. Horizons. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1932.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger, Meyer. “About New York.” New York Times, December 8, 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger, Meyer. “New Constellations on the Old White Way.” New York Times, March 29, 1936.

    Google Scholar 

  • “‘Blizzard’ in Window of Store to Halt.” New York Times, November 16, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Broadway Blackout.” Popular Mechanics, August 1942.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burdick, Edward Heckler. “Lilliput Outgrows Gulliver.” Popular Mechanics, May 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlu, Jean. “Should a Poster be a Work of Art?” Commercial Art, March 1931.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cochrane, I. L. “American Motion Displays Part 2: Cardboard and Other Small Units.” Display, April 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cochrane, I. L. Motion Display Mechanics. New York: Reeder-Morton Publications, 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cochrane, I. L., ed. Display Animation, 1937: The Year Book of Motion Displays. New York: Reeder-Morton Publications, 1937.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cochrane, I. L., ed. Display Animation, 1938: The Year Book of Motion Displays. New York: Reeder-Morton Publications, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooley, Donald G. “Creating the Spectaculars.” Modern Mechanix, June 1937.

    Google Scholar 

  • Courchinoux, E. “L’Affiche de l’avenir.” Vendre, April 1937.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cowan, Michael. “Advertising and Animation: From the Invisible Hand to Attention Management.” In Films That Sell: Moving Pictures and Advertising, edited by Bo Florin, Nico de Klerk and Patrick Vonderau, 93–113. London: BFI, 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crafton, Donald. Before Mickey: The Animated Film, 1898–1928. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Fifth Ave. ‘Blizzard’ Spurs Winter Trade.” New York Times, November 15, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Fifth Avenue Assn. Amends Policy on Motion in Windows.” Women’s Wear Daily, October 12, 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fifty Years of Fifth. New York: International Press, 1957.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Find Window Displays, Ads Gain in Favor.” Women’s Wear Daily, July 7, 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedberg, Anne. Window Shopping: Cinema and the Postmodern. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaudreault, André and Philippe Marion. “A Medium is Always Born Twice…” Early Popular Visual Culture 3, no. 1 (May 1995): 3–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Genêt. “Letter from Paris.” New Yorker, January 1, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goode, Kenneth and Zenn Kaufman. Profitable Showmanship. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gosling, James, Jr. “Advertising Device.” US patent 2,273,259, filed October 30, 1940, and issued February 17, 1942.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guilds’ Committee for Federal Writers’ Publications, Inc. New York City Guide. New York: Random House, 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hess, Margaret. “Our Show Window Pageant.” New York Times, April 30, 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • “High Window Display Quality Standard Urged.” Women’s Wear Daily, March 1, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahn, E. J., Jr. “Lights, Lights, Lights.” New Yorker, June 7, 1941.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leach, William. Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture. New York: Vintage, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lears, T. Jackson. Fables of Abundance. New York: Basic Books, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Henry. “It’s in the Window.” American Artist, June 1941.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Henry. “Very Latest Broadway Spectacular Employs New Principle Called Epok.” New York World-Telegram, October 12, 1940.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leigh, Douglas. “This Business of Selling Big Spectaculars.” Signs of the Times, December 1934.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leigh, Douglas. “What’s the Idea?” National Sign Journal, October 1940.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leigh, Douglas. Collection. Archives of American Art, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leigh, Douglas. Interview by Fred Allen. Texaco Star Theater, November 13, 1940. http://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/comedy/fred-allen-texaco-star-theater/fred-allen-texaco-star-theater-40-10-16-03-death-takes-a-boniface.

  • “Leigh’s Biggest.” Talk of the Town. New Yorker, August 7, 1937.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Liberal Regime.” Talk of the Town. New Yorker, February 3, 1940.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Lord & Taylor Bells Keep Ringing – By Request.” Women’s Wear Daily, December 6, 1937.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Lord & Taylor Seek New Window Ruling.” New York Times, November 19, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Lord & Taylor Snow Displays Out Tonight, But Not Because of Protest.” Women’s Wear Daily, November 16, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Lord & Taylor’s Fifth Avenue Windows are Dressed in the Cellar.” Life, March 28, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marchand, Roland. Making Way for Modernity, 1920–1940. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marcus, Leonard S. The American Store Window. New York: Whitney Library of Design, 1978.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGinley, Phyllis. “Still Life.” New Yorker, December 3, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Minutes of Meeting of the City Planning Commission.” City Planning Commission, May 29, 1940. http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/about/cpc/19400529.pdf.

