Here is the fourth and last issue of Eros. The publication in 1962 coincided with Editor Ralph Ginzburg being accused of three counts of obscenity, one of which was publishing of this copy of Eros. Ginzburg was convicted in 1963 but as is usual with cases that are not cut and dried appeals right up to a Supreme Court. Their decision in 1966 confirmed his conviction and in 1972 he spent eight months in prison.
Ralph Hattersley's tender photo essay Black & white in color was mentioned, at the time, as one reason for the obscenity charges. Had the couple been white the essay wouldn't raised an eyebrow.
Ginzburg died in 2006 and in his New York Times obituary, written by graphics historian Steve Heller, there is a mention of a fifth issue of Eros that was prepared for publication, I wonder what happened to that?
If you wish to pander to your prurient interests (as the U.S. District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania put it during the 1963 court case) and look at the first three issues of Eros they are here in the Past Print archives: Issue 1 August 2011; Issue 2 March 2012; Issue 3 November 2012.
Samper Silk Screen printers in Los Angeles asked Bob Zoell to create six images to show off the excellence of their printing. Eleven inches square with a gloss cover, the yellow six on the front has a black keyline and a gold drop shadow.
The art inside is printed with fourteen separate colors, the center has eleven of them, the Camel pack uses a silver for the background. Zoell was born in Canada in 1940 but moved to LA in 1962 where he became well known as an illustrator (seven New Yorker covers) and in 1970 to develop his own style of abstract art.
I think the company send out the promotion in the eighties but I don't think they are in business now.
These paintings by Charles Schridde were a
prominent feature in a Motorola consumer electronics ad campaign in 1961 and
1962, they ran in the Saturday Evening Post and Life magazines.
The ad copy was full of the usual electronic advances only Motorola's
engineers had managed to develop: TVs featured a Golden Tube Sentry Unit which
eliminated the warm-up power surge (competitor RCA had Automatic Scene Control
for balanced screen brightness); Hi-Fi sets featured Vibrasonic System Sound and
Dynamic Sound Focus so you can enjoy concert-hall realism from your LPs; all the
cabinets had exclusive designs by Drexel from their American Treasury
Collection.
Such technical advances required the right setting in the ads and Charles
Schridde's art captured the feel perfectly. Motorola's consumer research found
that the pictures were a big hit with the public and with the 1962 campaign each
ad had some copy describing the interior design and building architecture at the
bottom of the ad.
The artwork does seem rather incongruous though because they all show
futuristic settings (possibly inspired by Charles Lautner) with huge amounts of
space but the electronics and especially the TVs with their small screens belong firmly in the
sixties.
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