Greetings family, friends, and neighbors. Today's Historical Snippet comes with a "Prize Inside". A 1907 Cracker Jack Bears postcard that was one of the original premiums offered by the Chicago popcorn snack company. Here's more to the story........
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PRIZE INSIDE!
For more than a century, makers of Cracker Jack, the familiar caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts, have included a mystery “toy surprise” in every box. The Rueckheim brothers, peddlers of popcorn from a storefront in Chicago, jumped at the opportunity to sell their sticky concoction from a stand at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Following the Expo, and jumping on the popularity of the sweet snack, they set about improving the manufacturing process, and forming a partnership with Henry Eckstein, developer of the iconic wax sealed moisture proof container allowing nation wide distribution.
The country was in the midst of a “Bear” love affair in the early 1900’s spurred by a widely promoted incident involving the President himself. Theodore Roosevelt, known for his fishing and hunting prowess, refused to unsportsmanlike shoot a bear that had been caught and shackled for executive execution, launching a wave of cartoons, books, and stuffed “Teddy” bears. Recognizing the marketing opportunity in 1907, artist B.E. Moreland was contracted to create the Cracker Jack Bears. Each box contained a coupon for a set of sixteen postcards featuring the Bears in humorous situations that could be purchased by mail for a dime or exchanged for ten Cracker Jack box side panels.
“Take me out to the ball game”, penned by Jack Norworth in 1908, launched the Rueckheim Bros & Eckstein product into the national limelight, particularly when Baseball Cards were offered as surprises in boxes as free inducements. The familiar tiny toys including decoder rings, figurines, booklets, stickers, and temporary tattos began appearing in each and every box of Cracker Jacks in 1912, and by 1918 iconic Sailor Jack and his dog Bingo were being featured on the iconic packaging. “and buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack” is still sung during the seventh inning stretch in most National League ball parks, the century old confection with the irresistible message “Prize Inside” now offers QR codes to download baseball themed games. Sailor Jack and Bingo can still be found among the dozens of Frito-Lay products at your friendly neighborhood grocery store. -Bill 8/25
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