William H. Campbell, Artist, Illustrator --- Autocar Truck Ads of the 1940's

Normally when I write about trucks, it is to highlight the truck. However, this post will be a little different in that it highlights an artist who promotes the truck through his art. During the mid 1940's and into the early 1950's no artist did this better in my humble opinion than William H. Campbell.

A few weeks ago I received an email from a friend of Bill's named Bruce Bentzman. He informed me that he had seen a video collage that I had made of William Campbell's illustrations done for the AUTOCAR TRUCK company. He also stated that Bill was alive and well at 96. But what blew my mind is that he wanted to show Bill the video I had done.

What came about from this showing is that I had made some errors in that first video, by including some illustrations that I had thought were Bill's but that were actually done by some of the colleagues and friends he introduced to AUTOCAR such as Frank Waltrich, Oto Bauman, and Chuck Allen. They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, thus is was with Bill's works that many tried to emulate his style.

FRANK WALTRICH -- AUTOCAR AD

OTO BAUMAN ---- AUTOCAR

CHUCK ALLEN (C.ALLEN) --- AUTOCAR

One can certainly see the influence that Campbell had on his fellow Autocar artists.

William H. Campbell was born in 1915 in Philadelphia, Pa. and has lived his life there. He received his art education between 1933 and 1937 attending many fine art schools in and near Philadelphia. While he is best known in art circles for his wonderful abstracts, during the 1940's he worked as a freelance artist for Gray & Rogers of Philadelphia, an advertising agency that did work for AUTOCAR. One of Bill's complaints about this arrangement was that AUTOCAR would send him photographs to work with. He often found these photos to be ordinary and inexpressive -- not capturing the essence of the truck. Many times Bill would travel at his own expense to sketch the truck Autocar had in mind. In his illustrations and artwork, Bill made sure the trucks were in context, always telling a story. He would pay attention to small details like bolts, suspensions, and AUTOCAR'S radiator grill to give the truck it's "manhood". And his art sold trucks!!!

From 1943 - 1950 Bill states he produced eighty different illustrations for AUTOCAR ( I have found about 27). His works were the first color illustrations used by AUTOCAR in their ad campaigns and were done by Bill on a tissue layout and then in opaque watercolors -- similar to today's acrylics. Sadly, those pieces of work became the property of AUTOCAR or the ad agency. One of the few mementos Bill has of this period is a photo AUTOCAR sent him of a truck with him in it, that is what he did the picture of himself from. He is standing next to an orange AUTOCAR in a suit and fedora. That picture is shown at the beginning of this piece.

Artist's Statement:

Bill Campbell is both a realistic and abstract painter, experimenting with dimension, texture, and color, evolving to non-objective painting.

Selected Collections:

- National Museum of American Art, Washington DC

- The American College, Bryn Mawr PA

- Bryn Athyn College, Bryn Athyn PA

- University of Delaware, Newark DE

- Harcum College, Bryn Mawr PA

- Duke University Museum of Art, Durham NC

- Ursinus College, Collegeville PA

- Fellowship of The Pennsylvania Academy, Philadelphia

- Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia

- Woodmere Museum of Art, Philadelphia

- The Plastic Club, Philadelphia

- The Philadelphia Sketch Club

- McCann School of Art, Petersburg, PA

- Jefferson University and Hospital, Philadelphia

Selected Solo Exhibitions:

- 60 Years of Abstract Art, Raab Gallery, Philadelphia PA

- The Plastic Club

- The Philadelphia Sketch Club

- Woodmere Art Museum

- Philadelphia Art Alliance

- "Bill Campbell at 90," Hand Impressions Gallery, Philadelphia, 2005

Selected Group Exhibitions:

- Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia PA

- Berman Museum., Ursinus College, Collegeville PA

- American College, Bryn Mawr PA

- National Academy of Design, New York NY

- National Arts Club, New York NY

- Philadelphia Watercolor Annual, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia PA

Awards:

- The Plastic Club - Gold Medal - Philadelphia PA

- The Philadelphia Sketch Club - Mackenzie Medal - Philadelphia PA

- Acrylic Society, New York, NY - 1984 and 1985

- Charles Frith Award of the Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy, 2008

Professional Activity:

- Pennsylvania Railroad, Philadelphia: Art Director

- Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975

- 400 Years of Artists in America

- Who's Who in American Art

- A founder of the Main Point, Bryn Mawr, PA, 1963-1970

- Curated 9 exhibitions, 1982 to 1997

Selected Teaching Experience:

- The University of the Arts, Philadelphia PA: 1972-90

- Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia PA

- Philadelphia College of Art (University of the Arts), Philadelphia PA

- Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia PA

Education:

- La France Art Institute, Philadelphia PA

- Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia PA

- Philadelphia College of Art (University of the Arts), Philadelphia PA

- University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA

- Earl Horter's Summer School, Rockport MA

But sadly, his AUTOCAR pieces are harder to find as the old magazines from the 40's become more scarce.

