Not everybody chuckled at ‘A buck well spent….’

“A memorable early example of [Elliott White Springs‘ circa 1950 magazine ads for Springmaid sheets] was proposed by his friend Dr. Robert McKay [a Charlotte urologist]. ‘What would you say to this — an Indian lying on a sheet, about half-dead, with a pretty squaw just leaving him? You could call it “A buck well spent.” ‘ Springs needed no more….

” ‘A buck well spent on a Springmaid Sheet,’ the ad proclaimed. [It] became a sensation….

The Woman’s Home Companion played into Springs’ hands by refusing to publish his ad until it was redrawn to place both feet of the comely squaw on the ground, rather than posing her in the act of descending from the hammock. [He pulled the ad instead.]”

— From “War Bird: The Life and Times of Elliott White Springs” by Burke Davis (1987)