Matching Matches

Just for the record, do you have matching matches? Maybe the matches match the record,or perhaps the record matches the matches. Either way, this "match game" is for adults who love a jazzy trumpet tune and having a smoke at the same time. These matching matches truly did double duty, promoting the latest record album and promoting the jazz club where Al (He's the King) Hirt played live shows. Located at 501 Bourbon Street in New Orleans, the club was originally named Dan's Pier 600, for owner Dan Levy, when Hirt recorded his first album Horn A-Plenty in 1962. By 1964, when the record album Cotton Candy was released, the club took the same name as new owner Al Hirt, where cigarettes and records were available at the concession stand. "New Orlean's Greatest Ambassador" began playing trumpet at age 6, and attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music before he recorded hits including "Java", "Cotton Candy", "Sugar Lips", "Fancy Pants" and the Green Hornet TV show theme song. When not appearing at his self-named club, Hirt made appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and peformed the first ever half-time show during Super Bowl I. Hirt owned and played at the club until 1983, and died in 1999. His popularity and jazzy trumpet tunes earned him a statue in Legends Park, just 2 blocks from his Bourbon Street club. For the record, the KC Matchgirl has acquired six album matchcovers but only one matching record.

Undercover Covers

The KC Matchgirl assumes that everyone knows what a matchbook looks like- but over the years, as a collector, she's found a few that are not what they appear to be: 

Take that pale blue one for instance- there's no text, front or back, not a thing that would attract a collector, right? But open it up, and there's a pad of sticky notes inside- a very clever use of the typical matchbook style in an age when disposable lighters are more popular.

Next to it, compliments of Wilber Clark's Desert Inn, is a completely intact mending kit with 6 colors of thread, 2 small white buttons, a needle and a safety pin.  While this one has never been used, it's a handy thing to have, all with the convenience of carrying a matchbook.



The pink matchbook wants to know, 
"How are you?" 

The conversation continues inside: HELLO! How are you doing? I feel fine. It's my introduction- then you can write your name, address, and phone number inside- because you're giving this to someone else!  That's not all- you're also giving them a piece of chocolate shaped like a row of matches.

This sweet idea is a product of Japan, and lists all the ingredients for the chocolate on the back side.

If the person doesn't like chocolate, next you can try the gift of incense- the finest incense- because it's a blend of 7 perfumes. Inside, wrapped in red foil, are 20 incense matches with directions for use. Might come in handy to cover the smell of smoking in someplace you shouldn't be smoking, or smoking something you shouldn't be smoking.

A bigger chocolate? Sweet! Is it shaped like a row of matches? Yes- but it's an eraser, so if you were expecting chocolate, or anything sweet, you're probably disappointed.

Again, this is a novelty product from Japan.












Our final Undercover Cover really looks like a          

package of chocolate- not just any chocolate, but Ghirardelli brand of San Francisco.  This is the good stuff, folks, not some novelty chocolate made in Japan.

Now the KC Matchgirl opens the cover with anticipation....and it's...matches.

Not even a coupon for free chocolate- or save 50 cents- just matches.





Notes: Sticky note matchbook by Writersblok ; mending kit, Silver Dollar Sales Co.; chocolate, The Matchbook Choco; incense, Thomas Page Corp.; eraser, Leadworks; Ghirardelli matches,Walter Chibbins Co.

HoJo A Go-Go

New England cupola and weathervane? Check. Vivid orange roof? Check. Neon sign outlining Simple Simon and The Pieman? Check. Add 28 flavors of ice cream and fried clam strips and you have Howard Johnson's recipe for his "Landmark for hungry Americans".

Howard Johnson's empire of restaurants and motor hotels began in 1925 with the purchase of a drug store and soda fountain, where he developed his 28 ice cream flavors. He took his ice cream recipe, added clam strips along with other New England favorites, and opened his first restaurant  in a quaint Colonial building in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1929.

To expand his first location, he offered franchises- as long as he could design the building and supply the restaurant with his food products. Within 6 years, there were 130 locations bearing his name.

By 1948, Johnson had hired architect Russell Nims to design a completely modern restaurant, with large glass windows, vivid colors, and built near highway interchanges that would attract travelers. As a nod to the original Colonial style, Nims retained and updated the roof cupola and weathervane.

