DON BLANDING
Advertising Design Page

Early Blanding designed ad for Wall & Dougherty of Honolulu

      Blanding's official start in the advertising design business began with the Charles R. Frazier Advertising Agency in Honolulu, Hawaiian Territory, sometime in early 1921. He had already had some freelance experience as early as 1912, when he designed posters for Corkett's Cafe in Bend, Oregon...and later in Chicago when he designed posters shortly after the end of World War One.

Brochure for the Blaisdell Hotel

      With Charles R. Frazier he was hired as a cartoonist and illustrator and worked under George Mellen, the ad-man famous for his creation of Musa-Shiya the Shirtmaker, a brilliant campaign which made the tailor Koichiro Miyamoto an overnight success.

Chin Chong the Candlemaker brochure

      Some of Blanding's clients during this time period were the Ho-Min Ice Cream company, the Blaisnell Hotel, Henry Inn's Chinese Shop, Chin Chang the Candlemaker, and the Aji-no-moto soup and condiment company. In fact it was working for Ajinomoto that Blanding got his start in writing.
      One day in the office, a copywriter neglected to show up for work. It has been stated that the fellow was ill, but Blanding reckoned that he was suffering from a hangover. Mellen called Don into the office and asked him if he knew of anyone who could write copy, as there were several projects looming. Blanding said that he didn't, but could he give it a try himself? His boss agreed, and assigned Blanding the daily ad for the Ajinomoto Soup and Condiment Company (Ajinomoto would later become known as Monosodium Glutimate, or MSG.)

Ajinomoto Ads which launched a writing career

     Blanding wrote the ads in rhyming verse, as he discovered he had some talent in this area. The 'Toto the Chef' ads ran for over two years, and the public enjoyed his verse so much that a booklet was suggested by Mellen. Blanding collected a handful of the poems and put them into a booklet entitled 'Leaves from a Grass-House,' and tried to find someone to publish it. After being turned down by several publishers in town, a friend of Don's, the artist Frank N. Moore, helped him self-publish it through Cross-Roads Studios. An initial run of 2,000 copies were printed by the Star-Bulletin, which quickly sold out. The Patten Company of Honolulu then took over the publishing of the book, and it eventually went into a dozen printings.
     Thus, a new career was born for the 29-year-old Blanding.

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