My thanks to Bruce Bentzman and William Campbell for providing the information in this post!!!

And here for your enjoyment -- The AUTOCAR TRUCKS of WILLIAM H. CAMPBELL --

Also want to add these sent to me 6/2/12 by the artist himself --

1943 Color Poster -- RARE -- Tankers Aweigh

Also from 1943 ---

More Brockways --- The trucks of Barney & Dickenson, Vestal, New York

     I found out about this amazing collection of old Brockways through a post on THE BROCKWAY TRUCKS MESSAGE BOARD, and could not resist the opportunity to go down the road to Vestal, New York to photograph the collection myself.  And so after a call to BARNEY & DICKENSON to gain access to where these great old Husky's a resting, I set our date for 4/13/12 -- Friday the 13th.

     It was to be the best Friday the 13th ever -- more about that in a latter post. So here for your viewing pleasure are not only the photos I took, but also some photos found on the net showing those Brockways in their hay day ----





    What a great day!!!!

The Chief Lines Trucking Company

      I received another of those wonderful emails in response, well sort of, to one of my posts. Here it is --

"Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A LOST MOMENT IN TRUCKING HISTORY -- NAVAJO Freigh...":

Hi...Great pics...somehow I got here looking for information on a large sign I acquired. It says "THE CHIEF LINES" just copy no logo. Can't tell if this was a trucking or bus line operator...the type or graphics are very early...30's 40's.
Appreciate any info if possible, thanks, Don Sayrizi."


      Of course, this email had sparked my interest --- What is this "THE CHIEF LINES" all about? A quick search on the internet returned very little information. Did this sign have something to do with rail service, was is connected somehow to the Santa Fe "CHIEF"?  Was it some sort of bus service, also possibly connected to the Sana Fe? Or, was it some unknown trucking company ( I liked this option )?

      I sent Don a request for a picture of his "sign" and got back the following --

     Hmmm, I thought, this looks  like it came from the side of a truck. So how come I can't find any info. on this company? Well actually this company is fully known as THE CHIEF FREIGHT LINES COMPANY, but even with that information I could find very little information about the company. The following is quoted from Fred Gruin's site on HANK'S ----- 

" Chief purchased Morrison Motor Freight sometime in the very late 1970s in order to expand the system eastward. At that time Chief began using "Teams" to span the system because historically, they had only operated as far North & East as KCY. In 1980, Chief was a victim of deregulation, as were so many carriers at that time. Later, the owner, Lloyd Stith (sp?), resurrected the name as C.H.I.E.F. and purchased some of the trailers from the bankruptcy court and inserted the periods on the signs. The company was technically named, Custom Highway Interstate Express Freight and was TL only. The company was based in Tulsa, Oklahoma and went bankrupt in 1980. "

    Further investigation lead to my finding a company map, part of a Christmas greeting card, showing the area covered by "THE CHIEF" ---

  Also found was the badge worn by their drivers ---

    I am sorry to say that I could only find a few pictures of their trucks, and one of them is actually a die-cast from FIRST GEAR --

   The other picture is from Fred Gruin's collection on HANK'S TRUCK PICTURES   ----

    Anyone having further information and pictures of this line, PLEASE contact me via my e-mail!!! 

UPDATE 2/7/16 -- Just found the following pic that show terminal locations --- 

Truck Spotting --- European Trucks

Truck Spotting

A new link has been added to my site thanks to it's blog master, Cristian Cristenel. If you like European trucks then this is a site worth checking out. You can get there by clicking this link ----http://truck-spotting.blogspot.com/ or by finding the link at the side of my page --- TRUCK SPOTTING.

ENJOY!!!!

Revell Peterbilt 352 COE -- 1/32 scale

Happened by the local Hobby-Lobby just at the right time, they were having a 50% off sale on models. I picked this new offering from Revell up just before Christmas. This is actually a fairly decent snap-tight kit that requires very little effort to make it look good. Some care must be taken to file out the wheels before attaching to the axles, and you may have to melt the axle ends to hold the wheels on. Of course there is some painting required to make your rig special -- I chose to build up and paint the chassis flat black. The interior tub and dash recieved the same treatment. I liked the sky blue cab color, but did not like the decals enclosed so I borrowed some decals from an AMT kit. So here it is ----

Now, if only Revell would make a nice 1/32 Fruehauf or Great Dane trailer to hook up to this kit --

Waiting For The Snow --- AMT Ford LNT 8000 Snow Plow

This past November my wife and I visited our daughter in Queens, NY for Thanksgiving. The rest of our family was there too. We had a truly magnificent time, visiting and seeing the sites of NYC. On one of those visits I made a stop at one of my favorite "old time" hobby stores -- a place called Rudy's Hobby Shop in Astoria.

