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Main | 1949-1959 Part 1 | 1949-1959 Part 2

This year brought more combatants into the lunch kit trenches-- ADCO Liberty, Kruger, Ohio Art, Ardee Industries, and Universal. Although there was now more competition in the new frontier, Aladdin and American Thermos really had the wagons circled.

The little guys couldn't compete with the production volume of the big two, not to mention the marketing muscle. Ultimately, this dominance probably led to strong-arm tactics with retail chains selling "the competition." Aladdin and American Thermos would certainly have had more leverage over the smaller manufacturers-- can we say Microsoft?

ADCO Liberty was a metal stamping company, and produced kits between 1954 and 1956. Located in West Orange, New Jersey, ADCO produced The Lone Ranger (red and blue band), Howdy Doody, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, and three Davy Crockett lunch kits. ADCO stopped lunch kit production after a dispute with the Disney company.

Although ADCO Liberty fought briefly in the lunch kit war, their kits were actually sold as part of the Universal product line-- as seen in this 1956 magazine ad. ADCO boxes display "A Product of ADCO-Liberty Mfg. Corp., Newark, N.J. U.S.A." stamped into the bottom of the box.

Universal (Landers, Frary and Clark) produced steel boxes from 1954 to 1963. Universal hired outside artists to create their lunch kit art and hired Pittsburgh Metal Lithography to make the production sheets, which were then cut, stamped, and assembled in Universal's plant in New Britain, Connecticut.

In 1954, Universal rolled out four new lunch kits-- Superman, All American, Flag-O-Rama, and Gene Autry. Flag-O-Rama was the only box to use the "new" Universal box design. Superman, All American, and Gene Autry used the old ADCO design. The new Universal box design had a much wider rim and different handle.

Universal created some of the most sought after lunch kits-- including Superman (1954), Popeye (1962), Bullwinkle and Rocky (1962), and Carnival (1959). Universal also produced vinyl lunch kits from 1959 to 1961. In 1963, Universal ended lunch kit production. A plant fire and internal strife led to the company's demise.

General Electric purchased the company in 1965 and eventually sold the lunch box stamping equipment to Okay Industries. Okay Industries would later produce the very rare Underdog (1974) lunch kit-- probably their biggest achievement. Many people thought Universal was still in business in the 1970s because Okay also bought the remaining stock of thermos bottles-- which were stamped "Universal."

1 9 5 5... Aladdin hit a bulls eye with Annie Oakley and Tagg. The first girl lunch kit, Annie was also the first cowgirl to have her own TV show! Robert O. Burton designed this kit.

This was the year of Davy Crockett. Five Davy Crockett boxes were produced by three companies; ADCO Liberty, American Thermos, and Kruger.

Kruger Manufacturing Company was a Canadian company located in New Toronto, Ontario. Kruger made flashlights and fishing tackle boxes. For some strange reason in 1955, they produced a Davy Crockett lunch box. No records exist that document Kruger ever made another lunch box.

In 1955, ADCO produced the official Davy Crockett lunch kit for Disney, complete with matching steel bottle (this bottle is so rare, it fetches $2000.00 and up when it does sell). However, ADCO took it upon themselves to also produce two other Crockett boxes, with a non-Disney character, Kit Carson, on the reverse.

These two "non-official" boxes were basically the same, with each box having a different band design and each not displaying the words "Walt Disney's Official." These were the two boxes that got ADCO into hot water with Disney. ADCO also released another "official" box, but Disney never forgave the original sin.

Disney was irate. Disney (the man and company) was notorious for having final say in anything Disney related. If it bore the Disney mark, it was sure to have been given the final OK by the top brass at Disney. No money would be made off the "Mouse" without a license and proper royalty arrangements. After this unforgivable incident-- putting a non-Disney character on an "official" Disney box-- Disney broke ties with ADCO and turned the lunch kit license over to Aladdin in 1956. This partnership continued for four decades.

American Thermos produced the last Davy Crockett lunch box of that year. Davy Crockett was the only American Thermos box released with the Holtemp name printed on the box. All future boxes would be released as American Thermos or Thermos (KST).

Another "outdoorsman" joined the ranks as Aladdin released the Daniel Boone lunch kit. Aladdin also added another cowboy figure in Wild Bill Hickcock. The Western/Cowboy genre was in full bloom.

1 9 5 6... Aladdin was toying with the idea of adding full lithography to a dome box. It seems that children wanted a box like their fathers carried to work, but in a smaller "child size." Aladdin takes credit for first inventing the fully lithographed dome, but American Thermos recalls it a different way. American Thermos says that their Red Barn dome was "on the drawing board" in early 1956. They wanted to create a generic kit so they could save on licensing and royalty fees.

A woman from Michigan can take the credit, as she sent American Thermos a workman's dome box painted black and red to look like a barn. When the Red Barn dome debuted in 1957, she sued, and the case was settled out of court on unspecified terms.

In 1956, school girls were happy to take Junior Miss to lunch and Aladdin made it possible. This was the first box in a series that would span over 20 years.

Not forgetting about the horse, American Thermos releases Trigger. It must have made Roy proud.

ADCO Liberty ends lunch kit production.

1 9 5 7... A new breed of lunch kit hits the street-- the dome. The dome format allowed the artist to fully re-create and expand his imagination. The box could become a real 3-D object, like a treasure chest or a bus.

