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Main | 1960-1969 Part 1 | 1960-1969 Part 2

American Thermos was bought by King Seeley and would become King Seeley Thermos, or simply KST.

Although Universal was still making kits into the 1960s, they really didn't put a dent in the market, but did manage to release some of today's collector favorites.

An unusual and rare lunch kit from the 1960s was the VW Bus dome. The VW Bus was never sold in stores-- produced by Omni Graphics, it was given to individuals who purchased VW Transporter vans in the early 1960s. The box was paired with a generic Styrofoam thermos. This is the only lunch kit credited to Omni Graphics.

In 1960, Aladdin released Paladin, Col. Ed McCauley: Space Explorer, Disneyland (monorail), and Duchess. KST released Submarine, Plaid Tweed (red and blue), Satellite, and the domes Home Town Airport, Plaid (red and white), and Astronaut. Universal produced the Casey Jones dome and Ohio Art produced the School Days kit.

Ed Wexler created the Home Town Airport kit. Today, this is a very rare box and one of the finer examples of any dome box ever produced.

The Submarine box portrayed Seawolf, America's first ballistic sub. At the height of the Cold War, it seems KST was doing a bit of advertising for the U.S. Department Of Defense.

Elmer Lehnhardt painted the Col. Ed McCauley: Space Explorer kit for the 1959 TV series "Men Into Space." The series was short lived, as the U.S. Defense Department had script approval and would delete anything even remotely interesting.

The Astronaut dome was designed by the freelance artist John Polgreen. Polgreen also illustrated "The Golden Book Of Space Flight." Space exploration was jumping off the pages of science-fiction books and into the real world. Putting a man on the moon was only nine short years away.

Universal's Casey Jones dome was unlicensed and attempted to exploit the TV series of the same name.

1 9 6 1... Vinyl kits released this year included Universal's Ballet, and Barbie's "Ponytail" by KST. Barbie would be a very popular character in the 1960s and KST was sure to get the most out of her.

Aladdin also released its first brunch bag with World Traveler. The brunch bag was basically a vinyl purse-like bag, targeted toward girls. The brunch bag was somewhat larger than a metal or vinyl box, and most came with thermoses. Pictured is Aladdin's brunch bag, Go Go (1966).

Metal kits were still very in, and Aladdin released Huckleberry Hound, The Rifleman, Disney School Bus, and Treasure Chest. KST released Pets and Pals, and Lawman. Universal released U.S. Space Corps. The Space Corps kit was special as the thermos was shaped like a rocket. What a great idea!

Huckleberry Hound was another Hanna-Barbera icon, like many, that found their way onto a load of lunch boxes in the 1960s and 1970s. The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, and The Jetsons are only a few of the Hanna-Barbera creations that made their way to metal.

The Disney School Bus was the biggest selling lunch kit in history, selling a staggering nine million units. Aladdin offered this box with little change, except in some character design, from 1961 until 1975-- also making this the single longest production box.

School Bus was packed with a matching steel bottle from 1961 to 1967. In 1968, Aladdin switched over to plastic/glass bottles. You can usually date your box to within a few years based on the bottle.

The Disney executive in charge of the Aladdin account, Al Konetzni, a.k.a. the "idea man," came up with the concept for the school bus. Elmer Lehnhardt did the box art. A dome was the perfect shape for a bus, and filling it with Disney characters would only guarantee that it would be a hit with the kids.

In 1961, Konetzni also sketched out drawings for a Ludwig Von Drake dome kit. For whatever reason, the idea was never realized. The concept for the box was "Prof. Ludwig Von Drake's Traveling Library." The traveling library being non-other than a bus.

Aladdin and KST attempted to keep the cowboy genre fresh in the minds of kids with The Rifleman and The Lawman. With TV series' such as The Rifleman, The Lawman, Gunsmoke, and Bonanza, cowboys would remain an important part of lunch box production through the 1960s and even early into the 1970s.

1 9 6 2... Aladdin introduces their famous "3-D embossing," stamping a 1/16 inch relief onto the front and back of their metal lunch boxes. This technique would become an Aladdin trademark and would be used until Aladdin stopped metal lunch box production in the late 1980s. With the exception of a few lunch kits and domes, this process was used for virtually all metal Aladdin boxes after 1962. There was even a form of embossing used for some of their early vinyl kits!

By using the embossing technique, Aladdin found a new way to make their yearly offerings stand out. Seeing Aladdin's Batman (1966) jump off the box and fight his enemies was almost like an action scene straight out of the TV series. It added new depth to an otherwise brilliant box. Aladdin would emboss the main, or important parts of the picture. This was the last major production innovation to the metal lunch box by any manufacturer.

This was a great year for lunch kits, and some of the rarest of today's boxes were released this year by Universal. Bullwinkle and Rocky, Dudley Do-Right, Popeye, and Supercar were all released by Universal. A collector would kill to have any one of these boxes in their collection. The Bullwinkle and Rocky, and Dudley Do-Right box art kept in the tradition of the cartoons-- plain, but effective.

Aladdin was going strong, and they had a slew of metal and vinyl kits this year. The Flintstones and Dino, Gunsmoke, Junior Miss, Ludwig Von Drake, and the Aladdin Cable Car dome were all metal kits.

The Flintstones and Dino brought Bedrock to school and the kids were happy to visit. The Honeymooners in ink, this classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon was brought to metal first in 1962-- before Pebbles or Bamm Bamm were born (or should I say created?).

The Flintstones cartoon premiered on September 30, 1960 on ABC, and ran for six seasons (166 episodes) airing on Fridays at 8:30 p.m. The final episode aired on April 1, 1966.

Ludwig Von Drake is another Disney kit. This is a great box created by Bob Burton. Burton is well known for creating the "Hoppy" box art, but probably his best work was for the Buccaneer (1957) dome.