It was there that I found another of those kits built long ago but now lost, and thanks to my son I got it. It was his early Christmas present to me, and he saw that I really wanted it.

This kit was the latest re-release of this model by Stevens International. Unfortunately it was discontinued, but maybe Round 2 will bring it back.

This was an okay build that I started in January. I took my time, building up the frame and painting it as a unit in flat black.

The picture above shows the completed frame, wheels attached and the main body components primed in Testor's gray primer. Note that I built the plow up as a unit, modified the hinge point by drilling it out and pinning it so it would work, and priming as a unit.

Test fitting is important with this model -- note that I chose to use a front bumper from an old AMT Mack R kit. I liked the look and after some slight modifications to the bumper it was a better fit.

It should be noted at this point that my wife has become more trusting of me, allowing me to do this build on our dining room table. This shows the body components being test fitted after painting with Testor's Competition Orange. Note that the interior tub is in place but NOT glued.

This is the completed model. The gas tanks were stripped of their chrome and steps attached. They were painted with Testor's Diamond Dust. The interior tub was done in flat black, dash and seats are done in Testor's Gray Primer. The FORD marques were done using a Sharpie silver pen as were the door handles and touch up on the mirrors. The reflective decals came from the AMT Log Trailer kit.

The mud-flaps were painted in flat black, and the raised FORD carefully scraped back to the white plastic. The sander unit was built as a unit and painted with the gray primer. The auger is flat black and was inserted after building the unit. I also added outside controls to the sander unit -- I like the way it looks.

Finished model, with dump body raised and plow in lifted position. Note the windshield frame was done using a Sharpie black pen. I wish the kit included an option for plow lights -- the headlights just won't work when the plow is lowered and it's blowing snow!!!

"CANNONBALL" --- A night at the movies

Two episodes of the classic ---- Cannonball!!!! The following was taken from "TELEVISION OBSCURITIES"


Cannonball was created by Robert Maxwell, one of the producers of The Adventures of Superman and the man responsible for Lassie. The New York Times reported on July 8th, 1958 that the series would be produced by Normandie Productions, Ltd. (the Canadian arm of Television Programs of America) with production set to begin in Toronto on July 14th [1]. Television Programs of America was responsible for filmed programs like Private Secretary, Fury, Halls of Ivy and Last of the Mohicans, among others.
In September of 1958, Television Programs of America and Normandie Productions were sold to the Independent Television Corporation [2].
On December 3rd, a full-page advertisement in The New York Times for Independent Television Corporation called Cannonball a "stirring human-interest series about truckers on the highway to high adventure" [3]. It was one of four shows the company had in production for "national sale" (the others were The Four Just Men, The Adventures of Tom Swift and Interpol Calling). Paul Birch and William Campbell starred in Cannonball as Mike Malone, nicknamed Cannonball, and Jerry Austin, truckers working for C & A Transport who spent their days driving a big rig across Canada and the United States. Howard Milsom played Harry Butler, their dispatcher. Rounding out the cast were Beth Lockerbie, Beth Morris and Steve Barringer as Mike's wife Mary and his children Ginny and Butch.
The series premiered in Canada on Monday, October 6th, 1958, broadcast by CBC. Because it was syndicated locally in the United States there was no nation-wide premiere date. But it appears the show wasn't seen until 1959. Cannonball premiered in Los Angeles, for example, on Monday, May 18th, 1959 airing on KHJ from 8:30-9PM. In New York City, the series was seen on Fridays from 7:30-8PM beginning October 16th, 1959. And it aired on WGN-TV in Chicago from 8:30-9PM (7:30-8PM local time) starting on October 30th, 1959.
A total of 39 episodes of Cannonball were produced. In addition to Canada and the United States, the series was also seen in the United Kingdom. I'm afraid I don't know who sang the theme song.
Works Cited:

1 Shepard, Richard F. "Networks Widen Recording Use." New York Times. 8 Jul. 1958: 55.
2 "12 TV Shows Sold in $13,500,000 Deal." New York Times. 16 Sep. 1958: 55.
3 [Advertisement]. New York Times. 3 Dec. 1958: 74.

Look Who's Driving --

Just like my friend Jerry is ALWAYS telling me, "you never know where you're going to find a truck", well in this instance, "you never know who's driving it".

I have a couple of older post on the 1940's movie "THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT" with Humphrey Bogart and George Raft  so the story is known. So, as the late Paul Harvey would say -- "and now for the rest of the story".

