Chessie (mascot)

Common card · No. 424742

Chessie was a popular cat character used as a symbol of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O). Derived from an etching by Viennese artist Guido Grünewald, the image first appeared in a black and white advertisement in the September 1933 issue of Fortune magazine with the slogan "Sleep Like a Kitten." The advertisement makes no mention of the cat's name. When the ad generated a positive response, the railroad developed an advertising campaign around the image and chose the name Chessie as a derivation of the railroad's name. The promotion proved widely popular and, in addition to national print advertising, grew to include calendars, clothing, and even two children's books about the character. Chessie's mate was Peake, who was introduced in the June 1937 issue of Life magazine and was the father of her two kittens, "Nip" and "Tuck". During World War II, the Chessie character was used to promote War Bonds and support for the war effort, depicted as working on the home front to support...

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