Giant Fiberglass Figures Transform the American Sign Museum

The outdoor area of the museum’s new home will likely feature the 3-D fiberglass “sculptures” that were so popular from the mid-1950s through the late 1960s. A past column (March 2010) featured our 20-ft.-tall genie, which has become something of a mascot as it now stands over the walkway atop two 12-ft. poles at the museum’s entrance. Two other additions — a 16-ft.-long, trailer-mounted, pink pig and the most recent acquisition, a 16-ft.-tall, 3-D bowling pin — now sit in the parking lot awaiting installation.

“Kahnie,” as the pig was appropriately (and affectionately) named, was donated by Kahn’s, a Cincinnati meatpacking company now under the umbrella of Sara Lee foods. Kahnie had long been a favorite participant in Cincinnati events, and is most remembered for her many appearances in the annual Cincinnati Reds Opening Day parade. In keeping with current trends, Kahnie was replaced by an inflatable counterpart whose flexibility promoted more practical transportation and set-up. Word has it that Kahnie is already adapting to her new home.

She is being joined by “Pinhead,” a 16-ft.-tall fiberglass bowling pin that originally identified Greenbrook (NJ) Lanes. The acquisition began when Phil Smith, Jr. and his father, Phil, Sr. of Ace Sign Co. (Perth Amboy, NJ), saw me at last year’s USSC Sign World show in Atlantic City. They told me they’d had a huge bowling pin leaning up against their shop for at least 15 years and wanted to know if the museum was interested in it. With an enthusiastic “yes,” I told them I’d be up that way in May. Could they hold onto it until then? “No problem,” came the response.

Phil, Jr. later told me the whole story. “The bowling pin had been a local icon since the late 1950s,” he explained, “but the owner sold the business and opened a new bowling alley in nearby Manville and asked us to move the pin. He told us we didn’t need to install it: ‘Just move it to my new place and tie it down with ropes, and I’ll install it myself later.’

“It was not too long afterwards,” continued Smith, “that we got a call from the guy saying the police had called him, telling him to get the bowling pin out of the middle of the street ASAP or face the consequences. The guy had obviously not mounted the big guy properly. We went over and brought it back to the shop to await further instruction and never head from the guy again. That was at least 15 years ago.”
Smith said the smiling face was added sometime during the bowling pin’s tenure at Greenbrook, and that a tin-sheathed plywood top hat was added to top him off. The hat deteriorated over the years.

The bowling pin’s interesting history was not unlike the shop that rescued it. Ace Sign Co. was co-founded in 1928 by Phil, Jr.’s grandfather, David, and his partner “Ace” Friedman, a former boxer. Ace was the salesman; David was the signpainter. The shop got a big boost when it began doing work for Leon Hess’ then-fledgling oil company, Hess Oil, which was founded in Perth Amboy. The shop grew to employ eight signpainters at its height.

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In the early 1970s, Ace Sign expanded, offering backlit plastic signs to its local customer base. It continued to maintain its separate neon plant as it had since the beginning. Under Phil, Sr., the shop became a beta site for Gerber Scientific Products’ first vinyl cutter in the early 1980s; computerization was fully integrated by the late 1980s. Although Ace Signs’ days of employing eight signpainters are gone, it still paints some of Hess Oil’s local storage tanks. The company is currently operated by Phil, Jr. and his brother, David. Father Phil, Sr. is semi-retired.