There was no catalog in 1943 and it was very surprising when this 1943 copyrighted catalog appeared in 1944. Surprising because, with the intensifying war effort, you would think there would be little need for a “novelty” catalog. This catalog, however, dramatically reflected the times. The page count dropped from a strong 624 pages in 1942 to a lean 320 pages. The cover touted airplane models including the Grumman Torpedo Bomber for $1.29 and the Spitfire Fighter Pursuit Plane for $1.69. The length and width of the catalog was cut down in size, probably because of the paper shortage, and existing copies often have been shaved on the side and the bottom. The result is some narrative and page numbers are commonly missing. To further save paper the index was reduced to less than a page.
This is a very collectible Johnson Smith catalog. It strongly reflected the War with its numerous anti-Axis products. The ads included the Exterminate These Three Rats pin, the Hitler the Squealing Pig bank, the Bomb bank, the Sock-the-Japs Bank, and the Hitler Pin Cushion. Other items were:
- Nazi and Japanese Rat Pin Cushion
- Put Hitler in the Doghouse Puzzle
- Japanese Hunting License
- Victory Morning Paper
- Hitler Ash Tray
- Hitler the Skunk
- Big Mouth Mussolini Ash Tray
- Masks of Hirohito, Hitler and Mussolini.
It is interesting to see that the Hitler Pin Cushion filled the screen in the movie Pearl Harbor in the scene where FDR was seated at his desk. The Cushion was prominently in the foreground with just a blur of FDR in the background. The Johnson Smith ad, for the Pin Cushion, mentions the FDR connection.
It has been said that the joke business – whoopee cushions and joy buzzers for example – do their best in stressful times. The H. Fishlove Company of Chicago, famous for their gag boxes, is a perfect example of this. Gag boxes are those little boxes that suggest one thing on the outside and produce something quite different and surprising when opened. When Irving Fishlove, the owner of H. Fishlove, Inc., asked the war department why his joke boxes got priority when sent to the troops he was told, “your stuff goes anywhere Bob Hope goes.” Johnson Smith carried many of the Fishlove boxes including One Born Every Minute, and Bald Brush for Bald Heads.
