This project was supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian Made accessible through a grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation and Photo Friends
Photograph was edited for publication purposes. In 1948, newspaper columnist Steve Ellingson had an idea. Watching his wife sew one day, he wondered if the concept of sewing patterns could be adapted to woodworking. Why not make full-size, traceable patterns for complex or curved project parts which could take some of the difficulty out of project building? So he drafted the first project and launched U-Bild Woodworking Plans. Ellingson enlisted television stars and other celebrities to help sell his product. Today, more than 60 years later, U-Bild is still selling essentially the same product Ellison first developed. Photograph caption dated March 9, 1962 reads, "Wooden feeding shelters like the ones shown here by television actress Darlene Tompkins can be built with patterns obtained by sending $1 in currency, check or money order to Steve Ellington, assortment No. C-12, Valley Times TODAY Pattern Dept., P.O. Box 2383, Van Nuys, Calif."
Tompkins, Darlene, 1940- U-Bild Enterprises (Los Angeles, Calif.) Television actors and actresses--United States Actresses--United States Mail-order business Woodwork--Patterns Woodwork Birdhouses Women Van Nuys (Los Angeles, Calif.) Portrait photographs
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