Looking Back at Vintage Mid-Century
Marcelline Stoyke Designed Barbecue Trays
If you hang around antique stores, antique malls, and even yard sales you are bound to eventually come across some large red metal serving trays from the 1950s and 1960s. Often these 19” diameter, bright red trays feature different designs with a man barbecuing outside or maybe in or near a kitchen or game room. These metal lithograph serving trays often go by the unofficial name “Stoyke BBQ Trays” after the name of the designer, who sometimes signed her last name on the art. There are also instances of her using her first name, Marcelline, on the art as well. Marcelline Gougler Stoyke was a freelance designer for several different companies, but her some of her most popular and frequently seen designs were barbecue trays from the late 50s to early 60s made by Social Supper Trays – a product line made by American Art Works of Coshocton, Ohio. Vintage advertising show us these originally cost between $1.00 - $7.50 purchased new in the 1950s, but often these were used as promotional giveaways, as well.
I first came to know her work growing up and spending time at my maternal grandparent’s house. In a back utility room, where my Grandad would listen to Cincinnati Reds games on the radio, hung a large red metal tray on the wall. The large plate showed a man tending to a piece of meat on a rotisserie dressed in a large chef’s hat and apron, while it looks like a poker game has been going on at a nearby table. I don’t recall them ever telling me anything about the plate, or where it came from. It was just always there, really close to where my Gram would keep fresh baked cookies for me to eat while visiting! At the same time, I was also being exposed to classic Tom & Jerry episodes like “High Steaks”, 1962’s Gene Deitch created episode where the “Clint Clobber-like” character is trying to grill a steak on his outside BBQ grill. The combination of the cartoon’s visual style as well as the plate’s imagery in my formative youth in the 1970s really painted this outdoor barbecue tray “image” in a very positive light. Decades later my Gram, knowing how much I loved the tray over the years, gave it to me to hang in my own home. After getting it and wanting to know more about it I started doing some internet sleuthing!
That would have been in the early 2000s when I was given the above tray, and there wasn’t much available to read online then about these pieces – but over the years I would start to see these on eBay, other websites, and then of course out antiquing in person. As online ancestry and census information became available on the internet I slowly was able to put a bit of a back story to the artist, and it made me even more appreciative of the piece as I started adding more and more of these special designs to my house.
Marcelline Gougler was born in Louisiana in 1912 and married Eugene Stoyke in 1940. Gene Stoyke was a well known architect who designed the Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket building on Route 66 in Willowbrook, Illinois in the 1940s, as well as many other homes and businesses in the area. Gene designed the Evanston home that he and Marcelline raised their family in, as well. Living just north of Chicago, Eugene was often used as the model and inspiration for many of Marcelline’s artwork which depicted a man barbecuing at the home! Her designs weren’t just limited to Social Supper Tray, but you can also find the outdoor BBQ designs on milk white Federal Hocking glasses, mugs, dinner plates, and other pieces in the set. She also created art for H.J. Stotter, Pickard China, Kenro, Sears & Roebuck, and many more.
As I started to seek out more of these trays I discovered the variety of her designs, and that they weren’t just limited to the BBQ motif or even that particular MCM style that she used. Much of her work looks like traditional tole painting, and one particular example I like is of a white tray with a rooster. An example of that is displayed in my mother-in-law’s kitchen, which happens to be rooster and chicken themed. I’ve also seen the rooster on a primarily black tray, too. Other pieces of her seem more whimsical and abstract. One particular piece that I put out each Christmas is one of the classic red trays with a Christmas tree scene. It more closely resembles the style used in the BBQ images, but without any people. The Christmas tree is surrounded by a doll, train set, and a rocking horse and I like to think that old Saint Nick had just left the house leaving gifts for the kids!
Other variations on the trays I have seen are smaller diameter round trays with the same BBQ images, as well as rectangular and square pieces. One can also find some “Americana” designs that are done in a navy blue, and some black and yellow trays with different barbecue and grilling designs. Some will also have advertising names printed on the back showcasing company names as they were often used as promotional giveaways by gas stations and auto parts stores, such as NAPA. Below is a square shaped tray with the back shown in another photo featuring a gas station attendant called “E-Z Ed”. This early 60s tray was a giveaway from Oklahoma based ‘E-Z Gas’ stations, which would eventually become the EZ Go chain.
These Marcelline Stoyke designed trays still make great original MCM gifts today that are affordable and fairly easy to find in the wild. They make an beautiful accent piece for your kitchen or outdoor grilling area. I have seen them as low as $10 to around $100, all depending upon its condition. Ones that have survived the past 65-75 years without any rust and denting obviously command a higher price, and it seems like the Christmas themed trays trend a bit pricier than the typical BBQ themed ones. And they are cheap enough that you can actually USE them for your own outdoor barbecue needs! But please don’t do it with one that’s in mint condition! Put those up on the wall! Do beware though - just a few short years ago I started seeing imported Chinese made copies using these exact designs on newer inferior plastic and cheaper metals products, as well as stick-on decals! But thank goodness that seems harder to find now than the REAL Ohio-made mid-century made trays!
If you have any questions or comments, please email me at [email protected]
Below is a smaller 16" diameter Stoyke tray that is displayed on a friend's wall in Villandry, France.
