Although the 1937 booklet presented here yesterday frequently used the word “gracious,” this postwar booklet is the first CP advertising I’ve found to use the phrase “gracious living.” Although this term has been around for a few centuries, in the late twentieth century it was identified with the aspirations of a growing middle class to leave behind their working-class roots.
Click image to download a 6.9-MB PDF of this 20-page booklet.
That meant, among other things, living in lovely suburban homes with tasteful interior decorations; attending cocktail and wine parties instead of drinking beer at a bar; and dressing well for dinners and evening ballroom dancing even at a resort built around outdoor recreation. “After years of tension and informality the world is turning again to the gracious in life,” opens this booklet: “soft lights, muted violins, the sense of well-being engendered by formal clothes.”
The booklet has no date, but the reference to “years of tension” suggests it was published in 1946 or, at the latest, 1947. It is filled with gorgeous color photos but still has a couple of pages of black-and-white photos that are throwbacks to pre-war advertising. The cover background is meant, I believe, to evoke the heavy curtains that might be found in a Banff Springs or Lake Louise hotel room.
Rather than put a photo on the cover, CP elected to use a painting by Leonard Richmond (1889-1965), a British painter who did many paintings of Canadian landscapes. His work for Canadian Pacific included contributions to other booklets and posters such as the one below.
Click image for a larger view of this poster featuring a painting by Leonard Richmond.