Ronrico A Rum to Remember
Personality Posters Mfg. Co. Inc.
1968
DIMENSIONS
39 3/4 x 25 in. (101 x 63.5 cm)
OBJECT NUMBER
PH.5691
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
United States
CREDIT LINE
Poster House Permanent Collection
KEYWORDS
-

This rather confused photomontage poster promoting Ronrico Rum was one from a series of about a dozen produced the same year, each featuring a composite image based on a historical or literary source and with a similarly silly question as its tagline. Like the others, the image bears only the most tangential relationship to its source. In this case, a man supposedly representing a World War I flying ace is dressed in a random military-style costume and the woman posing as the glamorous Mati Hari, the Dutch courtesan shot by the French for spying for Germany during World War I, is wearing a 1930s-style dress and 1960s-style hair and makeup. The scattered furnishings suggesting a lavishly appointed interior are sort of baroque in style. At this date, Personality Posters Manufacturing Company was known mainly for its photographic and illustrated posters of pop and film stars and compositions showing Marvel superheroes, as well as political posters addressing social-justice issues. The company’s irreverent style was well-exemplified by its poster showing a cheerfully pregnant Girl Scout with the organization’s motto: “Be Prepared.” In 1969, the company was taken to court by the Girl Scouts of the United States in an effort to force it to cease distribution of this work. The effort failed.

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