The corporation's logo features the silhouette of a large green dinosaur. New Deal regulatory controls helped address the issue for a while, but, in February of 1939, a federal court decision struck down those regulations. Sadly, Lobelia/Elsie died in a traffic accident in 1941, just two years after her rise to fame, but she was quickly and quietly succeeded by a new heir to the name. The legend of the cow and the lantern were the basis for popular songs over the years, and the story was even told in a major Hollywood movie produced in 1937, "In Old Chicago." The original Elsie, “You’ll Do Lobelia,” who was the star of the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City died in 1941 from injuries suffered in an accident. A new Elsie was soon chosen to replace the original. Hajdik writes that the “spokescow” had actually been born three years earlier, as a cartoon illustration. JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. Elsie the Cow is a cartoon cow developed as a mascot for the Borden Dairy Company in 1936 to symbolize the "perfect dairy product".Since the demise of Borden Dairy in the mid-1990s, the character has continued to be used in the same capacity for the company's partial successor, Eagle Brand, owned by The J.M. Blame Elsie, the milk cow. Before Joe Camel, before the Energizer Bunny, there was Elsie. A: Elsie probably had a cow as she watched her once proud company go down the drain. Auto accident? “But you promised me a meadow!” Elsie declares in the ad copy, to which the “World’s Fair Man” replies “It’s Flushing Meadow—the most wonderful meadow you’ll ever see.”. After the fair closed for the year in 1939, Elsie the Borden Cow toured the country making personal appearances at county and state fairs and grocery stores. Even today, the company’s website prominently declares its milk “approved by Elsie.”. 470-490. The cow was euthanized after suffering injuries in a road accident the following year. Died 1941. To Reconstruction-era Black republicans, the key to preserving the country’s character was stopping the rise of a wage economy. [6] The pair was given offspring Beulah and Beauregard in 1948, and twins Larabee and Lobelia in 1957. Primed cow forms (measuring 31” tall by 46” wide), were made available to the public for a donation beginning March 7. JSTOR is a digital library for scholars, researchers, and students. Elsie the Cow is a cartoon cow developed as a mascot for the Borden Dairy Company in 1936 to symbolize the "perfect dairy product". This was just the kind of technology that brought down milk prices, but made farming more economically treacherous. [citation needed], Elsie has been bestowed such tongue-in-cheek honorary university degrees as Doctor of Bovinity,[5] Doctor of Human Kindness, and Doctor of Ecownomics. An illustration of Mrs. Catherine O'Leary and her cow … Elsie the cow has a new home. Join our new membership program on Patreon today. The Whole Earth Catalog, Where Counterculture Met Cyberculture. All Rights Reserved. That didn’t suit the viewing public at all. Even today, the company’s website prominently declares its milk “approved by Elsie.” Founded in 1857 in Connecticut as Gail Borden Jr. and Company, Borden’s food division went bust in … The practice of using food as a medium for art dates back centuries. Tombstone of Elsie the Cow. She died in 1941, and was supplanted by a host of new Elsies. Elsie the Cow, the mascot of the Borden Dairy Company, was housed at the farm during the 1939-40 World’s Fair in New York. [citation needed] In Wisconsin, home of the Dairy Princess, Elsie was named Queen of Dairyland. Elsie the cow was originally a cartoon character appearing in ads for Borden Milk. She was renamed Elsie and the original 1930s cartoon had come to life. Among people asking questions of the pavilion’s workers, Hajdik writes, “20 percent of people wanted directions to the restrooms, 20 percent wanted information about the Rotolactor, and 60 percent wanted to know which of the cows was Elsie.”, Borden quickly promoted a seven-year-old Jersey heifer with the registered name “You’ll Do Lobelia” to be the living embodiment of the mascot. Is Your Favorite Tree an Invasive Species? Borden dairy, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January, has been sold to two private equity firms. Vintage Food Vintage Tv Elsie The Cow