The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 98, July 1994 - April, 1995 Page: 583
682 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Godfrey Flury's Billboard Advertising Business
as Rotary and the Country Club go together and both support the Chamber of
Commerce, so the church, the law, and the Republican party tend to hold up
each other's hands; distinctions are blurred under symbols.50
Although this social unity may have masked deeper divisions, the poten-
cy of these common symbols and practices of "Americanism" helped to
generate coherency in a time when an ethic of production was gradually
being displaced by an ethic of consumption. As an immigrant seeking as-
similation, Flury's involvement in business associations and patriotic ac-
tivities were crucial for expanding his business. Likewise, his
self-promotion as a progressive business man who was oriented toward
public service indicates his efforts to professionalize and mainstream the
heretofore marginal vocation of outdoor advertiser.
Historian Roland Marchand has characterized advertising men of the
192os and 193os as "mediators of modernity as well as its apostles."'' Un-
like the cosmopolitan ad men Marchand describes, Godfrey Flury was a
small business man who produced local, not national, advertisements.
Yet Flury was typical of many ad makers seeking social legitimation and
financial success who promoted commercialism while aligning them-
selves with traditional values. Flury developed strategies ranging from at-
taining spatial monopolies and linking advertising to urban
beautification to practicing professionalism and "Americanism." By the
time he sold his advertising business and retired at the end of the 192os,
Flury had played a significant role in the growth of advertising in Austin
and in the changing appearance of the outdoors. Flury had participated
in debates over beautification, the public good, private property, and
the legitimacy of advertising as a profession. His social practices of
demonstrative patriotism, local boosterism, and membership in net-
works of business organizations helped Flury to integrate himself into
the business culture of the 191os and 1920os despite his European ori-
gins.
Flury's form of image production, billboards, was symptomatic of the
increasing commercialization of American life in the early decades of
this century. The billboards' aesthetics, whether or not they signified
"natural beauty," were subordinate to the commercial aims of advertisers
who sought the public's attention. The efficient organization of con-
sumer attention marks an effective advertising strategy. Flury's efforts to
organize favorable attention to outdoor advertising and his attempts to
integrate advertising into the local social and visual landscape are quin-
tessential elements of the social history of American commercial culture.
50 Lynd and Lynd, Middletown, 493.
5, Marchand, Advertising the American Dream, 51.583
1995
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 98, July 1994 - April, 1995, periodical, 1995; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101216/m1/653/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.