Will Adams, Jr.: The Monthly News Logo

          The Monthly News logo appeared between the words Monthly and News at the top of every issue’s front page.  It consisted of an anchor with the stylized letters B and A on opposite sides of the anchor.  There is a reason for this logo.



          In the 1930’s there were many soap operas on the radio.  One of these was “Don Winslow and the Navy.”  Although these were called soap operas, the most frequent sponsors were breakfast cereals.  Often the sponsors would give free prizes for sending in a certain number of box tops.  Some time in the mid-thirties Will and Bert saved enough box tops to order a stamp which the navy program sponsors were offering.  They knew it would be an anchor with their own initials.  They both ordered one with the initials, “BA.”



          Why?  Because Bert’s and mother Beulah’s initials had always been BA, and Will was still known as Billy, and their father William was called Bill by family and friends.  So the initials of every family member were BA.

By the time the family got the first issue going in summer of 1942, Billy had become first Bill and then Will (to distinguish him from their father).  The stamps were still lying on their desks, so it was easy to just stamp them at the top of each issue.  There never seemed to be any reason to change the logo, so thus it remained throughout all 29 issues.