The DBscreenside channel features restoration videos and still images from the first Dodge Brothers car in November 1914 up to present day restorations. This 30 year collection of material has some connection to John and Horace Dodge, the Dodge Brothers Company, Commercial Cars, and especially the famous DB screen side Business Cars of the 1920s. These videos are a record of what happened and NOT instructional videos. Tools and materials are dangerous. Do not attempt to duplicate any part of these videos. No ads. No subscriptions. No bell. If you see an ad it is from UA-cam, not me. If it sounds like I'm reading it is because I am reading this:
The Dodge Brothers Screen Side Channel Presents:
Making “American Railway Express” Billboards for the Last “Dodge Brothers” “Screen Side” truck.
When it came time to pick a color for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer screen side, I chose a parcel delivery truck.
I began by doing some research, finding a color reference, and making some sketches.
In 1926 the only parcel delivery company was the American Railway Express or A-R-E.
Research wasn’t easy because there are no color photos of an A-R-E truck.
One of the most striking features of A-R-E trucks was the colorful paper posters, or “bills” on the side.
These posters were usually used to advertise A-R-E services.
Like circus posters, the A-R-E posters were a colorful lithograph prints.
They were only temporary and only a few examples survive.
The A-R-E had 20 thousand trucks and must have printed thousands of posters each month.
There are plenty of grainy black and white photos and a few examples of old, torn, and dirty posters in museums.
I just need a pair of posters that appear new for my 1926 Dodge Brothers screen side.
This is an original 1929 poster from the Library of Congress collection.
It is dirty, torn, and yellowed.
I cleaned, repaired, and corrected the color with Adobe PhotoShop.
I recreated six posters from the 1920s for my delivery truck.
The Art Deco poster is made by laying down blocks of color starting with the background.
The sky.
The beach.
The ocean.
And so on, building up each layer.
The digital file was sent to a photo service and printed full size.
These three posters were painted by artist Robert Lee.
His Art Deco style was easier for me to reproduce on the computer.
This poster is dated January 1927.
This was printed in April 1926.
These should be enough to allow me to reproduce and print the first new ARE posters in 100 years.
I designed and built two billboards for the truck.
Each frame holds three posters and looks much better that the original frames.
Hopefully the frames and posters will last much longer than the originals did.
The frames are bolted to the screens of the truck and will soon be attached to the Dodge.
It appears the delivery companies were willing to rent the space for other products.
I found Public Service Announcements and cigarette ads on the sides of delivery trucks.
My 20 by 30 inch space can be used to advertise anything.
The film industry printed tons posters and could have used these mobile billboards.
Films like Ben Hur.
The Big Parade.
And Greta Garbo’s first M-G-M film, “Flesh and the Devil.”
“Flesh and the Devil” would have been one of the screen side’s first projects when it arrived at M-G-M in the Fall of 1926.
Now that I have recreated 100 year-old art, what else can I make?
I made some refrigerator magnets and a coffee mug.
Then I got to thinking about other merchandise possibilities.
I made a modern cap with cloth patch.
And an old style cap.
Artist Robert Lee died in New York in July 1980.
Thanks for watching.
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