Preface by Joan Grauman (picture right).

I have been a collector of “ephemera (written or printed items of short-term usefulness or popularity)” for several decades. Luckily, I focused this goofy obsession of mine on my other obsession: the accordion! I hope you enjoy this trip through memory lane with printed ads, stories and cards that celebrate, or ridicule, our beloved musical instrument.

The Accordion in the Media Spanning the Decades
Part 1: The late 1920s to 1960

Mass media was, and is today, a very important mirror of who we were and who we are as a society. While this form of communicating and promoting thoughts, facts, events and ideas has changed monumentally over the past 100 years, one thing has not changed: mass media clearly reflects our past and our present.

Over the decades, the accordion in the media has been “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly…. and the Good again”. Part 1 of this article will focus on “the Good”; Part 2: “the Bad, the Ugly … and the Good again.”

Benjamin Franklin, one of our US Founding Fathers, is credited with creating the first printed advertisements in a magazine, “General Magazine”, in 1741. By the early 20th century, printed advertisements were in newspapers, periodicals and posters. These ads attracted people to what was being sold by featuring popular and attractive people, scenes and objects.

Stories of the glamorous Vaudeville, Hollywood and radio celebrities were also featured in the magazines. Soon the beautiful and intriguing “new” musical instrument, the accordion, was in ads and stories everywhere.

Read the full article with all the historic pictures at: Media1 by Joan Grauman, AAA Historian