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Milwaukee and Mickey Mouse can claim a special spot in the history of lunch boxes.

Until 1935, the typical lunch box consisted of the black-domed metal box favored by the working class. The first lunch box designed for children alone, featuring the big- eared Disney cartoon character, was made here by the Geuder, Paeschke & Frey Co. in 1935.

A colorful advance over plainer models, the lunch kit consisted of an oval-shaped metal box with a snap-on lid and tray inside. Full- length pictures of Mickey, Minnie Mouse, and other Disney characters adorned the top and sides.

What does it matter if lunch boxes sporting cartoon characters are now middle-aged, as the anniversary of the first-ever kid's lunch box reaches 45 years? Movie or cartoon character and theme lunch boxes still are popular today, with just one difference: no more heavy metal. (Unless, of course, it features a picture of a rock group.)

Today's elementary-school students don't remember the clanging and clatter of metal lunch boxes being tossed onto lunch tables in a cavernous cafeteria.

"All of our children's lunch boxes are made of plastic," says Cliff White, a manufacturer's representative for Aladdin, based in Nashville, Tenn.

The industry wide change to plastic or insulated-fabric construction began in the early 1980s. Now, children's metal lunch boxes are coveted by collectors. For example, the 1935 Mickey Mouse lunch kit would fetch more than $200.

By comparison, most of today's lunch boxes cost $5 to $15, depending on size and the number of inserts, such as insulated bottles, containers and trays. Television cartoons, movies and favorite toys dictate consumer preference among the 4- to 9-year olds surveyed by Aladdin.

Aladdin is one of the oldest manufacturers of lunch kits for children. A Hopalong Cassidy design marked the firm's entry into the kid's market in 1950. Forty years later, one of the most popular Aladdin character designs is the new, Beatty-fied Dick Tracy.

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