October 26, 1963 -- Washington at Oregon

Oregon dropped this game 26-19; the less said about a loss to Washington, the better, no matter when it happened.

Program Notes — 

• The early Sixties programs are so bland it’s hard to find anything interesting to say about them. This may be the worst of the bunch. The Ducks had an excellent squad in 1963, with *two* future HOF members in Mel Renfro and Dave Wilcox, decent depth and good overall talent. But other than a two-page game preview, you’d be hard pressed to notice anything unusual or special about the team. The whole program has a kind of high-school feel, starting with yet another generic “R. Vrooman” cover. The photo titled “Webfoot Rally Squad” on page 4 could have come from a National Lampoon High School Yearbook Parody outtake.  
• Cigarette advertising continues to dwindle, although Viceroy is back sponsoring the center spread. And, instead of a traditional exhortation to smoke, RJ Reynolds Tobacco performs a public service by reminding back-cover readers to turn on their car’s lights at night. Oh, and don’t speed. It’s bad for you.

October 13, 1934: Washington at Oregon

— Click to embiggen — This year, the program has an official name, “The Oregon Goalpost.”

So many cool things that we take for granted now first appeared in 1934.  Flash Gordon.  The Three Stooges.  The Soap Box Derby.  Bart Starr. Hank Aaron.  Sofia Loren. Wink Martindale.  And the nation’s new-found optimism under FDR, or socialist hysteria depending on one’s perspective, marked the beginning of the end of the Great Depression – the estimated unemployment rate would never be as high again as the 21% idled by mid-summer.

Clearly, at least one person was gainfully employed in the area of Oregon athletic program design, or maybe employed as a student intern from the Department of Art, as the 1934 UW-UO folio shows a definite upgrade in layout and graphic content. There’s a beautiful cover painting by “Shawl”. There are nice Art Deco touches throughout – note the faux-woodcut “Huskies” and “Ducks” logos, as well as the stencil-effect helmeted head here and there. Photo quality is improved over 1932, and there was enough room in the budget for a full-page team shot, a list of 1934 rules changes, and a blurb for “Challenge Day” (“Each year.. a group from one city or the other has, on the Tuesday preceding the game, created a maximum of disturbance in the other metropolis.” I can’t read this without thinking of Eugene’s contribution to the anarchist riots at the World Economic Forum in Seattle a while back.)

Blitz Weinhard was an advertiser.  And there is another subtle but foreshadowing sponsorship encroachment – a full color, back-cover ad for Chesterfields. A toe in the water, perhaps..  but Richfield couldn’t be expected to cover the cost of all that color forever.

Oh, the game? Sadly, Oregon’s string of six consecutive shutouts against UW came to an end, with the visitors rolling to a 16-6 triumph on the toe of one Elmer Logg, who kicked three field goals and an XP.

Center spread (click to embiggen)

I can’t mix orientations in the scrolling window, so in the interest of avoiding a wrenched neck, below are the two landscape pages (clickable)..

 

October 8, 1932: Washington at Oregon

— Click image to embiggen — This is the oldest home game program I have at this time, from 8 October 1932; the annual Border War with Washington.

Under new coach Prink Callison, elevated from assistant after Doc Spears decided he didn’t like West Coast football, the Webfoots had vanquished Idaho and Santa Clara through superior defensive play. The first of back-to-back appearances by Oregon at Portland’s Multnomah Stadium resulted in a scoreless tie — an unexpected result; Oregon had been heavily favored by the bookmakers, but star back Stan Kostka was injured and did not play.

However, Oregon did at least hold the Huskies scoreless for the fifth consecutive season, a streak that would not end until two years later. And Oregon’s quarterback? Bill Bowerman. Yes, that one.

The Great Depression affected the economy in myriad ways, even on the format and content of this program. Where pre-1930s programs might have contained multiple pages of photo illustrations, ads and stories, this program is downright sparse, with few items of interest and even fewer ads.

The cover itself is a bright and humorous take on a typical gridiron dispute — “time out for measurement.” The artist, “Billy Cam” (given name William Campbell), created several cartoon illustrations on football subjects for various teams in the 1930s including Notre Dame. This particular illustration was also used on the 1931 Cal @ St Mary’s program.  

Program Notes:

• “A Bill of Divorcement”, the feature advertised at the RKO Orpheum, featured Katharine Hepburn’s first starring appearance. Alongside John Barrymore. No pressure, I’m sure.
• Multnomah Hotel, Rooftop Landing Strip, 1924The Multnomah Hotel covered an entire block at 4th and Pine streets, and was for a while the largest hotel in the Northwest. The roof was large enough for a plane to take off and land from. It was recently restored and now serves as an Embassy Suites Hotel. 
• The “University of California Bruins”, as referenced in an ad on page 2, were actually from UCLA.
• Joseph K. Carson Jr’s campaign was successful — he was elected mayor of Portland, and served two terms.

Center spread roster (click to embiggen):