In today’s tale we’ll take a brief look at a few vintage Hildebrandt Spinner ads. I came across these while searching for a completely different old-time spinner – the Buel Spinner – and was immediately attracted to the artistry and the text of these ads. Like a lot of images that catch my fancy, sometimes I’ll just capture the image and move on, thinking this is just something cool to keep in the image library. Ultimately I ended up unintentionally collecting a half dozen or so Hildebrandt images but didn’t record the provenance of several of them. I believe some were originally published in outdoor magazines, while I know that two were published in old newspapers, the details of which I did save when it dawned on me that these would make a fun piece for Bass Fishing Archives.
The first ad that caught my eye is the featured image that opens this article, from around 1943. In a former life I was a working artist and I enjoyed the cartoon art of comics and old illustrations, so you can see why this little ad tickled me. It’s beautifully composed and balanced, and has that wonderful comic illustration of an angler with his long fly rod half encircling the text. This is very much the style of drawing popular in the pre-WWII era, with a lot of dynamic motion. And that text! “Drop a line to – Ask for your copy of Hildebrandt’s Hints…tells about spinners and flies and how to use ‘em for all kinds of fishing. Good advice from folks who know. Not a dry line in it. Your copy FREE.” Then the address. It’s casual, to the point, and even has a humorous pun near the end. It catches your eye and your attention. This is a great little ad!
Next up, an ad from 27 years earlier, 1916. This one is similar in format to the 1943 ad and is, I’m guessing about the same size. There’s a drawing of a straining, leaping fish on the left, with the text on the right. The copy gets right to the point with “The object of a fishing trip is to catch fish,” before it tells you that you will do exactly that with Hildebrandt’s multitudinous combinations of spinners and flies. Send for the catalog, it only costs a 2¢ stamp.
Next, a vertical vintage Hildebrandt spinner ad from 1930, and this one is geared towards bass fishermen specifically. A crudely cropped picture of an angler holding a pole of nine bass cements the declaration that you will indeed catch bass using Hildebrandt Spinners. Again, write in for the Hildebrandt Hints brochure. This time it won’t even cost you 2¢, it’s free. This one uses the “not a dry line in it” pun too. Hildebrandt must have used that line repeatedly in their ads over the years. To erase any doubt about the lure, there’s an equally crude picture of a spinner in the lower right to balance the ad.
In the 1930s Hildebrandt used a number of ads featuring similar hand-drawn cartoon illustrations as in the 1943 ad that opens this article. I assume the same artist did the drawings for all of these ads, as the style looks very much the same. In my opinion, these cartoons add a richness, warmth and humor to the message and sales pitch, and make the ads much more appealing than the ones using cropped photos. Check out the three wonderful ads below.
1949 showed a post-WWII ad featuring Hiram Hildebrandt, one of John J. Hildebrandt’s three children and the manager of the family business from 1912 until his death in 1954. This image of Hiram is the same image that graces the covers of the famous Hildebrandt Hints catalogs of the time. In some of the Hildebrandt’s Hints catalogs of the era, famed angler Cal Johnson was featured on the back cover, touting the effectiveness of Hildebrandt Spinners. This ad also uses the Hildebrandt slogan, “baits that hook and land ‘em.”
The final two ads were newspaper ads that were run after Hiram’s death, when his sons John Jr. and Alan ran the company. In these ads we see that John Jr’s creation, the Snagless Sally, is marketed to bass anglers, and specifically to “lunker bass” anglers. The ad from 1958 shows a stringer of four bass said to weigh 36 lbs, 10 ozs, all allegedly caught on the Snagless Sally. Interestingly, above the ad are two smaller ads for different retail stores piggybacking on the Hildebrandt Snagless Sally ad, one of which declares “bass murder.” You can’t get much more direct than that!
The second Snagless Sally ad is from 1961 and follows the same format as the previous ad. The only difference is the picture. Instead of a stringer of bass the image shows an angler holding an 8 lb. largemouth in one hand and a 4.5 pounder in the other. He declares, “I truly believe Snagless Sally is by far the best bait for taking bass.” And above the Hildebrandt ad are again two small ads from hardware stores that carry the Snagless Sally.
Eventually, John’s sons Tim and Greg, and their cousin Mark, ran the John J. Hildebrandt company until they sold it to the Yakima Bait Company in 2006. By this time the old ads with their colorful language, artful illustrations and badly cropped photographs were a thing of the past. But that final team of founder John J. Hildebrandt’s great-grandsons made for four generations of the Hildebrandt family and over a hundred years in business. That’s quite a record.
David Smith has captured the essence of our small family business in an amazing way. For me, the greatest part of a company I grew up with and eventually worked at for nearly 20 years, was the people. All of the amazing employees over many decades, that quietly and faithfully did their jobs to make sure the orders went out on time with exactly the right items. The many sales representatives that logged countless miles calling on wholesale, “mom and pop” retail, and sporting goods chain accounts and staffed the trade shows were important to our business. The buyers and owners of the customer firms that bought our products were often tough negotiators, but for the most part were honorable business folks that could be trusted to seal the deal on a handshake. Our many competitors and friends in the tackle industry were often helpful when a problem needed solved. Jack Smithwick, Dick Storm, Peter Foley, Homer Circle, the Campbell Family, the Sauey Family, the Powell Family, and so many more too numerous to mention were all great friends we enjoyed for many years. Professional anglers Bernie Schultz and Dean Starkey were loyal contributors to our business. Long-time customers in Japan made for interesting times abroad. The staff of the American Fishing Tackle Manufacturing Association and the American Sportfishing Association supported all members, large and small. I have great memories of time spent with all of these folks and many more. But the most memorable times were the many hours, days, months and years I got to spend with Uncle John and my father Alan Hildebrandt. They both mentored me and patiently taught me a lot about our business, the industry, and most importantly, life. And for that I will always be grateful.
Thanks so much, Mark! What a great comment – mighty thoughtful of you to recognize some of the folks that helped make Hildebrandt the outstanding company that it was. I’ve got one or two old Hildebrandt catalogs and was planning on writing another piece looking specifically at one of those publications. I’d love to chat with you as I write that piece, to get some more personal insight into the history of the company. Let me know if you’re agreeable to that. Thanks again for adding your thoughts to this story. It’s folks like you that give life to the history of these iconic companies and to the history of fishing in general!
The origins of the Snagless Sally seem to be a bit muddled based on my research. Various sources attribute this lure either to the Hidebrant family, Lew Childre and friends, even a fellow called the Duke of Paducah….! Perhaps Mark Hildebrant could help us clear up the mystery?
Ben, I’ve contacted Mark Hildebrandt so hopefully we’ll be able to get more of his insights into things. The “Duke of Paducah” – now there’s got to be a story attached to a moniker like that! Thanks for your comment!
Being born and raised in Logansport, it was great to ride our bikes to their brown house on the south side of High St. (late 70’s-80’s) and be able to buy directly from their garage/shop/warehouse ! Especially being local kids…catching tons of bass, perch, whites and a couple of gars from the Eel river and some cats from the Wabash on their spinners !! If I remember right, they had a barrel of “bad ones” that we could pick through to go home and rig our own ! Sad to see the sale to Yakima, but I can understand why. As of today, I’ve become acquaintances with Bernie Schultz and am so grateful that he keeps the Hildebrandt name alive in competitive fishing ! I’d like to do the same someday !
Jason
Wow, those are the coolest memories, Jason! A barrel of bad ones…how cool is that?! Thanks so much for commenting and sharing those memories.