Many have asked over the years for the history and story behind our famous logo.
It all stared with a painting by artist Enoch Bowles in the 1930’s, who was making a living in New Jersey producing pinup style art for advertising companies. The model and inspiration for the Whoopee Girl was a young lady named Lorene Donaldson, whose photo was the inspiration for Enoch and his painting. Her image became a huge hit, she received thousands of letters from GI’s during WWII and even a few marriage proposals.
Enoch had met a fellow artist and silversmith in New York named Christian Stegman, who was there learning engraving. The pair became friends and in 1936 Enoch had asked Christian to develop a 3-D rendering of the pinup girl, commissioned by the Ogden Pioneer Days. In spring of 1936 Christian finished the master of the Whoopee Girl, originally only made in jewelers bronze, as an award for the event.
She was a darling hat pin with her twirling lariat, that was hand bent around each girl, and still made the same way today from the original master. She has been part of the Stegman family ever since.
Years ago we had to trademarked her image to protect our art and the art of Enoch Bowles for being used and extorted.
A mere 88 years later we're still producing and donating the Whoopee Girl Award for the Ogden Pioneer Days Pageant. This year Comstock Heritage added a donation of a scholarship to the winner, in remembrance of Judy Anderson, a long time director of the Ogden Pioneer Days Pageant and a long time Whoopee Girl.
The Whoopee Girl is a fine example of Western Legacy Art that has retained relevance and meaning spanning over 8 decades.
