Fisk Tires

Burr and Teddy refuse to re-tire early

Fisk Tires
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Feature Article from Hemmings Motor News

August, 2006 - Ed Heys

Burr Giffen was a young commercial artist employed by Fisk Tire Company. In 1907, he sketched what would become their most famous advertising icon; a yawning, pajama-clad youngster. Modeled after 3-year-old Teddy Nelson, the image was a quirky one; the subject barely balanced a candlestick in one hand, and shouldered a passenger car tire opposite. When combined with the "Time to Re-Tire" tagline, it was an unlikely--but amazingly long-lived and successful--home run for Fisk's marketing department.

The "sleepy boy" eventually became universally recognizable, if only through decades of dedicated, relentless repetition. Through the 1960s, Fisk continued to attach the image to an astonishing array of advertising media. Magazine ads, in particular, flooded the nation's popular press. A 1956 quote is attributed to The New York Times: "The Fisk tire youngster has been so busy for the last 50 years that he just plain hasn't had 'time to re-tire.' "

The company's name, emblazoned on countless advertisements published in numerous magazines, attracted the keen interest of a young Charles M. Fisk III. After being introduced to the ads by his father, "I've been happily collecting Fisk collectibles for many, many years." While not directly related to the Fisk Tire family, Charles is the self-proclaimed on-line archivist of all things Fisk-related, including family genealogy and the tire company's collectibles, automobilia and somewhat rocky history.

Founded in 1898 by Noyes W. Fisk and son Harry, the manufacturer of bicycle tires soon became a major player in automobile tires. By 1916, Fisk produced 5,000 tires per day in its Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, facilities. Despite introducing the highly successful Safti-Flight tire in 1930, the Great Depression weakened the company. By 1940, Fisk was acquired by U.S.Rubber, which changed its name to Uniroyal in 1967, which merged with B.F.Goodrich in 1986, which was purchased by Michelin in 1990. Still, Fisk-branded tires are marketed today.

For several decades, notable illustrators were employed to produce Fisk Tire advertisements. Norman Rockwell produced at least two series of ads. The master of fantasy illustrations, Maxfield Parrish, created ads for Fisk. Peter Helck's dramatic man-and-machine view of the 1920s-'40s included Fisk tires guiding massive construction trucks. But Charles reserves those images brushed by Leslie Thrasher as his favorites.

Thrasher, Robert Robinson and other illustrators played a subtle game of "ad within an ad" in their artwork. Each advertisement captured a snapshot of an early 20th-century situation comedy. Ads include a blacksmith vs. reluctant mule; youngster caught smoking; cat vs. dog; a summer dip in the swimming hole and the like. No words were necessary to explain the unfolding events; these were period situations with which the general public could easily relate. Even when relegated to an inset or the background, the Fisk product endorsement is the focal point of the page.

Due to the sheer tonnage of Fisk advertisements produced over half a century, they remain readily available, reasonably priced and popular with collectors. If longevity counts for anything in the advertising world, then Burr Giffen's offbeat image of Teddy in his p.j.s is definitely one for the record books. We trust they each received a suitable bonus.

FISK TIRE Collectibles, recent prices
Original magazine ads, full page, color: $8-$15
Maxfield Parrish ad: $100+; Smaller, black & white: $3-$6
Lionel O gauge boxcar: $125
Sign, porcelain, 28 x 20-in.: $225
Postcard, original: $50
Cigarette lighter, metal: $15
Ashtray, rubber tire: $200

This article originally appeared in the August, 2006 issue of Hemmings Motor News.

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