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J.C. Leyendecker's involvement with different foodstuffs such as Kellogg's Cornflakes and Caro syrup has not met with as much scrutiny as his involvement with the Saturday Evening Post, Collier's or the male fashion industry. My usual luck has held; in one day I was able to get four coffee ads from the 40's (one sure date is 1941), to add to one I already had. They do not seem to advertise any particular brand, so the sponsor must have been the coffee industry.

Pic. 1. Who would have thought that J.C.'s iconic Saint Nicholas would end up drinking coffee? it does make sense, after a hard night distributing toys.

Pic. 2: my first and favorite: in an unusual role reversal, a pipe smoking dad (?) with an apron, no less, makes coffee for the family. To boot, he is reading his (absent) wife's instructions!

Pic. 3: Coffee and doughnuts it is for grandpa and grandson. The female who presumably made it is conspicuously absent from the picture.

Pic. 4: A surprising family scene. Grandmother and son (WHERE IS THE WIFE!!!???) admire a new baby, while the doctor (when was the last time you had a medical home visit? Probably not in your lifetime!) rests, looking very pleased and . . . drinking coffee.

I have another where a grandmother offers a cup of coffee to a weary mail carrier, and one I have yet to buy where a grandmother teaches a young girl how to make it. The aim was to make coffee a daily social occurrence, no matter what the occasion, associated with family life. No Starbucks and alienated yuppies staring into screens!

Correction: the ads were made specifically for the Maxwell's Coffee Company. Also, I noticed that the model for the grandfather and the doctor in the last two pictures may be the same individual!