Drink responsibly, or you will swell up like a balloon and also spill state secrets to spies

Here's a weird variant on the "loose lips sink ships" ads, from the Dec, 1944 issue of True.

"Too much 'gassing' is dangerous!" -says HI to HATT (Dec, 1944)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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betatron

Heyyy! I have a couple bottles of Kessler in my liquor cabinet; just made some screwballs (hand squeezed oranges) a couple nights ago. Got turned on to it by Clyde, an occasional caller to the Roe & (now) Roeper show on WLS. It’s a pretty respectable basic whiskey.
Gulliver

I still prefer the animated version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgABkFTAyVE
pjcamp

Make drunk, not stoned.
RebNachum

The assumption seems to be that more people were inhaling nitrous oxide in 1944 than drinking blended whiskey, causing the latter to suffer economic distress to a degree instantly recognizable to the reader of the ad. Anybody know if that’s true?
Skep

I thought it was saying that people should get hammered on Kessler’s whiskey before going to the dentist rather than take NO and leak all their secrets.
Anonymous

This ad is better known as the first recorded use of Comic Sans in a publication.
Nash Rambler

“Smooth as silk, but not High Hat.” So, what, it’s for distinguishing hobos everywhere? Geez, the past is a weird place.
Brainspore

Is it just me or does the word bubble on the right imply that guy is literally talking out of his ass?
Boba Fett Diop

That’s why I take nitrous and whiskey in combination. That way I can’t even remember any of my secrets. Or my name, for that matter.
Anonymous

Traditionally you got soused before you let a dentist use a drill on you. Ever have a low-speed drill in your mouth? NOT like modern high-speed dentist drills, not at all. Your whole skull shook… gives me the willies even now, and I haven’t experienced it since I was a little kid.
Anonymous

That looks way too much like Comic Sans in that ad.
Mujokan

“To gas” means to talk a lot, or talk too much. “High hat” means to be snooty. I think the mascots are meant to distinguish the brand by means of contrast.