The “Watch Pocket”
In the above photo, notice that T.W. Randall has a pocket watch chain coming from a “watch pocket” in his trousers, secured to a belt loop. And notice that there aren't ANY other pockets on the front of his pants! The “watch pocket” was first introduced by Levi Strauss & Co. during the 1870s, Prior to that, men stored their pocket watches in their waistcoat (a.k.a. vest) pocket and attached it to a chain secured to a buttonhole. Levi Strauss & Co. was the first to recognize that hardworking men didn’t always own or wear a waistcoat. However, because the patent (at that time) expired after only 17 years, competitors soon included a “watch pocket” in their pants as well. During that time, wristwatches were primarily worn by women; and called “watch bracelets” because they were considered to be fashion jewelry rather than serve any real purpose. Consequently, prior to World War I, men seen wearing a wristwatch were viewed as effeminate. The “watch pocket” remained popular for several decades. Today, you will still see a “watch pocket” on many popular blue jeans (a tiny pocket peeking out from above the right front pocket), a relic from a bygone era.

“Belt Loops”
Also, notice that T.W. Randall was wearing pants with belt loops in the above photo. Bob Charnes, owner of Arizona Gunfighters, a re-enactment group, has seen belt loops on baseball uniforms dating back to 1857. Even so, he admits the “belt loops never caught on with the general public at that time.” Styles among men changed much more slowly during the 19th century than they did for women, so switching from suspenders and cinches to belt loops was a slow process.

Levi’s historian Lynn Downey says, “We first put belt loops on our 501 jeans in 1922. However, we didn’t remove the cinch and the suspender buttons. Older customers just kept using the cinch and suspenders. We took the suspender buttons off the jeans in 1937, but gave our retailers ‘press-on’ buttons for the guys who just had to keep wearing suspenders.”

The Modern Santa Claus

The current personification of Santa Claus, in his red suit with white fringe and a red stocking cap, was created by an Australian named Frank A. Nankivell, and appeared for the first time in the December 3, 1902 edition of “Puck” magazine (v. 52, no. 1344), the first successful humor magazine in the United States (featuring colorful cartoons, caricatures and political satire). This modern “version” of Santa Claus was soon popularized with Norman Rockwell’s cover of “Boys’ Life” published December 1913, depicting a couple of Boy Scouts rescuing Santa. Contrary to urban legend, Coca-Cola was not the first company to use this modern personification of Santa Claus in advertising. It was “White Rock Beverages” who first used the modern Santa Claus to advertise mineral water in the December 19, 1915 issue of the “San Francisco Examiner” (driving a motorized vehicle rather than a sleigh - even though a sleigh being pulled by flying reindeer was introduced to the Santa Claus narrative in 1821)²⁾… and the following year in the “New York Herald” on December 10, 1916 (flying a bi-plane rather than a sleigh - perhaps to depict a more modern, forward thinking Santa Claus). “White Rock Beverages” later expanded its advertising to include its line of ginger ale in 1923.

In 1930, artist Fred Mizen painted a department-store Santa in a crowd drinking a bottle of Coca Cola. The painting featured the world's largest soda fountain, which was located in the department store “Famous Barr Co.” in St. Louis, MO. Mizen's painting was used by the Coca-Cola Company in print ads that Christmas season, appearing in “The Saturday Evening Post” in December 1930. This inspired a major ad campaign by the Coca-Cola Company, which began the following year, featuring a coke-drinking Santa Claus drawing created by Haddon Sunblom, who continued drawing the ads until 1964.