Also, since we are back on the subject of  "THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT", there was this model that was used for about 90 seconds in the movie. It was a 1/4 scale exact duplicate of the 1922 Sterling that Bogey and Raft drove in the movie. This model was recently in the possession of a gentleman out in California, and can be seen in the book "MOVING THE GOODS" by Ron Kowalke. This model recently went up for auction and was expected to bring $10-15,000. It sold for ---1922 Sterling Truck Model with Humphrey Bogart Sold For $24,750.

And all I got is a picture ---

Blue Diamond Fuel Company --- The Trucks of Domenico F. Proscia

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"Domenico F. Proscia, Bari, Italy (1902? - 1980) started Blue Diamond Fuel Oil in Brooklyn, NY, Grandpa Domenico in 1929 when he had his first brand new Ice and coal truck. If you look at the plate, it says 1929. This is the year my Dad was born, Grandpa had the business going and now his first son all at the same time. What a great year it was for him and my grandmother even though it was the year of the great depression." --- Domenic F. Proscia

I always appreciate when someone takes the time to send an email regarding one of my posts here. Thus was the case a couple of weeks ago when I got an email from Domenic Proscia, the grandson of the gentleman in the picture above. Domenic had read a post I put up about Brockways and he said it brought about a flood of memories about his grandad and his days with BLUE DIAMOND FUEL COMPANY.

BLUE DIAMOND is located in Brooklyn, New York. It was started back in the 1920's by Domenics' grandfather Domenico.

It is still a family owned business that survives today in Brooklyn.

The best part of Domenics' email is that he stated that he had some pictures of some old trucks used by his granddads' company  and some were BROCKWAYS. He asked if I were interested --- of course I was, and thus began a new friendship.

So, below are the pictures he sent -- not all Brockways, but some neat old Whites too. The captions below the pictures are Domenics own words.

"Grandads' 56 Brockway" --- Domenic F. Proscia

"1961 Brockway this truck was my Uncle Richie's he lives in Florida now the last of the living original Blue Diamond Family this truck had a blown governor and it would run 80 to 90 on the highway." ----- Domenic F. Proscia

"1965 Brockway this was my Uncle Mikes truck this truck was a real work horse with class". -- Domenic F. Proscia

" 64 White Mustang. This was the only truck that my Grandfather and my Grandfathers brother Willie purchased while thier sons were on vacation. This truck was terrible and I was stuck with it for a short period of time, so I made the best of it and when I got Engaged to my wife I painted her name on the front " Little Nancy " ---that made me feel better." ----- Domenic F. Proscia

"1963 White 3000 "bubble cab" we purchased this one used it was a great truck except the shift was about 3ft long and it felt like you shifted all the way to the other side of the cab." ----- Domenic F. Proscia

"1974 White Expeditor. This was a beautiful truck. The oil tank that is on it came off the 1961 Brockway. The one problem with this truck if you didn't unload the fuel going from the back to the front and if you let off the clutch fast you would pop a wheelie because the rear of the tank extended over the axel. This was a design transition we were trying back then in the middle 70's." ---- Domenic F. Proscia

I can not thank Domenic enough for sharing those pictures, but more importantly for sharing the love and respect he had for his grandfather. Domenico came here from Italy searching out the American Dream. He built a company, survived the Depression, and had a great family --- I wish I could have known him.

thank you Domenic ---

For more about the history of the BLUE DIAMOND FUEL COMPANY --- just click on this or any link in this article. There are some more pictures too!!!

UPDATE --2/13/12 --- Kate Prosia

Dear George,

  My name is Kate Proscia. I am the oldest daughter of Domenic Proscia.  I can not thank you enough for that beautiful article . My father forwarded me the email this morning.  You have put a big smile on both of our faces.  The love and respect my Dad had for his grandfather and Blue Diamond is something no one could ever understand or put into words.  Growing up as a young girl I heard countless stories and had the opportunity to visit the company when my grandfather was still alive.  I was the only little girl that wanted to ride in an oil truck and wear the jacket promoting the company with nothing but pride.  I was only one when my great grandfather past but the love and respect I have for that man is endless. It is the same respect I have for my father.  That respect carried so far that I named my second son Vincent Domenico, so that my boys know that it was hard work and determination that allow them all that they have today. So from the bottom of my heart thank you so very much for honoring my great grandfather and my father with that article and pictures.

 With much thanks,

 Kate Proscia

Thanks Kate ---

Penn Yan Express --- A New Web Page

Just up the road from me is the town of Penn Yan, New York. At one time it used to be the home of PENN YAN EXPRESS, and since they utilized, almost predominately, my favorite truck -- Brockway, I thought I would post this as way of directing some traffic to the new web site for this historic fallen flag.

So here it is --- PENN YAN EXPRESS --- Click on the link and simply ENJOY!!!