It’s the Real Thing: Coke’s First Wall Sign Pops Up

James Couden may have been a better salesman than a painter, but it is his artwork that is attracting attention. Preservationists Alison Free and Aggie Ferguson have put in a month of work on the side of Young Bros. Pharmacy in Cartersville, Ga., about 30 miles northwest of Atlanta, to bring to light what Atlanta-based Coca-Cola executives agree is the first of its kind--a Coca-Cola wall sign painted 95 years ago. Restoring the large red-and-white sign, which says “Drink Coca-Cola,” was the idea of the pharmacy’s owner, Dean Cox, who said townspeople had told him he had a historic treasure under layers of paint on the wall. “I’d heard the rumor for years,” Cox said, “and then I finally got confirmation from Coca-Cola that this was the first painted wall sign.” Coca-Cola representative Randy Donaldson said the original sign was painted in 1894 by Couden, who set the precedent for what later became a standard offer: Sell Coca-Cola in your shop and the company would paint your wall for free. “Couden was a salesman first and painter next,” Donaldson said, “so his sign is not quite up to specs. The letters are kind of squashed.” Free and Ferguson, who operate a restoration company called Signs of the Times, used heat guns and spatulas to chip away layers of old paint.

--Leonard Bernstein is attending his 50th college reunion in style. Bernstein, 70, was to conduct the Boston Pops in a Symphony Hall concert for his fellow members of Harvard University’s Class of 1939. In honor of the occasion, the 100-member orchestra was to perform “Fair Harvard” and “Radcliffe, We Rise to Greet You.” Other program highlights include selections from Bernstein’s own “West Side Story.” Pops conductor John Williams was to lead the orchestra in two pieces composed in honor of Bernstein’s 70th birthday last summer. They are Williams’ “To Lenny! To Lenny!” and Toru Takemitsu’s “For Lenny’s Birthday.”

--Roy Rogers has a new role--county commissioner. Rogers, 76, was born Leonard Slye in Cincinnati but grew up on a houseboat in Portsmouth, Ohio, and later in Duck Run. He and his wife, Dale Evans Rogers, were guests at a banquet in Portsmouth at which a resolution proclaiming Rogers an honorary Scioto County commissioner was presented to him and a celebrity auction was held for the Roy Rogers Scholarship Fund. “I’ve seen everything from the horse-and-buggy days to a man on the moon. I feel like I’ve grown up with everybody,” Rogers told the diners.