Cascade Hoodpoint Fountain Pen 1950-1952

by Jim Mamoulides, January 17, 2025

Cascade Hoodpoint fountain pen black 1950-1952

Rexall is at it again!

This Cascade fountain pen came along with several other cheapies as part of a “bag ‘o pens” deal and has been sitting in a storage box waiting for a look. Having just last year dug into Criterion pens and discovering they were a Rexall brand, I thought, why not look up Cascade and see what happens? Sure enough, every advertisement with these pens is by a Rexall store or Rexall itself. A search of trademarks did not turn up a Cascade trademark for Rexall, so perhaps, reasonably, the company did not see the need to protect it for inexpensive writing instruments.

Cascade as a fountain pen brand is first seen in Rexall retailer advertisements in 1934. Advertisements for Cascade fountain pens and pencils, some with illustrations showing celluloid models, continue almost every year through 1944. Things then go quiet until 1950, when the Cascade pen shown in this article first appears as part of a coupon deal for a “$1.00 Cascade Fountain Pen” for 59 cents in the July 11, 1950 Greenwood, South Carolina Index-Journal. The offer had an expiration date of December 31, 1950, not exactly a rush. The pen was described as having a “rich gold finish metal cap” and having a gold plated medium point, steel tipped for long use.” That steel tipping is nothing more than bending the tines over to make a writing tip, a common way to save money instead of putting actual hard “iridium” tipping on the nib.

Clip from an advertisement in the Daily Times, Salisbury, Maryland, August 20, 1951

A review of 139 advertisements in 1950 shows this coupon deal was the primary way the fountain pen was offered. The $1.00 value is likely aimed at undercutting the Wearever Pennant, the leading low price pen at that time. Several were aimed at students. The Cascade fountain pen continued to be heavily advertised in 1951. I found 297 Rexall retailer advertisements running through September 5, 1951. Most were in the same coupon format, still declaring a $1.00 value but briefly in January and February the discounted price was 89 cents before dropping back to 69 cents in March. Maybe they didn’t sell well at 89 cents, only 11 cents cheaper than a Wearever Pennant. I found a single advertisement with a coupon sale at 59 cents in the April 5, 1951 Kosciusko, Mississippi Star-Herald. That there are no others tells me it was probably a mistake, a re-run of the previous year's campaign.

The first Cascade fountain pen and propel/repel/expel pencil set advertisement I found was in the August 13, 1951 Mangum, Oklahoma Star-News, giving the set a $1.98 value and offering it for 98 cents. The first mention of anything other than a medium point being available is in the February 8, 1951 Fort Worth Star-Telegram offering a coarse (broad) point pen. That is also the only place this Cascade model is called the “Cascade Hoodpoint Fountain Pen.” Is that the actual Rexall brand name? I’m not certain, but it does draw a distinction from later Cascade models, so I’ll go with that. Rexall put the Cascade fountain pen in their full page advertisements in major magazines such as Life, The Saturday Evening Post, Look, Collier’s Weekly, and the Country Gentleman.

Clip from an advertisement in LIFE, December 17, 1951

In 1952 there is a change to the design and a new model name: Cascade De Luxe. First advertised in the July 31, 1952 Boise City, Oklahoma News, the new “De Luxe” version has nickel plated metal caps and was available in black, green, coral or maroon. From what I've seen of Cascade Hoodpoint pens, it appears they were made in the same four colors. The new De Luxe fountain pen was a “$1.50” value for only 79 cents with coupon and the fountain pen and propel/repel/expel pencil set was a “$2.50 value” for $1.19.

Rexall contracted out many of their products similar to how store brands are done today. Early, 1930s, Cascade pens and pencils bear some resemblance to Eagle and Eversharp models, but I don’t have confirmation that they were the manufacturer(s). This Cascade resembles some of inexpensive brands in the early 1950s, such as Arnold, but I have not been able to pin down who actually made them. Arnold had the ability to gear up and crank out thousands of pens for a retail chain, but there isn’t a similar Arnold model that leads to them as an educated guess. Maybe one will show up some day!

Identification guide and features:

Cascade Hoodpoint fountain pen black 1950-1952

This article is focused on the first version of the 1950s Cascade fountain pen. There appears to be only one design with a lightly gold plated metal cap and barrel end and matching color plastic barrel and section with a hooded gold plated stainless steel nib. A nickel plated cap version appeared in 1952, and all plastic open nib versions appeared later. All have a similar look and CASCADE stamped clip, but advertising suggests that they were consecutive models, not all offered at the same time. There’s nothing but advertisements and pens and pencils to go on, so this guide is derived from observation.