Nims was back at the drawing board to design a "Landmark for sleepy Americans" that would be adjacent to the restaurant locations. The first Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge opened in Savannah, Georgia in 1954, and the motel gatehouse's iconic angular roofline would be repeated in other cities across the nation.

The Johnson family sold the franchise, which included 1,040 restaurants and 540 motels, to British Co. in 1979.  The new owners were not so interested in operating restaurants and began closing or selling them off. Franchise owners could still operate under the Howard Johnson's name but no new franchises would be offered.  Today, Howard Johnson motels are owned by Wyndham, which also owns Travelodge. (See "You're Getting Sleepy", Jan. 2017)

The franchise empire that started with one restaurant 90 years ago is back to one location, in Lake George, New York and depends on the nostalgia of travelers that remember dining under the orange roof.






Note:  This is just a small selection of a large variety of matchbooks produced to promote the Howard Johnson's franchise. All covers pictured date from the mid-1950's to mid 1960's.

Salt of the Earth

Pass the shaker of white gold please...or maybe you just call it salt when you season your food.  But next to gold, salt is one of the Earth's most valuable minerals, for its variety of uses.

America's largest manufacturer and distributor of a wide variety of salts, Morton was founded in Chicago in 1848 by Chicago businessman Richard Alonzo. This new company sold Ondonaga Salt as Richmond & Co. After his partner acquired more of the company, the name changed to Joy Morton & Co. in 1889.  The name changed once again to the Morton Salt Company, when it began manufacturing the salt it sold, in 1910.

A year later, Morton was the first manufacturer to add magnesium carbonite (an anti-caking agent) to create a free-flowing salt. This revolutionary development was due to the fact that salt absorbs humidity, making table salt difficult to pour in damp conditions.

While early advertisements included lengthy descriptions of the advantages of free-flowing salt, the now famous slogan, "When it rains, it pours", didn't appear until 1914. New York advertising agency N.W. Ayers modified the old proverb and then paired 
it with a young girl holding an umbrella- her container of salt freely flowing behind her.

Nearly every decade since, this salt-spilling girl has been updated with the latest styles, and the color yellow was added to the familiar blue and white round container in 1941.  The last update occurred in 1968, so the current image of this always nameless girl, with her yellow dress, shoes, and umbrella handle, has been an icon for several generations.

To celebrate her 100th birthday in 2015, the Umbrella Girl was re-drawn to simplify her details and better fit an updated "Morton Salt" word mark. While the slight change made headlines a few years back, most of us barely noticed- though we sure would be shocked if she left her umbrella at home and carried her salt so it wouldn't spill.

More shocking would be to buy a container of salt for 10 cents-

Note:  This matchbook shows the Umbrella Girl as she looked between 1921 and 1933. Note the package reads "Morton's Salt" not Morton Salt, as it's been known for years.

In(ner) Springs We Trust

Can't sleep?  Are you tossing and turning all night on your old mattress- that was never engineered for comfort or durability?

What you need, my sleepless friend, is a mattress powered by inner springs for firmer support AND advertised in Today's Health magazine.The trademarked Poweramic (that's Power-a-mic, not Powermatic) springs will have you sleeping like a Greek goddess with nary a toss or turn.

Manufactured right here in the KC Matchgirl's home state, Poweramic springs were a product of the Steadley Company of Carthage, Missouri. Founded in 1928, Kent Steadley (1889-1960) purchased the Carthage Superior Spring Bed Manufacturing Co. and shortly shortened the name. Steadley sprang from his position as president of his father's Carthage Marble Co., landing softly before expanding the product line to include not only inner spring units, but sofa-bed construction, hospital units, Hollywood bed frames, and Sinuous-type springs.

Despite his success in the bedding and furniture industry, Steadley became more well-known to Carthage residents after his retirement. Having sold his company in 1957, to the Lehigh Valley Coal Corp. of Willmington, Delaware, he and his wife Mary created the Steadley Memorial Trust.  Annually since 1959, the trust has awarded millions to assist with the "well-being of mankind and the general welfare of the community".