The new Gunsmoke kit continued Aladdin's run of Gunsmoke boxes, and they would release another Junior Miss kit this year. Aladdin's Cable Car was nicely done, and depicted passengers riding in cable car #113. Through the windows, you can see the city buildings in the background. It looks like a scene taken from early 20th century San Francisco.

Vinyl boxes were growing in popularity around this time. Aladdin and KST found ways to feed the growth, and a small company called Prepac released a vinyl box called Junior Miss Safari.

KST was quiet with their metal releases, giving us Plaid (red and black). However, they were busy on the vinyl front. Barbie Lunch Kit, Beany and Cecil (white), Bullwinkle, Pony Tail Tid-Bit-Kit, and White Psychedelic were released.

Ohio Art released Frost Flowers, Frost Flowers (with bows), Traveler (blue), and Mod Tulips. Dull as can be, Mod Tulips can't even save this bunch. These boxes seemed to be made more to make money than anything else. They looked like they were slapped together in one hour sessions-- and boy does it show. Nothing compared to the art and design of Aladdin or KST.

1 9 6 3... Another year meant another batch of lunch boxes. Much happened in 1963. In England, an up-and-coming act called The Beatles were making a name for themselves. In America, we mourned the death of John F. Kennedy. Both moments in time had a direct impact on the rest of the decade, and in deed, the rest of the century.

Aladdin released the metal kits Beverly Hillbillies, Bonanza (green), Mickey Mouse Club (white), Orbit, and The Jetsons dome. The Orbit lunch kit was produced with two bottles; a standard half-pint size and a tall 10-ounce size. Beverly Hillbillies and Bonanza were popular TV shows at the time.

Aladdin took another Hanna-Barbera cartoon and made a masterpiece with The Jetsons dome. Every square inch of this box is fully lithographed and the theme is a perfect compliment to the show. The matching steel bottle is equally as beautiful-- the way bottles are supposed to be. A very famous cartoon today, only 24 episodes were ever produced for the original Jetsons cartoon series during 1962-1963.

Two vinyl lunch kits found the store shelves thanks to Aladdin-- Princess, and Shari Lewis and Her Friends. Princess was a plain looking white box with a picture of some flowers and a butterfly on the front. Shari Lewis featured all her friends on the box, including her most popular friend, "Lamb Chop." As is the case with any celebrity, when Shari Lewis passed away in 1998, the price of this kit increased in value.

KST rolled out two metal kits, Western and Corsage. The Western lunch box was produced with two different bands. One version of the band featured cowboy gear, the other version just had tan coloring. Corsage was another plain box targeted for girls.

KST's metal offering weren't anything to write home about this year, but they did produce some memorable vinyl kits. Alvin and The Chipmunks, Barbie and Midge, Beany and Cecil (brown), and Junior Nurse provided enough variety this year.

Alvin and The Chipmunks were very popular around this time. In 1958, Ross Bagdasarian, more commonly known as David Seville, had a huge success with the hit novelty record "The Chipmunk Song." In the seven weeks following its release, it sold over four million copies. Subsequent success with Chipmunk albums and singles resulted in the creation of an animated series and countless licensed goods. KST didn't take this success lightly.

Universal offered up Cartoon Zoo, a very colorful lunch box with Hanna-Barbera's Wally Gator and friends portrayed on the box.

1 9 6 4... KST released Corsage, Fireball XL5, Plaid McPherson, Plaid Scotch (blue), Popeye, and Wagon Train. KST also released the vinyl kits Barbie and Midge, and Captain Kangaroo.

The Barbie lunch boxes followed the same formula-- show some pictures of glamorous women modeling the latest fashions and include the word Barbie somewhere on the front of the box. Did I forget to mention that perfect Barbie figure that no girl could ever attain?

Wally Wood created the Popeye kit. Wood was EC Comics' top artist in the 1950s and occasionally freelanced for lunch box manufacturers. Wood also did the art for Fireball XL5 (1964) and Universal's Supercar (1962) kit.

The Popeye lunch kit is covered with beautiful colors, while the thermos is a perfect extension from the box, not just a quick fix. This is the second Popeye box produced, the first one being produced by Universal in 1962.

Aladdin produced The Flintstones, Hector Heathcote, and NFL Quarterback. Vinyl kits Tammy, and Tammy and Pepper were also Aladdin additions.

The Flintstones, designed by John Henry (freelancer), made their second appearance in metal. Now parents, this very colorful box shows Fred having a great time at the Hardrock Lodge with Pebbles. Barney is right there to get the action caught on film.

NFL Quarterback is the nicest of all NFL related lunch boxes ever released-- by any manufacturer. It was painted by Elmer Lehnhardt, who was no stranger to the use of great color. This box has two action scenes. On the front, one of the fiercest rivalries in the NFL-- the Green Bay Packers are rushing the Chicago Bears quarterback into a quick pass. On the back, the New York Giants almost block the Cleveland Browns field goal attempt. This box definitely brings the action of the NFL into your hands. The bottle shows referees giving penalty signals.

What happens when a company passes on the chance to get the Barbie license? Tammy was Aladdin's attempt at a Barbie character. As Barbie had Midge, Tammy had Pepper. Though not nearly as successful as Barbie for KST, Tammy catered to the young girl demographic.

Ohio Art gave us Plaid Scotch and Traveler (brown). The words most frequently heard from Ohio Art management were NO and LICENSE-- mostly used together in the same sentence. Ohio Art couldn't be bothered to actually license a character to put on their boxes, which led to them giving us unlimited variety of plaid boxes. Thanks for the memories?

Crave more History? Buy these great Lunch Box books today!

Main | 1960-1969 Part 1 | 1960-1969 Part 2

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