The Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum® (www.safarimuseum.com) has announced that several trademarks are now available for domestic and international licensing that relate to the iconic couple who blazed remarkable pioneering trails as adventurers, explorers, documentary film-makers, authors, and naturalists in the early 20th century.

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Osa and Martin, North Borneo 1935. (Photo: Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum)

Osa and Martin, North Borneo 1935. (Photo: Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum)

“From 1917 to 1936, the Johnsons camped in some of the most remote areas of the world and provided an unmatched photographic record of the wildlife and cultures of Kenya, the Congo, British North Borneo and the Solomon and New Hebrides Islands,” says Conrad Froehlich, Director of the Safari Museum®, in Chanute, KS, Osa’s hometown.

“The trademarks and designs connote the exciting heritage of the Johnsons’ courage, intellect, and romantic adventures,” says Froehlich. “The museum also has a vast archive of photographs, lithographs, movie posters and images potential licensees would find of interest and value.”

Tom Busch, museum Licensing Program Manager, notes that some of the trademarks were used previously by American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. for its Martin + Osa U.S. store chain.

“These trademarks convey a link to one of the world’s most interesting and inspiring stories of adventure,” says Busch. “Clothing, outdoor gear, travel, home furnishings, lifestyle concepts, amusement rides and exhibits are among the numerous product line possibilities.”

“Martin and Osa went trekking before there were tracks to follow,” says Froehlich. “They were the pioneers of globe-trekking seen now in television shows such as Planet Earth and National Geographic Explorer. Before Lowell Thomas's High Adventure and Marlin Perkins's Wild Kingdom, Martin and Osa brought the wilds of Africa and the South Pacific to world film audiences. Before King Kong, they filmed Congorilla. Before Katherine Hepburn graced the Nile on the African Queen, Osa Johnson traveled it on the Livingstone. Before Hemingway wrote The Snows of Kilimanjaro, the Johnsons were flying air safaris to the mountain rooftop of Africa in their own airplanes.”

The available trademarks include Martin+Osa®, a stylized M/O® logo, the M+O® mark, Martin and Osa Johnson Trail Stars®, and the Osafari™ design mark.

“The Johnsons were brave and dedicated naturalists whose popular feature films and best-selling books revealed wildlife and native cultures that most people at the time never dreamed existed,” says the museum’s honorary trustee Jack Hanna, animal expert and director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. “They captured the public’s imagination as a romantic pair living one of the greatest real-life love and adventure stories of all time.”

After Martin’s death in 1937, Osa embarked on the second phase of her life by writing her best-selling autobiography I Married Adventure, making numerous public appearances, working in the war effort during WWII, developing a designer clothing line, and writing children’s books.

Licensing benefits the museum’s programs in global education, exhibitions, preservation, research, curation, and outreach. For trademark information contact Tom Busch, 913-491-5500.