Until 1996, the company continued to carry the Steadley name. Leggett & Platt, a rival mattress manufacturer founded in Carthage in 1883, was finally able to absorb their local competitor. The Steadley name carries on through the annual trust awards and Steadley Elementary- where surely, no sleeping is allowed.

Note: The Steadley Company's factory was located at No.1 River Road, but when Leggett & Platt took over the facility, the name was changed to Leggett Road.  The matchbook dates from the early 1960's.

On The Move

Whether you're "Movin' On Up" like the Jeffersons, "Movin' Out" like Billy Joel, or even "Moving Right Along" like The Muppets, any move from here to there is a pivotal moment in life.

For philluminists (serious matchbook collectors) the pivotal moment was when the match striker was moved from the front of the cover to the back. While the industries involved did so for improved safety, the necessary change became the ballywick that helps collectors date how old a matchbook is. In fact, there are collectors that only seek "front strikers" and practically disdain "back strikes" even though in some cases the matchbook has an identical design- but the slightly newer version has the backside striker.

This "announcement" design, produced by the Diamond Match Corp. highlights that moment when the striker was officially moved from the front to the back.  While it's not dated, the change was mandated in 1973, thus giving collectors a median for determining the age of the matchbook.

This design is one of a series of at least four styles produced that addressed match safety - Don't smoke in bed, Keep matches from children,  Keep matches and medications from children. (See blog post "Safety First", April 2015) Inside, they all have the same message balloon about safe usage- kind of like the industry saying "Hey, matches aren't dangerous unless you use them wrong!" 

The KC Matchgirl has thousands of complete matchbooks, and she is merely a collector, not an arsonist.

Note: In addition to the striker location, the digits on a phone number or zip code can help determine the age of the cover, in addition to design styles.

Wining, Dining, and Mining

There's a gamut of restaurants to chose from when scouting the best locations for an evening of wining and dining, but few also offer the atmosphere of mining. The matchbook pictured, for Baby Doe's Matchless Mine, actually tells no tale- until you dig a little deeper.

The top layer is the namesake for this late 20th Century restaurant chain, Elizabeth "Baby Doe" Tabor. Her rags to riches to rags story has been told in countless books, movies, and even an opera. Widowed at an early age and then abandoned by her adult daughters, she clung to the only things she had left, a tiny cabin and a closed silver mine.

Her fate as a tragic figure in American history was sealed when she was found frozen to death inside her sparse cabin in 1935. Her cabin and the adjacent Matchless Mine have been a Leadville, Colorado tourist attraction ever since, and registered as a National Historic Place.

The second layer, as we dig deeper, takes us back to 1978 when Specialty Restaurant Corp. of Anaheim, CA developed the concept for a dining establishment built to resemble a ramshackle mine. Founder David Tallichet located hillside areas in Birmingham, AL, Columbus, OH, Atlanta, GA, Dallas, TX, Denver, CO, Los Angeles, CA, and Kansas City, MO that would offer diners downtown skyline views and the very popular beer cheese soup.

A third, deeper layer, surfaces at the Kansas City location.  Like the others, it was constructed of weathered wood, rusty metal, and accentuated with mining cars, a windmill, and perhaps some livestock for a true, rustic dining experience. With 10 dining rooms, a lounge, and giftshop, it was a popular dining destination after its September 1980 opening.

But just like its namesake, the restaurant Baby Doe's experienced a tragic death when diners felt the building shift in July 1985.  The restaurant was quickly evacuated as gaps in the flooring grew wider. After the building was declared unstable, it was shuttered and vacant for several years, looking more and more like the abandoned mine it was built to resemble. Eventually, it was demolished after declaring the area was too unstable to repair or rebuild.

One by one, the remaining locations closed, for various reasons, and have been demolished to make way for new development. Seems nobody wants an abandoned mine these days, even with a skyline view.

NOTE: While both versions of the restaurant's matchbook have a photo of Baby Doe on the cover, the older, and more worn example (perhaps it was found in a mine) reads Baby Doe, while the version pictured at top reads Baby Doe's. Both are from the Kansas City location, which was located on W. 26th Terrace at Bi-State Drive, featuring a west side downtown view.