I know that you all love Pins From the Bag, and anxiously await the next installment. Your anxiety and waiting have come to an end!
Did you know that 1961 was the year of Kansas' centennial? I sure didn't. I wasn't born yet, so I didn't get the memo. I also didn't know that Olney, England and Liberal, Kansas were rivals in Pancake Day Races (this would be the 12th International event), a sport that would soon eclipse the World Cup.
I'm not a big fan of store-bought orange juice (though the frozen concentrate has its advantages). That's what I get for years of being spoiled by grandparents who had 40 citrus trees in their yard. Fresh-squeezed juice every morning, as much as you wanted! However, I like this button, with the charming character of "Tropic-Ana", girl from some sun-drenched island, carrying a banana leaf full of oranges on her head. The addition of that tiny dot representing a belly-button ("navel", get it?) was apparently a milestone.
I also love Reddy Kilowatt, the lightbulb-nosed mascot who was introduced in 1926 - 100 years ago! - he served as a corporate spokesman for electricity generation in the United States and other countries. This button was intended to have the name ("Hello My Name is Sherman") of a participant at some unknown event. There are some great RK advertising items that I covet, but they are very pricey.
I thought that stale bread was great, until I tried Freihofer's fresh loaves! As you can see, there was a Code Cop to ensure that there was no funny-business going on. He'd hit each loaf with his billy club, and if it didn't spring right back, it went into the bin. Just grab a slice of Feirhofer's from the sanitary paper wrapper, and spread some soft butter on it. Delicious!
This one is not from THE BAG, but I included it because the Freihofer's name was familiar to me due to this Mickey Mouse Globe Trotters button (I do have one, but it was easier to just find a photo online). Various bakeries and dairies participated in the Mickey Mouse Globe Trotters promotion, I saw one collection of over 40 different varieties fetch over $1,800. The Freihofer's button seems to be among the most common.
Another pancake-related button! This time for Aunt Jemima's Pancake Club. Do people really need more encouragement to make pancakes? Try some with chocolate chips, you won't be sorry. Some like them with sliced bananas, but that's not my thing. My mom likes to put butter and raspberry jam on her pancakes, and I admit it's amazing. Pancake days are here again!
And finally, another centennial celebration, this time for North English, Iowa. The town was named after the English river; Franklin Pierce was President at the time. As you can see, North English is in the southeastern corner of the state (about 20 miles southwest of Cedar Rapids), and in 2020 had a population of 1,065.
I hope you have enjoyed today's Pins From the Bag!
Major-
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun assortment of pins. (A little known fact is Tropic-Ana and the Freihofer Code Cop were secretly dating. I know-!)
Somewhere I have that very same Reddy Kilowatt pin. You're not kidding about some of the rare Reddy Kilowatt items - especially the figural glow bulb - and the many bases seen beneath those bulbs. One of my Reddy Kilowatt oddities is a box of three, small bars of hand soap with a red & blue color 'decal' applied to one side with Reddy intoning: Plug-in I'm Reddy... Electricity is Clean.
Thanks, Major.
I like the "Pancake Day" pin. Not sure what it's about though. What does England have to do with it? And why is Kansas called Liberal Kansas? (How ironic!) Lots of stuff going on in this pin, and I like the colors.
ReplyDeleteEither Tropic-Ana is only about four years old, or she's very under-developed in the chest area. That green lei is doing a good job covering up whatever, if anything, might be up there. I always buy the frozen concentrate, too. (Or just eat fresh oranges.)
I remember seeing Reddy Kilowatt quite often when I was a wee kid in the fifties. He was on signs and on TV. He looks pretty good for a centenarian. He doesn't look a day over 60!
What an odd product campaign: A cop, policing bread freshness. Seems kind of threatening to me. But I guess the times were different then. The "Freihofer's" name doesn't help much either.
I like the Mickey pin! A really nice rendition of rubber-hose Mickey. Plus, it has the vintage font style that they used for Mickey cartoons back in the day. The colors look nice, too.
Well, the Aunt Jemima pin certainly is eye-catchingly bright! I'm more of a waffle guy than a pancake guy. Pancakes are too doughy. Waffles have a bit of crispness to them.
I wonder if North English, Iowa had a larger population in their centennial year of 1954 than they did in 2020? I like the artwork, but the color is rather bland. Still, If this pin was included in a display amongst other pins, I'm sure it would look nice.
Again, hard to pick a favorite. I guess It's the Kansas Pancake Day pin; love those colors! Mickey is a close runner-up.
Thanks, Major.
Do you ever get stuck when going through your pins? Thank you for your sacrifice!
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of Freihofer bread. Is that a Midwest thing?
Thanks, Major
Zach
Wowee-wow-wow, it's a great day for pins! I'm running late thins morning, but I had to stop and check GDB, and I'm glad I did!
ReplyDeleteYou know, it's hard running a footrace from Kansas to England across the Atlantic. Take a step, come up for air, take a step, come up for air, etc. All while making sure your pancake doesn't float away.
I've bloviated here before about my childhood relationship with Reddy Kilowatt, and I'm tickled to see a bit of Reddyana I hadn't seen before!
Back when frozen orange juice concentrate came in plastic containers, we always saved them to use as juice glasses, and the ones with Tropic Ana were my favorites. She was such a cheerful breakfast companion, much nicer than the store brand logo. I remember more than once trying to balance a bowl on my head like her, but I probably ended up looking more like Snoopy.
