Founded in 1907, the American Thermos Bottle Company became the leading manufacturer of vacuum-insulated flasks. This letterhead was used in 1915, two years after the company opened its primary manufacturing plant in Norwich, Connecticut. In the top-left corner, the devil and an Inuit each hold a Thermos; beneath them, the company slogan: "It is never too hot or too cold for the man with a Thermos bottle."

Source: AbeBooks

Used by Hal Roach Studios in the 1930s, this star-studded letterhead is a who’s who of comedy gold—Laurel & Hardy, ZaSu Pitts, Thelma Todd, Charley Chase, the Taxi Boys, and the endlessly charming faces of Our Gang. You can practically hear the slapstick.

Source: Heritage Auctions

Known as the “Working Man’s Monroe”, Jayne Mansfield was a 1950s Hollywood star who lit up screens in films like The Girl Can’t Help It and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? before being tragically killed in a car crash at the age of 34. It was in the 1950s that she used this stationery.

Source: Heritage Auctions

Born in New York City in 1915, Bob Kane was the co-creator of Batman, the legendary caped crusader who first appeared in Detective Comics in 1939. This gem of a letterhead, with its dramatic use of Batman’s cape as a framing device, was used by Kane in the 1950s, and I love it dearly.

Kindly submitted by its owner, Richard Miller

For decades, Tom Hanks has championed the charm of old-fashioned correspondence, collecting typewriters and writing letters with infectious enthusiasm. I have personally seen a handful of different letterhead designs used by Hanks over the years, and this one, from the 2010s, is especially lovely: a small illustration of a typewriter holding a sheet of paper that bears his trademark sign-off: “Hanx”.

Kindly submitted by Charlotte H.

Playstreet, Inc. were a New York architecture firm reinventing children’s playgrounds in the 1960s through bold, modular design—and this was their letterhead. Created by Herb Lubalin’s agency, Lubalin, Smith, Carnase Inc, it was art directed by Annegret Beier and lettered by Tom Carnase.

Kindly submitted by Jackie Walker

Even on paper, legendary animator Chuck Jones couldn’t resist a good chase. As co-creator of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, he spent decades orchestrating their beautifully doomed pursuits across the desert—and in the 1990s, they made their way around stationery that felt anything but stationary.

Submitted by Paul Matthews, to whom I owe thanks

Born on this day in 1923, Marcel Marceau was the world’s most famous mime—a man who spoke volumes without saying a word. At first glance, it may look like he’s idly doodled across the top of this particular page, but in fact this illustration—presumably by Marceau—appeared on all of his correspondence for decades.

From my personal collection

Ginger Rogers’ late-1940s letterhead is, in a word, cool. And fittingly so. A Hollywood icon, she was famed for her effortless grace and legendary dance partnership with Fred Astaire in films such as Top Hat and Swing Time. That her stationery was this stylish feels entirely right.

From my personal collection

Louis Armstrong’s 1971 letterhead featured a portrait of the man himself alongside his famous nickname, “Satchmo.” Short for “Satchel Mouth,” he earnt and happily embraced the moniker during adolescence as a result of his wide, joyful grin and impressively large mouth. This particular letterhead was used as late as the final year of Armstrong’s life.

Submitted by T. Compton

Gene Shalit's delightful letterhead from the 1980s—featuring his signature wild hair, thick moustache, and oversized glasses—leaves no doubt as to who’s writing. Playful, bold, and instantly recognisable, much like the legendary film critic himself. Oh, to have received a letter on a sheet of this stationery.

Courtesy of Gordon Anderson

In the 1990s, Charlie’s Angels star Farrah Fawcett used this fantastic letterhead—a playful nod to her surname that risks falling flat in the UK, where such a fixture is called a “tap.” Years ago I was shown another of Fawcett’s letterheads, and at the top it simply read “Double F.” She clearly enjoyed stationery.

From the Collection of Joseph Banks

Terrahawks remains, in my humble opinion, one of the most unsettling children’s TV shows ever made. While ostensibly a sci-fi adventure in the vein of Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds, it was pure nightmare fuel—thanks largely to Zelda, the grotesque alien crone who haunted my childhood. Set in the far-off future of 2020, the series imagined a world where Earth’s last line of defence against alien invaders was a team of heroes battling Zelda’s monstrous forces. This stationery was used by Anderson and team during the show’s broadcast, which ran from 1983 until 1986.

Many thanks (I think) to Charles for sharing this with us.

From the late 1940s, this is novelist Henry Miller’s bold letterhead from Big Sur, where he spent years in relative isolation—writing, painting, and embracing a simpler life. The artwork was by Bezalel Schatz, an Israeli painter who collaborated with Miller on Into the Night Life, an experimental book that combined Miller’s words with Schatz’s illustrations.

Source: University Archives

Born in 1903, Al Hirschfeld was known for his iconic black and white caricatures of Broadway and Hollywood figures, many of which appeared in The New York Times for decades. For his letterhead, he stuck to his signature minimalism: a simple portrait of himself perched atop the page, writing his own name.

Source: Swann Galleries

This was Michael Jordan’s iconic letterhead in 1993, the year he secured his third consecutive NBA championship with the Chicago Bulls, solidifying his status as the most dominant player in the game. It was also the year he shocked the world by announcing his retirement, following the tragic murder of his father.

Source: James Fowler

A suitably grandiose letterhead used in the 1910s by Barnum & Bailey, a circus of unmatched spectacle founded in 1881 by master showman P. T. Barnum and promoter James A. Bailey. After Bailey’s death in 1906, the Ringling Brothers purchased the show, then waited until 1919 to merge it with their own to form the legendary Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus—a name that would dominate the world of entertainment for decades.

Source: Holabird Western Americana

A magnificent piece of 1930s stationery from Robot Salesmen Ltd., a Liverpool-based company that sold vending machines. A great name. An even greater letterhead.

Source: Alistair Hall at We Made This

It was in 1979 that Bo Derek broke through with 10, the film that made her a star. This letterhead arrived the next year, when she and her husband, John Derek—a former actor turned director—formed Svengali, Inc. The press often painted John as Bo’s puppet master, controlling her every move, but Bo saw things differently. To mock the narrative, they commissioned renowned artist Frank Frazetta to design this stationery, ensuring the roles were reversed—Bo pulling the strings, John dangling below.

Kindly shared by Jason, the owner of this particular sheet.

Mademoiselle Paula, The Famous Reptile Conqueror, was a Bavarian-born entertainer who travelled around Europe with trunks full of snakes and crocodiles, daringly proclaiming—according to a news report—that she could “subdue, unaided and unarmed, any serpent, irrespective of size, and any man-eating alligator not exceeding 15ft in length.” That her letterhead was such a spectacle is less surprising than the tiny space left for an actual letter. Then again, she probably had her hands full.

Source: Natural History Museum