1948 · Marvel
Hit Parade
No depicted setting. flat, unmodulated pale ground with a pink/magenta airbrushed cloud behind the title, blue chevron and arrow shapes running down the left and right margins, and small painted music-note and paper-scrap motifs scattered between figures..
- Year
- 1948
- Maker
- Marvel
- Type
- Electro-mechanical
- Display
- Backglass lights
- Players
- 1
Vision analysis
On the backglass
Written by a machine from the photos, so details may be off.
Backglass
- white
- pink
- orange
- yellow
- dark green
Fingerprint: Enormous arched HIT PARADE lettering with white letters outlined in black backed by jagged pink-orange-yellow shadows reading like flames, heavily chipped paint surface chalky white throughout, coloured score bars resembling torn labels, scattered cartoon band members with large blonde woman in bright yellow gown reclining in chair dominating right half
The most memorable feature is the enormous arched HIT PARADE lettering, its white letters outlined in black and backed by jagged pink, orange and yellow shadow shapes that read almost as flames against the worn white ground. The whole surface is unusually battered: paint is chipped away to a chalky white everywhere, the coloured score bars look like torn paper labels, and pasted cream cards cover the lower centre. A steep visual contrast runs between the neat geometric score ladder on the left and a scatter of cartoon band members on the right, dominated by a large blonde woman in a bright yellow gown reclining in a chair. A small top-left badge carries a yellow crown-like burst above the numerals 1 and 2 and a solid green dot.
Setting
- No depicted setting. flat, unmodulated pale ground with a pink/magenta airbrushed cloud behind the title, blue chevron and arrow shapes running down the left and right margins, and small painted music-note and paper-scrap motifs scattered between figures.
Symbols
- A yellow crown or starburst burst at top left above two dark circles; a solid green dot inside the second circle; blue rounded chevron brackets flanking the left score ladder and at the right margin; small painted paper scraps and music notes scattered on the ground; two small cream rectangular cards pasted over the lower-centre art, one bearing a faint grid of squares.
Lettering
- Condensed geometric sans-serif capitals with black keylines and multi-step pink/orange/yellow airbrushed drop shadows for the title; the score numerals use the same outlined block style with the trailing three zeros set smaller and underlined, in white on coloured bars or in dark red, blue or black on the round badges.
Themes
- Hit parade
- Chart ranking
- Musical band
- Singer
- Pianist
- Saxophone player
- Dancing couple
- Pin-up woman
- Score ladder
Title on it
- Hit parade
Text on it
- HIT
- PARADE
- 1
- 2
- 900 000
- 800 000
- 700 000
- 600 000
- 500 000
- 400 000
- 300 000
- 200 000
- 100 000
- 90 000
- 80 000
- 70 000
- 60 000
- 50 000
- 40 000
- 30 000
- 20 000
- 10 000
| Kind | Description |
|---|---|
| Other | Nine human figures. upper left vignette: a man in sunglasses and a green shirt playing a saxophone. upper centre: a balding man in a bright yellow jacket seated at a piano. upper right: a blonde woman in a blue-and-white halter dress holding up a small black ball. right edge: a dark-haired woman in a pink top above a blonde woman in a red top, both cropped at the panel edge. centre: two small dancing musicians, one in a dark jacket and striped trousers and one with a guitar. lower centre: a painted portrait of a woman with orange flame-like hair. lower right, largest figure: a blonde woman with a jewel in her hair reclining in an armchair in a floor-length bright yellow gown with orange-red shading, her left arm resting on the chair back. |
A rectangular painted backglass in a light timber frame, its painted surface heavily chipped, scratched and flaking to a chalky white ground. Across the top, huge block capitals in white with pink, orange, yellow and black drop-shadow faces read HIT PARADE, arched across two words. Down the entire left side runs a stepped ladder of ten coloured name-plate bars, each carrying a score value in white and black numerals: 900 000 on red, 800 000 on peach, 700 000 on yellow, 600 000 on yellow, 500 000 on dark green, 400 000 on maroon, 300 000 on orange, 200 000 on orange, 100 000 on red. Across the middle and lower right are scattered circular and oval badges in yellow, orange, maroon, blue and green bearing 90 000, 80 000, 70 000, 60 000, 50 000, 40 000, 30 000, 20 000 and 10 000, with the later zeros set smaller and underlined. Small painted vignettes of a band fill the upper right, while a large seated blonde woman in a flowing yellow gown dominates the lower right. Cream paper scraps are stuck over parts of the glass.