Check out these ads from the April 1966 edition of American Cinematographer. They might not look like much, yet their style was unusual in a publication that was known for being conservative.
Apparently, the trend didn’t catch on. Across the entirety of the ’60’s, there’s not much else to compare to what you see below – and I often wonder why. Granted, at the time the average ASC member was well over fifty-years-old and probably resistant on some level to the rising counter-culture. Anomalies such as these were tolerated more than endorsed. But from an organization made up of artists, I would have expected more openness to something new.
Maybe the Editorial Advisory Board was trying to be “hip” by signing off on them, or maybe the societal tide was becoming too strong to resist. We’ll never know for sure, but these modest nods to flower power are an amusing aside to the bland pitches that normally appeared in each issue.
By the way, Ray Mercer (1896-1981) was an ASC member who specialized in effects work. Though little is known about him, over a long career he amassed over three-hundred credits. And for being what qualified as an old geezer when his ad appeared, he seems to have had no problem keeping up with the longhairs!
