HAPPY NEW YEAR?

(Source of image: Florida State Archives)

Well, here's one for "Wheel of Fortune" fans: What was the message to be?  These 12 staff members worked at the Jacksonville advertising agency Newman, Lynde, & Associates. The rooftop photo dates from December 1946 and was meant for a company Christmas card, according to the Florida State Archives. Apparently, an artist was supposed to fill in the letters later.  The greeting "Merry Christmas" wouldn't have fit, and neither would "Happy Holidays."  However, "Happy New Year" is a nice match.  To see if this is what was intended, does anyone have one of these old Christmas cards?

By the way, this downtown picture was snapped at the southeast corner of Laura and Adams.  The roof belonged to a commercial structure that's no longer standing across from the old Elks Club Building.  The long-gone, multi-windowed Seminole Hotel, designed by Henry Klutho, appears in the distant right center.  With the letters backwards, the hotel's sign is visible on top.  On the spot of the hotel today is the Bank of America Building, a tall, blue, pointy skyscraper. 

On the extreme right of the image is the Barnett National Bank Building, which dates from 1926 and remains in use.  Immediately behind the staff members are two windows in the Florida Life Building, a Klutho-designed structure from 1911 that the City of Jacksonville has recently planned to preserve.  In the middle of the photo, the low building with the sloping roof used to be a bank that boasted a classical look with columns.  It occupied the northwest corner of Laura and Forsyth.

The offices for Newman, Lynde, & Associates were in the Old Florida National Bank at the northeast corner of Laura and Forsyth.  The City of Jacksonville will be preserving this columned structure from 1902.  M. Thayer Newman served as the ad agency's president in 1946.

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