I'm deeply confused by the Freihofer's Bread Cop. If there's one thing I've learned from old-timey gangster movies, it's that John Law doesn't WANT us to get fresh, see? So there's one rule for bread and another rule for the rest of us? The whole system's out of order!
@zach, we have Freihofer's bread in New York, but I'm not sure where else it's sold.
There are some real gems in today’s selection, Major.
ReplyDeleteI agree about orange juice too. We lived near citrus farming areas (Orange Cove, Lemon Cove, etc.) and navel oranges were easy come by. Never did figure out what oranges had to do with ships.
I’m calling out Reddy Kilowatt here. We used to get little newsprint comic books describing his adventures with admonishments to avoid sticking hair pins in power sockets. Are hair pins even used any more? How do race cars turn?
I’m just trying to stay ahead of the Bread Police. Thanks Major!
JG
Reddy Kilowatt is my automatic favorite for me. I remember in elementary school getting the handouts of Reddy Kilowatt telling the story of electricity and power in color comics form.
ReplyDeleteLots of nice pins today. Thanks, Major.
Nanook, I’d like to think that Tropic-Ana dated the Code Copy at least 15 years after her picture was drawn! I would love to have one of those cool “glow bulbs”, I saw one at the Glendale collector’s show, I think it was priced at $400. I’ve never seen Reddy Kilowatt soap, but my mom has red plastic Reddy cookie cutters that have been in her cookie cutter box since I was a small child (the cookies are just his head shape of course).
ReplyDeleteJB, I don’t understand the tie between England and Kansas, it sure doesn’t seem like it makes sense. Funny how “liberal” has become a very dirty word to some. Thank goodness for Tropic-Ana’s lei, I say. I remember my mom used to make some sort of frozen dessert using orange concentrate, and I loved it. Haven’t had it since I was a wee lad! Somehow I don’t think many products would use a cop as their mascot these days, but maybe I’m wrong. I like the Mickey pin too, though it is not officially part of today’s listing! I wish I had a photo of that collection of 40 different bakery/dairy pins. The Aunt Jemima pin might be my favorite because it looks like a mid-century cartoon. And yes, North English must have been pretty tiny back in 1954, maybe a few hundred folks? Hard to imagine.
zach, ha, I actually have been stuck by the pins on rare occasions. For the pins that are especially “dangerous”, I have put pieces of silicone tube over the pointy ends! I’m guessing that Freihofer’s was either a midwest thing, or a pre-1960s thing.
Melissa, after WWII, the folks in England were pretty tough, and running to Kansas with pancakes was no big deal. If I had access to some sort of a workshop, I’ve thought about making my own Reddy statue, maybe with an LED lightup nose. I love that you used those frozen juice containers as glasses… I have some old Mickey Mouse jam jars that were supposed to be used as drinking glasses when the jam was gone. I think there’s another Freihofer’s pin with a tough little kid (wearing a derby), “The Freshest Around” or something.
JG, it’s fun for me to remember going to my grandma’s house and picking a huge, heavy bag of oranges (navels or Valencias depending on the season), to me there was nothing more delicious than fresh-squeezed orange juice. I miss it! I think I remember Reddy Kilowatt comics. Why stick a hairpin into a light socket when a fork will do?
K. Martinez, sounds like you and JG remember the same comics! I don’t think we got them in school, but I do kind of remember them, so maybe that’s how I saw them.
In my rush, I didn't have time to pick a favorite pin before!
ReplyDeleteI can't go by sentimental favorites today, or there would be a four-way tie: Tropic Ana, my erstwhile breakfast buddy; Reddy Kilowatt, my constant childhood companion; I grew up on Freihofer's baked goods (OMG, their chocolate chip cookies, in the tan box that looks like wood-grain, with the plastic window, were our go-to whenever we had storebought cookies that didn't come from the Millbrook outlet store - can you imagine a 25-cent loaf of bread today?); I have a modern retro Mickey pin with what I'm pretty sure is that same mouse-with-a-suitcase artwork in my jewelry box as we speak.
So that leaves the truly unique sister-cities pancake race, The Aunt Jemima drummer that kinda sorta makes me think of the art of Tom Oreb, and the Iowa Blue Plate Pioneers. I'm tossing out the drummer because I think his slogan falls flat. Flat as a pancake! (har har) The Iowa Pioneers almost won it on the strength of the artwork alone. That's something I would literally frame and hang on my wall. Beautiful. But then I checked a calendar, and it turns out there WAS no August 68th in 1954! Nuts to North English, Iowa and your false advertising! If you had coughed up the extra half a penny for the hyphen, you could have beat those intercontinental pancake racers, but they win this time!
(When I zoomed in on the Liberal/Olney racer silhouettes on the big screen, they made me think of the updated chase scene in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, but with frying pans instead of rolling pins.)
There used to be Langendorf bread here on the west coast, back in the day. Haven't seen it for half a century though. "Freihofer". "Langendorf". Sounds like a lot of Germans became bakers as soon as they left Ellis Island.
ReplyDeleteFreihofer's was a big bakery in Philadelphia. Now it appears to be part of the massive baking conglomerate Bimbo.
ReplyDelete