Object of the Day: Toasted Corn Flakes

Click on image to be the Sweetheart of the Corn.  If you dare.

Will Keith Kellogg, a former broom salesman, began working with his brother, John Harvey Kellogg at Michigan’s Battle Creek Sanitarium to develop a healthy vegetarian diet. There, they created corn flakes as a healthful breakfast. By 1906, W.K. had begun manufacturing and marketing his famous corn flakes for the public from a plant in Battle Creek. At the time, the company was called “The Battle Creek Toasted Cornflake Company.” Early marketing campaigns, however, quickly realized the value of assigning a family name to the brand and the product became known as “Kellogg’s Corn Flakes.” By 1914, all advertising highlighted the Kellogg name and by 1922, the name of the company was changed to Kellogg’s.

Here, we have one of the very first Corn Flakes ads from 1906. These are really difficult to come by, and, oddly enough, this one came to me as something of a surprise—casually included with a lot of ephemera which I’d purchased.

Clearly preserved in an album for over a century, this 1906 trade card is in excellent condition. The reverse is still lined with the pink page of the album in which it was once mounted. With its image of a robust young lady embracing some corn (as one does when one is the so-called “Sweetheart of the Corn”), the card definitely reinforced the notion that this cereal was a nutritious foodstuff.

I wonder how this lass earned the title of “The Sweetheart of the Corn.” Hmmm…

Let’s see what it says beneath the nifty picture of the early Corn Flakes box.
THE white heart of the beautiful pearly corn,
flaked to wafer thinness and toasted to just the
right degree of dainty crispness—is just as sweet
and good and wholesome as the Sweetheart in the
picture—that’s Kellogg’s Toasted Corn Flakes.
     Nothing better for breakfast, summer or winter.
     Why not let our Sweetheart be your Sweetheart?
     Kellogg’s Toasted Corn Flakes is everybody’s
Sweetheart. 



Well, aside from the offering of the corn lady as everyone’s sweetheart, this sounds like something I’d have written. It’s just a nice way of saying—“Corn. Eat it.”

Print of the Day: Force, the Wheat Malt Cereal, 1903

Force Cereal Advertisement
1903
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This advertising poster from 1903 was printed in America for a British cereal concern. “Force” Cereal was one of the first to introduce a brand mascot. The character was known as “Sunny Jim.” He was created by Minnie Maud Hanff and Dorothy Ficken who worked for the Edwardian advertising agency of Earnest Elmo Calkins. Sunny Jim appeared on many a large billboard in the 1900s and quickly became a popular pop culture figure who, by the 1930s, was one of the most recognizable characters in Britain as well as in the U.S.

Unusual Artifacts: A Deceptive Glass, 1820-1830

Deceptive Glass or "Lick"
Britain, 1820-1830
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Long before people expected outrageously large servings, consumers were content with, in some cases, just a satisfying taste of a favorite treat. Take, for example, ice cream. In the early Nineteenth Century, ice cream and ices—especially those served at the seaside as a cooling treat—were not offered up in giant scoops, but were sold as a “lick.”

With the advent of new “ice cream making machines,” these frozen novelties were quite en vogue. But, people didn’t really want a whole bowlful. Instead, they wanted just enough to cool them off and give them a nice taste in their mouths. And, so, glasses such as this one—called “licks” or “deceptive glasses”—were commonly used by vendors at the beach and at fairgrounds.

While the glass looks as if it’s a normal drinking vessel, it’s not. It is, in fact, almost entirely solid glass. There’s only a modest indentation in the bowl which allows for a smear of ice cream to be applied by the vendor. This smear would be licked off and the glass returned to the vendor who would, in most cases not washing it first, apply another smear and sell it to the next customer.

The lick is constructed of solid leaded glass and makes for a rather attractive, sparklingly clear artifact. The vessel was made by hand and probably took two people at once to construct. 

Print of the Day: Force, the Wheat Malt Cereal, 1903

Force Cereal Advertisement
1903
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This advertising poster from 1903 was printed in America for a British cereal concern. “Force” Cereal was one of the first to introduce a brand mascot. The character was known as “Sunny Jim.” He was created by Minnie Maud Hanff and Dorothy Ficken who worked for the Edwardian advertising agency of Earnest Elmo Calkins. Sunny Jim appeared on many a large billboard in the 1900s and quickly became a popular pop culture figure who, by the 1930s, was one of the most recognizable characters in Britain as well as in the U.S.

Object of the Day: Toasted Corn Flakes

Click on image to be the Sweetheart of the Corn.  If you dare.

Will Keith Kellogg, a former broom salesman, began working with his brother, John Harvey Kellogg at Michigan’s Battle Creek Sanitarium to develop a healthy vegetarian diet. There, they created corn flakes as a healthful breakfast. By 1906, W.K. had begun manufacturing and marketing his famous corn flakes for the public from a plant in Battle Creek. At the time, the company was called “The Battle Creek Toasted Cornflake Company.” Early marketing campaigns, however, quickly realized the value of assigning a family name to the brand and the product became known as “Kellogg’s Corn Flakes.” By 1914, all advertising highlighted the Kellogg name and by 1922, the name of the company was changed to Kellogg’s.

Here, we have one of the very first Corn Flakes ads from 1906. These are really difficult to come by, and, oddly enough, this one came to me as something of a surprise—casually included with a lot of ephemera which I’d purchased.

