Here's a rare gem: "The Careless Family" pamphlet, with cartoons by Stanley Stamaty, created and distributed by the National Board of Fire Underwriters. Stanley is the cartoonist father of cartoonist Mark Alan Stamaty. This was all part of a kids' education project and was probably distributed to schools in the 1950s or early 60s by major insurance companies.
"The Careless Family ... They're Responsible for Most Home Fires!
CARELESSNESS causes most fires. And carelessness means people. Some of the members of the Careless Family are shown on these pages ...
... are YOU a member of the CARELESS FAMILY?"
And we get ten samples of careless people like Hoarder Hattie, Bert and Nessie the Blow-Uppers, Glow-worm Gertie and other alliterative careless family members. This is from a small stack of fire prevention pamphlets and other paper ephemera that I recently bought. This may be the only instance where we get to see a cartoonist's signature on the art.
Until recently I'd never heard of using gasoline to remove spots from clothing. But it must have been common once. In the 1930s they made a scare film urging people not to do it. ("More Dangerous than Dynamite" by the California State Fire Marshal. It's on YouTube.) I also found a memoir by a 1920s traveling salesman who described "dry cleaning" his business suit while on the road. He'd pour gasoline through it, then spread the suit over his Ford's hood. The engine heat dried it while he drove to the next town.
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