Offered is an original complete 1943 Esquire Varga Girl calendar featuring artwork by Alberto Vargas, with all 12 months still together in the original red binding.
What makes this example particularly unusual is the original advertising panel for Town House Cafe – Restaurant of Erlanger, Kentucky, with Jim Holloran identified as proprietor. While Esquire Varga calendars themselves survive in the collector market, examples retaining local business advertising are much less commonly encountered and offer an interesting crossover between classic pin-up art and vintage American advertising ephemera.
The calendar measures approximately 11 x 12 inches overall, with the illustrated calendar pages measuring approximately 9 x 12 inches.
Details
- Artist: Alberto Vargas (1896–1982)
- Esquire Varga Girl calendar
- Year: 1943
- Complete calendar with January through December
- Original red binding intact
- Original Town House Cafe – Restaurant advertising
- Location: Erlanger, Kentucky
- Proprietor: Jim Holloran
- Verses by Phil Stack
- Checkpayer bar tricks and puzzles printed on the reverse sides
- Overall size: approximately 11 x 12 inches
- Calendar pages: approximately 9 x 12 inches
- Original vintage item — not a reproduction
Condition
Very good vintage condition, especially considering the age and complete nature of the calendar.
All 12 monthly pages remain present and attached, and the original red binding is intact with no rips or tears. Most of the calendar pages are exceptionally well preserved, with several appearing nearly pristine. The illustrations retain beautiful color and display quality.
The January page has some age-related spotting and marks. No rips or tears were noted on the monthly pages or binding. The original advertising panel also remains attached.
Please review all photographs carefully, as they are an important part of the condition description.
About the Calendar
Alberto Vargas became one of America's most celebrated pin-up illustrators through his work for Esquire. His elegant "Varga Girls" became an iconic part of American popular culture during the World War II era.
Each month of this 1943 calendar combines a Vargas illustration with a verse by Phil Stack. The reverse sides feature period Checkpayer tricks—puzzles, challenges and bar bets designed to determine who would pick up the check.
The surviving Town House Cafe advertising panel makes this example particularly appealing. Rather than simply being a complete Vargas calendar, it remains an advertising piece connected to a specific Kentucky restaurant, adding another layer of social and commercial history.
From the Chuck Olson Collection
This calendar comes from the Chuck Olson Collection, an extensive archive of vintage calendar art, advertising prints and decorative artwork assembled over more than four decades. Chuck had a particular interest in surviving examples from the golden age of American calendar advertising.
This complete advertising calendar is an especially interesting survivor from that collection.
Will be carefully packaged for safe shipment.
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