Deconstructing Old Ads with Bill Sonnett:Let There be Light
I'm sure that many of you like myself grew up fishing from the bank at night, listening to the roar of the Coleman lantern. Aside from the bright light and the noise, the thing I remember most about those days was the pile of dead and dying mosquitoes and their relatives that accumulated around and on top of the lantern as they were attracted by the light and fried by it's considerable heat. If placed near the edge of a dock, a minor feeding frenzy would develop when the local sunfish found the bonanza of dead and dying insects falling on the surface of the water. Occasionally, I or one of my fellow high school age buddies would get our monofilament line too close to the lantern and instantly pay the price. I guess I've always associated the Coleman Lantern with fishing.
While looking through the May 1917 issue of Outdoor Life I came across this ad which brought back many memories as well as educated me on some points. I didn't know that Coleman Lanterns had been around that long and they appear not to have changed all that much. I also see that the name of the company back then was the Coleman Lantern Company. I hope this ad causes you to reflect on as pleasant memories as it did for me.
-- Bill Sonnett
I still remember my childhood, fishing in central texas, my uncle would take the lantern and say, "hey sam, come look at this!" He would place a coleman lantern on the dock and I would marvel at the gradual swarm of fish attracted to the light! Certainly that played a role in my fish addiction!
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