Mystic Answer Board. Chicago: Remington Morse, J.S.W., 1944. Lithograph affixed to hardboard Ouija board with central graphic of a fortune teller with the astrological zodiac symbols around the border. 11 7/8 x 17 7/8". Some chipping at perimeter, esp. to left side. Light staining and scuffing. Good.
“Remington-Morse, Inc. may be unique among Chicago-area talking board manufacturers in that it had an all-woman board of directors, including Henrietta Ross and Phyllis Wren, both of New York, and Edna J. Hoffenberg of Chicago, and Judith Kallen of Chicago. Henrietta Ross was the wife of Hamilton Ross, a New York industrialist and publisher who, beginning in the 1920s, established Hamilton Ross Factories, Inc. along with several other companies to manufacture and sell a line of patented lamps, silverware, plate sets, and other consumer goods.
"The duo engaged in an advanced marketing scheme where they for advertisements on popular products in advance before distributing them to regional markets, then shared profits of the advertised merchandise with local department stores, drug stores, and other retail outlets, a clever and profitable practice they employed with their beautiful Art Deco-inspired Mystic Answer Board, to great success."
– Brandon Hodge, The Mysterious Planchette