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“Square Eggs” of Science & Industry Week (day 1)

"Square Eggs" of Science & Industry Week

If “square eggs” once captured the imaginations of left-brained creatives, the same idea has also preoccupied right-brained, scientific types.

This time, rather than list all my examples in one long post, I’m doling them out one day at a time.

We, therefore, declare this: Square Eggs of Science & Industry Week. (A.K.A.: Egg2 Week.)

Day 1: David Adams, Eggs Having Artificial Shells, (1947)

… the rectangular shape of each egg greatly facilitates packing and packaging of eggs in quantity, with maximum utilization of all available space. Yet each egg retains its individuality and may be used the same as an ordinary egg. When its sealing tape 14 is removed, the cover section 12 may be lifted off and the egg substance in section 10 may be deposited wherever desired, such as into a mixing bowl or into a frying pain. If a boiled egg is wanted, one of my improved eggs, in sealed condition, will be deposited in boiling water and left for the required time.

Although Adams filed his patent above in 1949, he had originally tried to patent his idea in 1947. That was the year that newspapers and magazines across the U.S and Canada began publicizing his invention.

“Science Creates Square Egg; Hens Still Lay ’Em Round” says Vancouver Sun on Oct. 08, 1947

AT LAST — SQUARE EGGS! Any self-respecting hen would disown it, but the square egg has at last been invented — by man. It’s a plastic “cube” designed to hold the contents of a single egg with its shell removed.

Science Digest, 1948

[Read more…]

10 “Square Eggs” of Arts & Letters

Back in 2010, I wrote a post about “Egg-Deformers.” You know… those plastic devices designed to transform hard boiled eggs into a cube shape?

What I hadn’t fully appreciated at the time, and, indeed, has taken 10 full years to even dawn on me, was that “square eggs” have been a cultural thing for a very long time.

To wit, the following 10 examples… [Read more…]

Packaging (past tense): Claeys Candy Trapezoidal Box

The “puff ball juniors” trapezoidal box

It’s been a while since our last polyhedral packaging post. And too long since our last official “packaging (past tense)” post. Come to think of it, last month we didn’t manage to post anything at all!

So, when I saw this Michigan Carton ad in the September 1958 issue of Modern Packaging Magazine, I was like, “What have we here?”

Why is this woman grocery shopping with white gloves and a pillbox hat? And what is she holding in her hand?

Why, it’s a trapezoidal candy box with a triangular window! And it’s that type of trapezoid you get by combining 3 equilateral triangles.

Then, when I searched online for “Puff Ball Juniors,” I immediately found this postcard (below) touting their hexagonal retail display carton. And telling us that it wasn’t just “puff balls” that came in such a box. Claeys Candy also sold “Cream Nut Clusters” and “Vanilla Creams” in these trapezoidal boxes.

Claeys’ Displays

Michigan Carton Co. may have also produced Claeys’ hexagonal counter display box. Looks like it held 32 of the trapezoidal boxes, and even included a built-in, trapezoid-shaped header card. I searched for patents covering the package and/or the display box, but (aside from the postcard) I found nothing.

The back of the postcard says:

COUNTER DISPLAY UNIT

New — Attractive — Different

Self-contained unit. Just remove lid, and it’s ready to sell itself on checkout counters, aisle displays, or on your regular shelf.

The only other evidence I’ve found of their trapezoidal candy boxes, is this IGA ad from 1955:

The South Bend Tribune, published this ad for Ray’s IGA in 1955. The same 3 candies mentioned on the Display box postcard are also cited here under the heading, “CLAEY’S WINDOW BOX CANDIES.”

Claeys Candy was founded in 1919 by Jerome C. Claeys. It was based in South Bend, Indiana —where Pete Buttigieg is now mayor, although he was not yet born. (Being as it was 100 years ago.) And he also wasn’t yet born in 1958, when this trapezoidal box was for sale in the area.

The company still exists, although they now specialize in old-fashion hard-candies, and their branding is now more old-timey, as if to capitalize on their 1919 origins.

Their mid-century trapezoidal box, however, proves that (for a while, at least) the company had tried to make their packaging thoroughly modern.

See also: 3 Trapezoidal Toothpaste Packages, Trapezoidal Packaging Patents, and Trapezoidal Boxes (in general)

The Provensen “Kellogg’s Zoo” (locating the lost critters)

Tony and Katy: 2 members of the Provensen Frosted Flakes Zoo

Leo Burnett and the Sugar Frosted Flakes “critters”

When Leo Burnett’s ad agency began creating a menagerie of product mascots, some started calling it “the critter agency.” And yet, of all the “critters” that the agency launched, Tony the Tiger probably stands apart. (First on four legs, and then just two.)

Originally called “Tony the talking tiger,” Tony was by no means the only critter developed for Sugar Frosted Flakes. The company also developed at least five other animal characters.

Some have written that Tony the Tiger was created by children book illustrators, Alice and Martin Provensen (on right). And some have written that Martin Provensen single-handedly created him.

Tony first appeared in 1952, but even the Provensens’ daughter is not sure if he was created solely by her father or as a joint effort between both of her parents.

Alice Provensen, Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator of children’s books, dies at 99
Matt Schudel, The Washington Post, May 2, 2018

Former ad men at Burnett, however, tell an entirely different tale.

We don’t mean to re-litigate any of that. We’ll just acknowledge that the tiger character’s name, concept and some preliminary artwork were already in place before Provensen(s) ever got involved. And that one or more Provensens created the final, finished illustrations.

What’s undeniable, however, is that Alice and Martin Provensen did make a number of animal character illustrations for the Kellogg Company.

Supposedly Kellogg’s goal was to have a character for every letter of the alphabet, but only Tony and Katie [sic] ever made it onto the box.

David Hoffman, The Breakfast Cereal Gourmet, 2009

The Kellogg’s (Provensen) Zoo

Some claim that Kellogg’s held a contest, letting consumers pick the mascot. Kellogg’s Australian website actually says so, but I can find no evidence to support this. The company did create a split run of packaging: some with Tony the Tiger, some with Katy the Kangaroo. And both of those characters appear in some television commercials. But the Provensens also made illustrations of 5 other Sugar Frosted Flakes animals.

Including: Newt the Gnu, Elmo the Elephant, George the Giraffe, Zeke the Zebra and Pete the Porcupine.

If you hunt around the Internet, you’ll probably find the odd picture of Tony’s old friend, Katy the Kangaroo. But what ever became of all the other Provensen critters from that early “Kellogg’s Zoo” is a mystery. They seem to have… disappeared.

Leif Peng, The Provensens & Tony the Tiger, Today’s Inspiration, 2009

We’ve done some hunting around the internet and have rounded up these missing Provensen critters… [Read more…]

Kellogg’s Variety Pack: “settles all differences” campaign

Kellogg's Variety Pack

Kellogg’s Variety Pack as peace-maker

We ended our previous post with a 1959 commercial showing how Kellogg’s Variety Pack could satisfy a consumer with differing Jekyll-and-Hyde cereal tastes. A year earlier, in 1958 Leo Burnett (Kellogg’s advertising agency) created this “settles all differences” campaign.

Here, they illustrate the ways in which Kellogg’s Variety Pack “settles all differences” — between people who are actually different people. Although 5 of the 7 people depicted are not technically people. (Including, as they do: bull, dragon, wolf, lion and lamb.)

But the real mystery here is: who did the loose and loopy, watercolor/ink illustrations?

[Read more…]