European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 11, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine this design created for tootle Rolls it a defile match Boole cover from the pest cover advertising the Golden Gate International expo Litton at san Francisco. Striking works of Art hard put to find their match Bokat Tyndall in led press International ack Pipitone is a practitioner of an Arl form thai in ils heyday Pul everything from scantily Clad beauties to sweeping panoramas on the covers of matchbooks in the United slates. Today however the matchbook cover artist is More Likely to Wield a graphics computer than a pain Brush and even the tiny canvasses Are disappearing in Lavor of disposable lighters Pipitone has Boon creating tiny works of Art or 42 years first Lor Universal match corp. And now for Atlas match co., where he Heads a id person Art department. One of his proudest accomplishments was putting an entire Redwood Forest on a matchbook painstakingly drawing and stroking in the color on each tree most artists in the United Stales like Pipitone Are Long gone along Wilh the Lancy work they did. Graphics technology has wrought a big change in the Way matchbooks Are designed and the camera and the computer have replaced the Brush. Today there is a lot of Pasteur and line Art Pipitone says american match companies still produce specially covers matted fancies Lor hotels and restaurants but that constitutes a Small part of their business Tho majority is repeal work or from businesses that want something simple olten an existing design Hal can be pulled irom 3 Book of such designs called cuts the height of matchbook design was from the mid 20s to the late 50s. Says los Angeles graphic Kilisl Tommy Steele. A collector and co author of close cover before striking Trie Golden age of matchbook design. The Bock will be published m september Steele argues the Quality of today s match cover designs is just not on a Par Wilh those of 30.40 and so years ago and cites a classic old match cover design touting the Tootsie Roll As an example. The matchbook depicts a Beach scene along the Lull length of the cover. Teal coloured White capped Waves in the cover s upper left Corner lick the Edge of a Sand Dune a shapely tanned Brunette in a red swimsuit and the 40s de Rigueur High heels lies on her stomach propping up on her elbows so she can peruse the message i love Toolsie written in the Sand by her Well muscled. Square Jawed male companion who is seated a Lew match feet away. Below the pair under the partial Shade of a striped Beach umbrella in red and Green floats the real object of desire a Toolsie Roll. The Girlie match avers of the 30s and 40s usually depicted curvaceous Young women most often Clad in the alluring foundation garments of the Day or less. These matchbooks were once a bar Staple along Wilh the Beer and peanuts when bars were still bastions of manhood unsullied by the presence of women. They usually advertised clubs where compliant women presumably like those beauties Hal graced the matchbook covers could be Lound. A Vintage match cover for Southern Pacific featured a sleek Tram zipping through a jewel coloured landscape of Given and blown Hills Green Palms and a red roofed Stone building up thrust against an azure sky the fancies arc still being done just not m the numbers match companies used to turn out. When prices were Low and Smalt businesses could a Ford them of most companies the minimum order Lor fancy matches is 10 cases each Case of regular sue matchbooks or 20 Stem books As they Are known in to traits. Contains  books Sonji . N -.w, May not  in any in such Quanh Lior Rel Al to Illi Plain honk Mitch without fancy logo Jurf  hues fancies do still live at Chicago s lion Aik a corp for one customs Art director torn Swink k and mis three person Stottl  a Rainbow a Iiri he match cover s Bright Btu background the customer a hawaiian match distributor used the books As his calling card four color presses have enabled artists to duplicate any color says Swientek although color can a sol deeply into the pock Lbook four color 0t s tend to be the exception not the Rule Al lion a one color Book costs 126 65 per t.000 books with an added Cost of $490 for each additional color. On a Mimun 10-Casn order a customer who wants a Lour color Job will Shell Oul More than $10,000 Becker a 36-year Veteran of Universal does t lament the Good old Days. While to acknowledges that today s technology can place mechanical constraints on creativity he feels mat the More controls you have on what you do the More creative you have to be to come up Wilh something the Only Downside Becker sets to the new technology is the pressure to make a profit. It takes some Ottrie Lun out of  one thing he is extremely Gra Elul for is the demise of chartreuse a particularly unappetizing Shade of Green As a popular color Lor matchbooks in the years following world War ii. Early matche Overa were designed actual size Lor the Cus Leitier to see and then printed using a rubber plate printing process. Today production Arr Sis design a matchbook cover twice the size of the finished product and then reduce it photographically one of the main difficulties in match Art Loday is envisioning what will or won t work on a match cover when the design is rendered double the size of the finished product you can t use any materials any lines or Type that might disappear into nothingness when you reduce the Art Pipitone says. For a color Job separations arc made for each color in the design. What the customer sees is a technical reproduction of color coated film called a color key. Says Becker. The same thing you used to make a color key you can use to make a printing plate and go directly to the finished product. The Industry has almost eliminated the sketch " the elaborate illustrations and varied color palette of years past have Given Way to simpler yet often very elegant designs featuring minimal Type one or two colors end a business logo. One example 13 a match cover Lor the new York Delicatessen in Manhattan which carries a stylized figure of a nude woman holding a Crystal sphere the figure on Bolh front and Back is in White against a purple background. The Deli s name in an Art Deco looking Type style runs alongside the figure. The design carries on the Deli s Motif which features among other Doco period items a Large statue of the sphere carrying woman on ils main floor. Box Materiel have become popular in the last 15 years says Becker. Carry through designs Are not possible on Box matches. Peach has replaced the dreaded chartreuse As a favorite background color the match Industry has suffered some setbacks in the last couple of decades As advertisers put their Money in other mediums and As the sophisticated smokers of yesteryear have become today s pariahs badgered from every Side to give up heir cigarettes however most match execs say the introduction of the disposable lighter had More of a negative Impact on the Industry than dwindling numbers of Cigar Llo smokers. Lion s Swientek believes match advertising is unbeatable and whenever he s out and about to does his part to boost the match business yeah he says whenever i go somewhere and see our matches. I take a Widlus of them so the n have to reorder  Friday september 11, 1967 the stars and stripes 644 Page 13