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Here are a couple of those “Visit Our Snack Bar” ads they used to show at drive-in theaters during intermission. I’m in awe of how incredibly well designed they both are.

They were both made by Keitz and Herndon, a company based in Dallas, Texas. There isn’t too much of their stuff around to be seen these days, but what there is sure looks great. They really took to the feel of the modern/UPA style of the 1950s and made it into something of their own.

After making these masterpieces of junk food commerce, K&H went on to make JOT, a series of TV cartoons that were produced by the Southern Baptist Radio Television Commission.

Whether you’re into the religious message behind the JOT cartoons or not, they sure were well made.

A couple of pages of the book CARTOON MODERN are dedicated to the work of Keitz and Hendern. I wish there was more, but the rest of the book is also full of really striking art from the other studios producing modern-looking cartoons in the 1950s.

A lot of animation companies of the era are covered in this book, from big ones like Terrytoons, Warner Brothers and Disney to smaller operations like Ray Patin Productions and Shamus Culhane Productions. As one of my co-workers described CARTOON MODERN when I showed it to him today, “It’s a real treasure.”

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