Living Contemporary 
29 July 2020
Living Contemporary 
431

Harry Anderson 1906–1996

Jordan Playboy Roadster Exxon/Esso calendar illustration

1970
tempera on board 13 h × 16¼ w in (33 × 41 cm)
estimate: $2,000–3,000
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General Drafting Company was one of the major road map publishers in the United States from 1930 to 1970 and produced much of the promotional material, including calendars, for Exxon.
This work was made in preparation for the 1971 Exxon/Esso corporate calendar and features a 1926 Jordan Playboy Roadster. Signed to lower right ‘H. Anderson’.
provenance: Former Director of Marketing for General Drafting Company

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1923 advertisement for the Jordan Playboy Roadster

Designed by Edward S. "Ned" Jordan, the sleek, sporty Playboy Roadster debuted in April 1919. He named the car after an Irish play called The Playboy of the Western World and marketed it in magazines like Vogue, Vanity Fair, House & Garden and The Saturday Evening Post, all of which were read by households with higher incomes. This particular vehicle was launched with the slogan "Somewhere west of Laramie there's a bronco-busting, steer roping girl who knows what I'm talking about." The advertisement first appeared in the June 23, 1923 issue of the Saturday Evening Post magazine and is considered by many history buffs to be the most famous car advertisement of all time. The Playboy Roadster enjoyed nearly a decade of popularity before Jordan’s company went bankrupt in 1931, after competition from Ford’s more affordable cars and the 1929 stock market crash dealt final blows to the company.

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