V-sign; OK-sign

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

V-SIGN

   From RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT, April 1937, pg. 328, col. 1 ad:

_Look Gay...Be Gay_
in Smart New
Uniforms with
CHEERIO _Print_
_Accessories_...
   There's a gay spirit in the air when waitresses wear HOOVER'S smart uniforms with flower-print accessories.  Pretty as a picture, yet perfectly practical...because, like _all_ HOOVER service uniforms, these too are tailored to give long service.  Order the uniform illustrated in maize or green... Sizes 14 to 46.
HOOVER
Creators of Original Ideas
FOR SMART UNIFORMS
251 West 19th Street . New York, N. Y.

(The waitress is smiling and giving the "V" sign to someone not shown.  What could this mean?  This was before Winston Churchill and before "gay=homosexual."--ed.)

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OK-SIGN

   This is showing up in a food context before Ballantine's beer advertisements (see ADS-L archive).  I read a few 1930s and a few 1950s RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT issues.

May 1935, RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT, pg. 340.  An ad for Frigidaire shows a chef making the sign.  All his fingers are curved and the circle is not quite finished, with the two fingers a hair apart.

May 1936, RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT, pg. 366, col. 1.  An ad for Calumet Baking Powder shows a chef making the sign.  "_Voila!_  What would you expect!  _Of course_, the FRENCH LINE uses Calumet!"
(On the same page, col. 2, is an A-1 Sauce ad that shows something very close to the "smiley"--ed.)

January 1937, RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT, pg. 3.  Thermotainer ad shows a chef spoon-tasting with one hand and giving the sign with the other hand.  "WONDERFUL!"

January 1937, RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT, pg. 70.  An ad for Hall Fireproof China shows a chef making the sign.

October 1952, RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT, pg. 110, col. 1.  An ad for Univex Vegetable Peeler shows a chef making the sign with his thumb and middle finger.

February 1954, RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT, pg. 59.  An ad for Angelica Uniforms shows a chef making the sign.