Someone talked

Second World War American 'careless talk' poster issued by the Division of Public Inquiries, Office of War Information, poster no. 18. It features the dramatic image of a drowning sailor in a black sea. He is pointing accusingly at the viewer, and simultaneously reaching out for help. Typical of warning posters of the Second World War the artist makes direct visual connections between cause and effect illustrating clearly the consequence of careless talk on the home front is the death of American sailors. The image takes up the whole with the title overlayed upper and lower centre printed in pale blue ink. Frederick Siebel (1914-1991 ) was born in Vienna, Austria and raised in a hop farm in Czechoslovakia. Siebel attended the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts) in Vienna, where he studied illustration and stage design. He arrived in the U.S.A. in 1936 where he established a career as an illustrator for publications including "Vogue" and "Collier's." Because of his dual citizenship, he was inducted to serve in the Czech Army from 1934 to 1936. He went back to Vienna in 1937 to arrange for his family to join him in New York City and then served in the US Army between 1941 and 1943. In 1942 he entered a poster competition, which was sponsored by the Devoe & Reynolds Painting Company and judged by Eleanor Roosevelt, among others, to create an image that would alert Americans to the urgency of protecting our nation’s security. His poster, the now iconic “Someone Talked,” won numerous awards. This poster was on display in an exhibit at Radio City and was distributed throughout the nation by The Office of War Information and has become one of the most historic Second World War American posters.