Geezers’ Gallery - San Francisco's Golden Age of Advertising and the people who created it.

11/16/24, 11:25 AM

Name: Jack Fund

Subject: RIP Jack Allen

Message: I learned this week that my very first art director partner Jack Allen passed away on Veteran’s Day. He was 95. He was my mentor and lifelong friend.??Jack was a Seabee in the navy, Art Center graduate, an award-winning ad man, a commercial photographer (he photographed campaign for Levi’s among many, many others and even filmed Willie Mays with Sandy Koufax), and after he retired became a successful painter. His signature painting style was akin to Charles Wysocki and Grandma Moses, but also dabbled in other styles as well.??If you want to learn more about him, click https://geezersgallery.com/jack-allen-ad-man-photographer-painter. If you’re in advertising or want to know about the real Madman era, take a read.??Jack loved golf, vacationing in Hawaii, painting, and his wife Marge (more than anything). He once owned a classic Bentley convertible, but blew up the engine driving from San Francisco to Portland when a service attendance failed to properly tighten the radiator cap. As Jack would say, “Everything is temporary.”??I met him at Gerber Advertising in Portland, Oregon in the old police headquarters building. On my first day I got to work what I thought was early only to discover a gray-haired guy sitting in a barber’s chair in the office across from mine already. Yeah, a red leather and chrome barber’s chair. He wore a gray suit, red suspenders and shiny black wingtips. Turned out his name was Jack also. He was 55 at the time and I was 25. And while there was a generational gap, with his youthful energy and sense of humor, we might as well have been the same age.??Even though I was a copywriter, I asked Jack to teach me about art direction. And so he did. About typography and composition, layout and design. Not to mention a lot about life. He was supportive and generous with his time, wisdom and candor.??Jack was old school. He could comp up ideas faster than you could think of them. And if you walked into his closed office when he was comping, the fumes from the markers would just about knock you out. He had worked at Y&R in New York in its heyday for 25 years. He was an original madman.??And Jack was funny. Really funny. I’ll refrain from telling you some of the things over the years that made me laugh so hard. Only because, well, Jack could be a little (lot) inappropriate by today’s standards. God, I loved that. I truly did.??We’d go to lunch all the time at places that no longer exist. Opus 2. The turkey sandwich place in the bottom of the US Bank Building. A hot dog place in Yamhill market. Usually for $6 bucks or less. Jack knew my staring salary was tiny. Boy, he loved his salt. He would put salt on salt. I got him a cow salt lick from a country feed store for his birthday once. I made a card that accompanied it that read “What do you get a well-seasoned ad man for his birthday?”??We stayed in touch after I left Portland for Los Angeles with emails, letters and lunches. His wife Marge called us Jack Squared. So in our letters and emails over the years we referred to ourselves as Jack 1 and Jack 2. Clearly, I was number two. When I could finally afford it, I bought one of his paintings which still hangs in my home.??Later in life after Andi and I moved back to Portland, Jack called me up and wanted to have lunch at McCormick & Schmick’s next to the Bridgeport Mall. I figured he wanted to have lunch there because he knew prior to advertising I had been a chef at McCormick’s downtown. But he had something else in mind. Before lunch, we walked over to the Levis store. Low and behold, the storefront was full of photography that he had taken in the 1960’s. Turns out unbeknownst to him, Levis had found the images in their archives and gave them a second life. I was so happy for him, and he was rightfully proud. The photos were just as cool today as when it was originally photographed.??He was colorful, unabashed, kind, talented and fun. His best advice, “You don’t need to apologize to anyone for not giving your very best.”??My heart is heavy, but my soul is at peace knowing Jack is at rest and with Marge. I will miss his laugh and his guidance.??Rest in peace Jack 1.

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11/16/24, 12:32 PM

Dear Jack 2,

This is the most wonderful letter telling of our friend, Jack Allen. The closing line brought us to tears.
I had written a letter, mailed 10−30−24, to Jack and/or his family, there in Texas, to find out why I could no longer reach him by phone or email.

Thank you for reaching us, through Geezers’ Gallery.

Piet Halberstadt, in NYC, (my G.G. posting techie) knew Jack since Piet was young, when Jack was in the Halberstadt Studio on Vallejo Street learning some photograph methods from Milton Halberstadt.

Your writing is so full in the telling of Jack’s personality, on top of his fascinating career – – can I post this letter from you on Geezer’s’ Gallery?
Do you have photos from your time together?

With our mutual sympathy,

Ann Thompson and Dick Moore

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11/16/24, 1:14 PM

Yes, Jack Allen was something alright.
A couple years back Jack had sent me the link to the Geezer’s Gallery and I learned all kinds of things about him that I never knew.
Here’s a little grid of images I put together for the post I put on my Facebook page.
And, of course, feel free to share my story and photos of Jack.

Jack 2