The First Pop Culture Lunch Box
What was your lunch box growing up? Mine was a Popeye box from 1968 with a Blondie thermos that my Mom bought at a thrift store. Everyone seems to have a place in there heart for their first metal lunch box. So how did these “treasures from our past” get their start? Let’s go back to 1950.
Lunch pails with cartoon characters go way back to the early 1900’s but the lunch box as we know it didn’t get it’s start until the early 50’s. That’ when the Aladdin company was faced with a challenge. Sales were slumping...their lunch boxes were so durable there was no reason to ever replace it. One box could last a lifetime. So they came up with an idea.What if we put a sticker on it of the most popular cowboy of the day?….Hopalong Cassidy!
This is kind of Marketing is called “Planned Obsolescence.” Which is a strategy where you increase sales by creating a demand for the same product to the same consumer. Much like our smart phones today. In lunch box speak that means your Care Bears box may have seemed cool when you were five...but when you were six it was about Transformers. Different year…Different Box.
Hopalong Cassidy and his fans
So who was Hopalong Cassidy? Hopalong Cassidy is a fictional character created by author Clarence E. Mulford in 1904. Actor William Boyd would first portray him in a series of sixty-six movies beginning in the 1930’s. Later Boyd would bring the same character to the small screen when it became one of the first westerns on TV. Hopalong Cassidy would become wildly popular. There were fan clubs, toys, and then of course… a lunch box. Making Boyd a huge star with kids.
The original Hopalong box came in either blue or red. The stickers with the curved edge means it was produced in 1950 or 51. If the sticker is square it was produced in 1952 or 53.
The bottle is even better. Nice bright image on a tough metal bottle. Far cry from the plastic bottles they would eventually evolve into.
Not to be outdone, Thermos soon jumped into the kids market with another Cowboy Star...Roy Rogers. Producing multiple different boxes over the decade.
Two Thermos Brand Roy Rogers boxes from the 1950’s
You’ll often see listing for these are “rare.” They are old, they are very cool, but they are not rare.Aladdin sold millions of these and the box itself is about as durable as it comes. So look around for a reasonable deal. They’re out there. Because if you are into vintage lunch boxes...no collection is complete unless it has the granddaddy of them all...Hopalong Cassidy.