Clearly preserved in an album for over a century, this 1906 trade card is in excellent condition. The reverse is still lined with the pink page of the album in which it was once mounted. With its image of a robust young lady embracing some corn (as one does when one is the so-called “Sweetheart of the Corn”), the card definitely reinforced the notion that this cereal was a nutritious foodstuff.

I wonder how this lass earned the title of “The Sweetheart of the Corn.” Hmmm…

Let’s see what it says beneath the nifty picture of the early Corn Flakes box.

THE white heart of the beautiful pearly corn,
flaked to wafer thinness and toasted to just the
right degree of dainty crispness—is just as sweet
and good and wholesome as the Sweetheart in the
picture—that’s Kellogg’s Toasted Corn Flakes.
     Nothing better for breakfast, summer or winter.
     Why not let our Sweetheart be your Sweetheart?
     Kellogg’s Toasted Corn Flakes is everybody’s
Sweetheart. 



Well, aside from the offering of the corn lady as everyone’s sweetheart, this sounds like something I’d have written. It’s just a nice way of saying—“Corn. Eat it.”

Object of the Day: An Antique "Dining Room" Trade Card

Here’s another trade card from my growing collection of ephemera.  This one is unusual in that it’s much smaller than most and it also advertises a specific restaurant as opposed to a brand.  It’s awfully cute.  Don’t you think?

On the obverse we see the typical Victorian image of a child.  This little lad is dressed in a red jacket over an apron.  Clearly, he’s meant to represent a little baker delivering a basket of bread.  He looks a wee bit concerned about it for some reason.

The card advertises:

COSMOPOLITAN 

DINING ROOMS,

For Ladies’ & Gent’s (weird apostrophe use and all)

700 Washington & 8 Kneeland St.

BOSTON      Over.

The reverse is slightly damaged.  However, it does show the establishment’s menu which is pretty interesting.  I’m going to try to reproduce it for you as best I can.  Lines indicate where I can’t make out the text.  I wonder what “Min…  Fish” is.

BILL OF FARE

------------------

Boston’s Best Cup of Coffee with

Cream,                                                  5 (cents)

_____ and a Large Bowl of Milk    10

Bakes Beans with Bread and Butter,

Tea or Coffee                                     10

Hash and Meat    “   “    “    “            10

Fish Balls              “   “     “    “           10

Min__  Fish         “   “     “    “           10

Stews and Chowders                        15

Full Dinner                                         15

_______ak                                       15

Roast Beef                                          15

Oyster Stew                                       20

Pastries, all kinds.  Home Made

Pies 5 Cents

______gs, 5c.  A plate of Doughnuts

With Cheese, 5 Cents

K. BROOKS, Prop’r.

Tickets Sold at a Discount

Object of the Day: Arlene Francis’ “No Time for Cooking,” 1961

The doyenne of early television, Arlene Francis, was involved in so many things—Broadway, film, lavish parties and mixing with the most elite of the elite. She was also, it seems, a fan of vacuum-packed meats as evidenced by her 1961 sort-of cookbook, No Time for Cooking.


Of course, more than a real cookbook, this was a multi-page ad for FlexVac of New Jersey who made their living sealing cold cuts and other perishable products into slick, plastic shrouds. They got themselves a star to sell their meat cozies, and they produced this book.

It’s rather bizarre. Taking into account that the worlds of cuisine and food styling have changed over the last sixty years, it’s still quite odd and quasi revolting. There are some perfectly normal things, like Eggs Benedict (which employs packaged ham to its fullest) and, then, there are…

Well, let’s look. Shall we?

“I’m Arlene Francis. Before I take my Lucy Ricardo dress to go see Dorothy Kilgallen, I like to bring her a basket full of vacuum-sealed meats. She loves the cold cuts, you know. I just know that she and I will be friends until we’re both really old. Here’s to Dorothy Kilgallen and here’s to my friends at FlexVac! I love packaged meat! How delightful.”

“This looks normal. Right? It’s breakfast. Nothing strange here at all. How delightful.”

“I love to eat pudding in my living room. Look! Someone made a pineapple totem poll! How delightful!” 

“Even artificial birds in whimsical cages love a good loaf. This loaf of an unidentifiable meat has been wrapped in fat! I love loaf! And these Long Island Iced Teas help it go down really smoothly.  How delightful!”

“Nothing says ‘Midnight in Manhattan’ like an elegant tureen filled with beans and carefully-arranged, dissected wieners. I’m sure my guests won’t recoil in horror when they see this. How delightful!”

“When my friends at FlexVac asked me to write this book, I jumped at the chance. Whatever did we do before we had the pleasures of vacuum-sealed meat? It’s delightful. Right?”


No time for cooking

Living the Belle Époque: A Beautiful Summer Salad

I don’t know about where you are, but it’s miserably hot here. Even with air conditioning, the heat has a way of taking away a person’s appetite. For many of us, the last thing we want to do after driving in the heat is to come home and prepare a hot meal. A healthy solution is a gorgeous summer salad like this one. Fresh green, avocados, carrots, artichoke hearts, cucumbers, hearts of palm, radishes and multi-colored tomatoes cushion candied walnuts, dried cherries, fresh strawberries and blueberries. Add the tang of blue cheese and a light Dijon mustard vinaigrette, and you’ve got a meal that you’re happy to devour after a sweaty day.

Always a favorite of mine--any time of the year--I typically request this salad for my birthday dinner.  With one of my mother's amazing cheese soufflés, this is a dinner worth the wait.