Ho, ho, ho ... it's the holiday season and I'm continuing my theme of Santa appearing in advertising (following up on my posts of Santa in late 1800s camera ads). Here is an original painting [study] by John Gilroy (working at S.H. Benson at the time) for the famous 1958 "Guinness Time" holiday poster.
Over the years, Gilroy introduced several mascots that appeared in Guinness' advertising. Toward the end of the 1950s, he tended to create posters featuring all of his beloved mascots.
This painting depicts Santa decorating a tree with bottles of Guinness with the help of Gilroy's mascots. The study also includes the original S.H. Benson paper tag with a comment to "redraw" ... meaning this particular rendering didn't quite make the cut. But comparing it to the actual poster, the study looks really close.
So ... how does a Guiness decorated tree sound? I've tried convincing my family this would be a cool thing, but all I get are stares with "Are you nuts?" expressions.
Anyhow, happy holidays!