  • “Motion in the Avenue.” Talk of the Town. The New Yorker, January 7, 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Motion.” Members’ Bulletin. Fifth Avenue Association, Inc., January 1941, 7.

    Google Scholar 

  • “New ‘Shows’ Presented on Leigh’s Cartoon Displays.” Signs of the Times, March 1940.

    Google Scholar 

  • “New Cartoon Shows Opening on Broadway.” Signs of the Times, January 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • “New Kind of Open-Air Cinema.” The Times, March 9, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Oppose Motion in Windows of 5th Ave. Stores: Recommended by Committee on Standards of Window Decoration Is Adopted by Fifth Ave. Assn. Board.” Women’s Wear Daily, April 25, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • Page, Max. The Creative Destruction of Manhattan, 1900–1940. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, Munn. “Free Show.” Cue, March 19, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Plate Glass Preview.” Cue, July 8, 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pope, Virginia. “‘Tiny’ Style Show Based on Illusion.” New York Times, September 10, 1940.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pratt, Donald L. “Tempest of Controversy Follows Blizzard in Window.” Women’s Wear Daily, November 17, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Premiere Wilson Spectacular.” Signs of the Times, December 1940.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Proposed Curb on City Billboards Modified by Plan Board After a Flurry of Protests.” New York Times, June 28, 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pryor, Thomas M. “Noting the Week’s Screen Events.” New York Times, September 29, 1940.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rader, Karen A. and Victoria E. M. Cain. Life on Display: Revolutionizing U. S. Museums of Science and Natural History in the Twentieth Century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Revolving Bulletins Flash Paris Opening News in Bonwit Teller Windows.” Women’s Wear Daily, February 10, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • “RKO Times Sq. Electric Sign for Fair Ballyhoo.” Variety, March 1, 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, Jack. “L’Étalage et la Vente.” Vendre, September 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rockefeller, Office of the Messrs. Records. Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg, Kurt. “Incandescent Lamp Cinematographic Apparatus.” US patent 2,069,851, filed October 9, 1933, and issued February 9, 1937.

    Google Scholar 

  • “School of Animation to Study Broadway Sign.” New York Post, October 5, 1940.

    Google Scholar 

  • “School Post Box.” New York Post, February 25, 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, Robert P. “The Progressive Exhibit Method.” The American Physics Teacher 7 (June 1939): 165–172.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Sign Cinemas for Five Cities.” Shelf Appeal, February 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Snowstorm in Store.” New York Times, November 13, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Spectacular.” Time, July 18, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starr, Tama and Edward Hayman. Signs and Wonders. New York: Doubleday, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugar, A. L. “Animated Displays.” The Co-Operative Review, September 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Cliff. “Big City Sign.” Mechanix Illustrated, October 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Thirty-Six Spectaculars in One!” Signs of the Times, May 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, Kirsten Moana. “Rainbow Ravine: Colour and Animated Advertising in Times Square.” In The Colour Fantastic, edited by Giovanna Fossati, Victoria Jackson, Bregt Lameris, Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi, Sarah Street and Joshua Yumibe, 163–177. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2018.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Trinity Diorama.” Time, March 15, 1937.

    Google Scholar 

  • Varenne, Gaston. “L’Exposition de l’union des artistes modernes au salon de la lumière.” Art et Décoration, 1935.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Wails of Complaints Heard Above Din of Fifth Ave. Christmas Bells.” Women’s Wear Daily, December 1, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, Danton. “Broadway Cavalcade: The Great White Way.” Daily News, October 4, 1940.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolff, Fred M. “Lighting Animated Displays.” In Display Animation, 1937: The Year Book of Motion Displays, edited by I. L. Cochrane, 215. New York: Reeder-Morton Publications, 1937.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Film and Television, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

    Kristian Moen

Authors
  1. Kristian Moen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kristian Moen .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Moen, K. (2019). The City. In: New York's Animation Culture. Palgrave Animation. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27931-8_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation