In 1937-39, the Chrysler Corporation recruited America’s greatest celebrities to market the DeSoto line.

Chrysler’s DeSoto division got off to a respectable start in 1929, but by the mid-’30s the new brand was struggling. The highly advanced but unconventionally styled Airflow models had failed to find an audience, and sales nearly flatlined. By 1937, DeSoto had returned to an entirely conventional product line and a tried-and-true marketing strategy, the celebrity endorsement—a sales technique as old as the car industry that continues to this day.

As the star of numerous Hollywood hits including A Farewell to Arms and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Gary Cooper was one of America’s biggest movie stars when he appeared in this print ad for the 1937 DeSoto, above. The Desoto line that year consisted of one model, the six-cylinder S-3, offered in two wheelbase lengths, 116 and 133 inches, while prices ranged from $770 to $1,220, firmly in Oldsmobile-Buick territory. As the driver of several Duesenbergs, Cooper was a noted film-colony car buff himself, and the endorsement deal reportedly included a new DeSoto.

The endorsement campaign was greatly expanded in 1938, with Hollywood luminaries Bing Crosby, Deanna Durbin, Eddie Cantor, and others joining the team, which also included bandleader Ben Bernie, boxer Jack Dempsey, noted cartoonist Robert Ripley of Believe It or Not fame, and broadcaster Lowell Thomas. (We’ve got Thomas narrating a 1938 tour of the Ford Rouge plant here.) In the colorful illustration above, the radio journalist calls the action at an air race, with aircraft swooping a few feet above his head. “It’s America’s smartest low-priced car!” proclaims Thomas, whose familiar sign-off phrase was “So long until tomorrow.”

For 1939, the print campaign was given a more contemporary look with color photography, while the celebrity spokespeople included Spencer Tracy, Walt Disney, Ginger Rogers, Carole Lombard, and America’s favorite romantic leading man Tyrone Power, below.

While the celebrity ad campaign was memorable, we can’t say it was wildly successful, as DeSoto’s annual sales stumbled along in the 40,000 to 80,000 range, far behind Chrysler stablemates Dodge and Plymouth. For 1940, DeSoto reverted to a more straightforward marketing strategy with the spotlight on pricing and features. Of course, in 1950 DeSoto would acquire its most familiar celebrity spokesman, Groucho Marx.