THE SATURDAY SHOP
Ruth Spencer on advertising of yesteryear
When we look at this elephant outside W.H. Fenton & Co on Queen Street in 1891, we’re seeing into the future. If you remember the sudden arrival in the early 1990s of patented products and As Seen On TV infomercials, the subsequent dawn of Suzanne Paul, and the passing of the torch from L.V. Martin & Son to the grandson (“and ask for Neil; he’s doing well!”), it may have seemed the beginning of new era. Not so: 100 years earlier, hatmaker W.H. Fenton was revelling in advertising stunts, patented products, spectacular claims and free shipping (“carriage paid”) for orders over £1.
A serial inventor, William Fenton launched many hat-related innovations on to stunned shoppers. His Duplex Ventilating Leather hats prevented nervous headaches and, so his advertising claimed, WILL ALSO PREVENT BALDNESS. In 1889 he released a pull-over felt hat called Te Ngawari. Its ability to evaporate heat from the head was described as a blessing to mankind, perfect in every respect; and he stated confidently that it would soon be universally adopted.
It wasn’t. Within three years of this miracle hat launch, he was bankrupt. He owed, among other debts, £22 to a P. Oliphant, which may have given him the idea for this stunt at his closing down sale. The elephant pictured is surprisingly lifelike, but not real: two pairs of trousered legs can be seen beneath it. The authentic skin wrinkles are just a natural effect of draped canvas and the sad and weary eye an example of the painter’s art. Its morose appearance may comment on Fenton’s near future, when debts he underwrote for his brother proved the real white elephant. He was left without a shilling, proving that brothers, at least, don’t come with a Money Back Guarantee.