Product Ads Sound Film Old Commercials Food Advertising Old Magazines Home Movies. Named one of the Top 10 Advertising Icons of the [20th] Century by Ad Age in 2000,[2] Elsie the Cow has been among the most recognizable product logos in the United States and Canada. Even today, the company’s website prominently declares its milk “approved by Elsie.” On this day in 1941 the original Elsie the Cow died. Have a correction or comment about this article? Smucker Company. Part of the problem was the rise of new farming technologies. Since the demise of Borden in the mid-1990s, the character has continued to be used in the same capacity for the company's partial successor, Eagle Brand, owned by The J.M. © ITHAKA. A “Bovine Glamour Girl”: Borden Milk, Elsie the Cow, and the Convergence of Technology, Animals, and Gender at the 1939 New York World's Fair, Libraries and Pandemics: Past and Present, Semiconductor Shortages End an Era of Globalization, How the Black Labor Movement Envisioned Liberty, How St. Louis Domestic Workers Fought Exploitation, Stamp Collecting as Metaphor for the Free Market, The Tragicomedy of Johanna the Super Whale. ELSIE THE COW. David William Reid, 86, died December 13 at his San Rafael, California, home. Blame the white-haired ladies who dish out the goodies at Shuman's or the Hostess cupcake people. Elsie, being just a cartoon, wasn’t among the 150 cows on display. At the 1939 New York World’s Fair, when people began asking where Elsie was, Borden’s picked a cow originally named ‘You’ll do Lobelia’ from their herd to be Elsie. Elsie began making celebrity appearances throughout the Northeast, but demand for Elsie extended throughout the nation, and it soon became clear that there was a need for a few more Elsies, strategically located around the country. At the 1939 New York World's Fair, the first live Elsie a … [4], In 1940, the actual cow Elsie appeared in the film, Little Men,[10] as "Buttercup". Hajdik writes that Elsie helped reconcile the cutting-edge machinery with the traditional agrarian image of the dairy industry. [1] Since the demise of Borden in the mid-1990s, the character has continued to be used in the same capacity for the company's partial successor, Eagle Brand, owned by The J.M. The Borden Elsie the Cow cartoon ranks as one of the most memorable product promotions of the last century, with Elsie memorabilia now featured in the Smithsonian Museum of American History. JSTOR Daily readers can access the original research behind our articles for free on JSTOR. But, in the face of potentially image-damaging news, Borden rolled out a new publicity campaign around Elsie’s appearance at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. Elsie America’s Cow. Saved by Denise Anderson. Originally a New York corporation, Sinclair Oil reincorporated in Wyoming in 1976. Early on in the Great Depression, demand for milk dropped while production rose, putting pressure on small dairy farmers. Elsie was seriously injured in a truck accident in 1941, and had to be put to sleep. In the summer of 1939, a new wave of milk strikes swept dairy country. Elsie the cow was originally a cartoon character appearing in ads for Borden Milk. Plainsboro, NJ, has tourism gold beneath its soil, yet the community has been slow to mine it. Agricultural History, Vol. Her tomb stone is marked with the fitting title of "one of the great Elsies of our time. JSTOR®, the JSTOR logo, and ITHAKA® are registered trademarks of ITHAKA. ''[11], Elsie had a fictional, cartoon mate, Elmer the Bull, who was created in 1940 and lent to Borden's then chemical-division as the mascot for Elmer's Glue. A live cow representing Elsie appeared on stage at the Borden's exhibit in the Better Living Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair, in a musical revue with a score by the Broadway composer Kay Swift. Interest was very high in Elsie after the fair and requests came in from all over the country for a visit from Elsie. JSTOR Daily provides context for current events using scholarship found in JSTOR, a digital library of academic journals, books, and other material. Reid was part of the advertising team that developed Elsie the Cow, the well-known bovine marketing symbol for the dairy division. Butter sculpture is a fixture of American state fairs. 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