Talk:Johnson Smith Company

Mad Magazine did not exist in 1935. The timeline is incorrect.

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Move to Racine

The article currently states the Company moved from Chicago to Racine in 1926, which was likely repeated from the Company's website. However this is wrong. Several sources indicate the move was made in 1923. All advertisements subsequent to October, 1923 (such as this Argosy ad: https://archive.org/details/argosy-v-154n-06-1923-10-06-jvh-beb/page/n193/mode/1up?q=johnson+smith+co) provide a Racine address. I'll be correcting this and providing a July 1974 Stanley Elkin profile in Esquire, which mentions the correct date, as a citation.

Katzenjammer kids reference

“ Cartoonist H.T. Webster regularly copies Johnson Smith Co. items and descriptions from the catalog into The Katzenjammer Kids comics.”.

There may be a kernel of truth here, but I’m reasonably sure Webster did not work on Katzenjammer kids, or any of its clones. 76.168.2.192 (talk) 00:35, 3 August 2022 (UTC)

1940s Hiatus

1941 - "the company went on hiatus through 1946."

This can't quite be quite true, as there are several 1944 catalogs that have been sold on eBay (I have a few). It's true that the 1944 catalog is shorter than usual, but it exists.

Catalog Size

In the July 1974 Stanley Elkin Esquire profile, Paul Smith (son of the founder) said the last large catalog was 1952. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.168.2.192 (talk) 05:46, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

Rubber Chickens

"Johnson Smith Company still sells whoopee cushions, rubber chickens, joy buzzers, and x-ray glasses today." This implies that rubber chickens were a mainstay of the early catalogs. The catalog sold various rubber animals, such as mice and rats, but as late as 1952, the catalog did not offer rubber chickens (I have several catalogs from 1929-1952). Likely a more recent offering. I suggest replacing rubber chickens with invisible ink which has been offered by the company since before the 1920s. Also replacing "today" since the company is no longer with us. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jbumw (talk • contribs) 16:21, 7 August 2022 (UTC)