• Injection molded solid color plastic barrel and section likely in black, green, coral, or maroon
• Gold plated metal cap and barrel end cap
• Gold plated clip stamped CASCADE
• Tapered plastic nib section that matches barrel color
• Gold plated side lever
• Threaded cap
• Unmarked gold plated stainless steel nib
• Nib has folded over tines rather than tipping
• Advertised as having medium or coarse (broad) nibs, though the test pen has a fine
• About 5 3/8 inches long capped and 5 1/2 inches posted
• Lever-filler
• Retail price for the fountain pen ranged from 59 to 69 cents, set with matching pencil 98 cents
• Pen packaging included paperboard boxes, but likely also countertop cards as was common in the 1950s

Performance

The example shown here needed an ink sac, and frankly I was too lazy to put one in just to say I tested it. Dip testing and a review of the fit and finish should satisfy the reader’s curiosity enough to help decide if you want to go binge on Cascade pens or not.

This black and gold Cascade fountain pen measures to about 5 3/8 inches long capped and 5 1/2 inches posted. The cap posts deeply and securely on the barrel. I was surprised that in spite of showing heavy use and quite a bit of plating loss, the fit and finish is pretty good, with everything feeling like it was assembled well and without too many cut corners as seen on cheap, similarly priced Wearever Supremes. The clip is nice and tight. The cap itself is all metal, meaning metal threads engage the plastic threads on the section, which makes it feel tight and secure when capped. The only noticeable defect is the plastic around the lever is bulging a little, a typical problem with low cost pens from the period.

Cascade Hoodpoint fountain pen black 1950-1952

It's not too light in the hand and to me feels best posted for writing. I dip tested the unmarked nib and it’s a dry writing fine, which was a surprise as not one advertisement for these pens even mentions fine points. My guess is that fine, medium, and broad nibs were generally available.

Are Cascade fountain pens collectible? Heck, no. Maybe if you’re bored or have run out of other pens to look at. My interest was more in the “What is this?” category, so I did a little hunting. If you really want to go for it, your mission is to find all four colors and three nib grades and see if there are any more to find. They’re not on eBay very often, so your best bet will be in the cheapie bins at a pen show. Good luck on that journey! Maybe one of the other Cascade models will show up and I can research them, too!

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Referenced PenHero.com Articles

Criterion Fountain Pen c. 1923-1926

References

Advertisement, Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, West Virginia, August 26, 1934, page 2

Advertisement, Collier's Weekly, March 10, 1951, page 51

Advertisement, Collier's Weekly, December 15, 1951, page 50

Advertisement, Collier's Weekly, December 13, 1952, page 6

Advertisement, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas, February 08, 1951, page 11

Advertisement, LIFE, March 5, 1951, page 13

Advertisement, LIFE, December 17, 1951, page 47

Advertisement, LIFE, September 15, 1952, page 141

Advertisement, LIFE, December 7, 1953, page 151

Advertisement, LIFE, September 5, 1955, page 82

Advertisement, Tallahassee Democrat, Tallahassee, Florida, March 02, 1951, page 7

Advertisement, The Berea Citizen, Berea, Kentucky, August 30, 1951, page 5

Advertisement, The Boise City News, Boise City, Oklahoma, July 31, 1952, page 8

Advertisement, The Columbus Telegram, Columbus, Nebraska, September 26, 1950, page 14

Advertisement, The Daily Times, Salisbury, Maryland, August 20, 1951, page 9

Advertisement, The Index-Journal, Greenwood, South Carolina, July 11, 1950, page 12

Advertisement, The Kansas City Times, Kansas City, Missouri, September 05, 1951, page 15

Advertisement, The Mangum Star-News, Mangum, Oklahoma, August 13, 1951, page 2

Advertisement, The San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, California, August 24, 1950, page 11

Advertisement, The Star-Herald, Kosciusko, Mississippi, April 05, 1951, page 5

Advertisement, Tri-County Banner, Knightstown, Indiana, January 25, 1951, page 3

Advertisement, The Commercial Advertiser, Red Cloud, Nebraska, August 08, 1952, page 5