The dome box was served in two flavors this year-- Aladdin produced Buccaneer and American Thermos produced Red Barn. Buccaneer was a more brilliant, and far superior box to Red Barn-- both in terms of imagination and art. The box features illustrations of pirates, pirates ships, and coins. If you dared to look at the bottom of the box, you'd find a shark patrolling Davy Jones' Locker. Scary!

Buccaneer was another one of Robert O. Burton's masterpieces. If you look close on the box, you can see Burton's profile painted on several of the ten reale coins pictured. Buccaneer came with a magnificent matching steel bottle.

Red Barn was American Thermos' first attempt at a dome box-- and a bad one at that. Red Barn was just a dull box. It was a red dome with painted windows, roof, and doors. This box was hardly worthy to carry a kids lunch in. Subsequent incarnations of Red Barn actually included pictures of animals on the box, but it really didn't help this drab piece of lunch metal. The school lunch tray may have been more engaging.

Theses early domes paved the way for the domes of the 1960s. The Jetsons (1963) and Lost In Space (1967) are arguably two of the best dome boxes ever produced. If you have a Star Trek (1968) dome you are a very lucky person, as it is one of the most desired lunch kits ever made.

This year also saw Ohio Art produce their first rectangular metal lunch boxes-- Frontier Days, Sports Afield, Luggage (plaid), and Plaid Scotch. Not much of a box maker, Ohio Art turned down the chance to make the E.T. (1982) lunch kit. Obviously, this was a mistake.

Ohio Art produced lunch boxes in its Bryan, Ohio plant from 1931 to 1985. Originally, they started with small carry-all tins in 1931, and eventually made it to metal lunch boxes in 1957. Ohio Art stopped lunch box production in 1984. Some of the boxes that Ohio Art produced were Animal Friends (1978), Basket Weave (1968), Bond XX (1967), and Captain Astro (1966). Not noted for their brilliant artwork, Ohio Art seemed to do just enough to get by.

American Thermos released three Brave Eagle boxes, all with different colored bands-- red, green, and blue. Apparently not satisfied with enough variety, they released three Luggage Tweed boxes in blue, maroon, and tan. Also released was Teenager, in box and dome form.

The extremely rare Toppie kit was most likely produced around 1957, as the date is not completely certain. Toppie elephant was the mascot for a trading stamp store, Top Value Enterprises, Inc.-- located in Dayton, Ohio. The Toppie box and thermos were available only by collecting and redeeming Top Value stamps. There are just a few of these boxes known to exist-- with the thermos being even more rare.

Other Toppie items available for redemption from their catalog were: Toppie watch, Toppie wagon, Toppie kiddie cash register, Toppie clock, Toppie baby carriage, Toppie plush, and Toppie board games.

Aladdin also added to their lunch kit catalog with Disneyland (castle) and Jet Patrol.

1 9 5 8... Aladdin's Chuck Wagon dome and American Thermos' Circus Wagon dome hit store shelves. Two wagons are always better than one I suppose. Americana, Corsage, Dutch Cottage, Satellite (narrow), Plaid (red, yellow and green), and Red Barn (open doors) were all boxes that American Thermos produced this year. Aladdin offered Debutante and Zorro (black sky) besides the Chuck Wagon dome.

1 9 5 9... The first vinyl lunch kits were produced. Aladdin's Bobby Soxer, American Thermos' Ponytails, and Universal's Pen Pals all hit stores.

Vinyl boxes were created as a way to get girls to buy lunch boxes. Up until then, there were hardly any lunch box characters that attracted a girl's attention, and boxes were dominated by male themes.

Vinyl lunch boxes were not made to withstand the test of time. Once the vinyl split and water entered the cardboard interior, it was just a matter of time before it would fall apart. Since this is the case, vinyl lunch boxes in excellent condition from this era are hard to find today. If you do find one, be prepared to pay a lot of money. Boxes like Alvin And The Chipmunks (1963) can fetch upwards of $300.00 in excellent condition.

Ardee Industries also started making vinyl lunch boxes in 1959. A Maryland leather company, Ardee produced a line of generic lunch kits for discount chains like K-Mart and Woolworth in the 1960s and 1970s. During its life, Ardee produced 10 to 15 million vinyl boxes. These boxes were produced cheaply, and most feature a paper lithograph behind a plastic window on the front of the box. Ardee Industries went out of business in the mid-1970s. At the time of writing, K-Mart filed for chapter 11, bankruptcy protection. Like Ardee and Woolworth, K-Mart may be just another piece of "boxstory."

Some memorable boxes were released this year by American Thermos, Aladdin, and Universal. American Thermos gave us the Firehouse dome, Universal released Knight In Armor, and Aladdin brought us Gunsmoke.

Five thousand Gunsmoke kits were distributed to prospective wholesale buyers before a secretary caught the big mistake-- the boxes read "Matt Dillon U.S. Marshall." The word Marshal was misspelled with two L's. Hence, this box is referred to as the "Double LL" box.

Closing out the decade were Boating, Looney Tunes TV, Campbell Kids, and Porky's Lunch Wagon by American Thermos; Pathfinder, Plaid Scotch, Carnival, and Great Wild West by Universal; Steve Canyon and Globe-Trotter by Aladdin.

exit the 1950s... By the end of the 1950s, Aladdin and American Thermos (which would later become King Seeley Thermos or KST) ruled the cafeterias in our nation's schools. It was only a taste of what was to come, as the 1960s would bring even more innovation and design.

Continue on to the 1960s...

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