Out to Lunch with Aladdin Industries
Sometimes a small but brilliant strategic move can take a company from moderate to success to outright industry dominance. That happened for Aladdin Industries when they started creating character lunchboxes.
Aladdin Industries has made a variety of products, including lunchboxes, kerosene lamps, stoves, and thermal food storage containers. The company was created in 1908 by Victor Samuel Johnson Sr. who became interested in kerosene mantle burners and decided to sell mantle lamps.
He began manufacturing mantle lamps that gave off white light without smoke, so they were named Aladdin lamps after the wish-granting lamp of fairy tales. The company diversified into insulated cooking dishes called Aladdin Thermalware jars.
When Johnson Jr. took over as president, Aladdin started producing metal lunch boxes in the 1940s. The company hit their stride with lunchboxes in 1950 when they licensed TV character Hopalong Cassidy to appear on a lunchbox.
The lunchboxes were made in time for back to school shopping and sales went from 50,000 to 600,000 units that year. Banking on this new success, Aladdin started licensing other popular characters like Batman, Superman, Mickey Mouse, Spider-Man, Lost In Space, The Jetsons, and many other characters.
Aladdin became the industry leader for character lunchboxes. Between that company and others that sought to mimic their success, 450 different character lunchbox designs were made from 1950 to ’70. Today some of those popular characters, like superheroes, continue to appear on lunchboxes for hungry kids.
Not only have vintage examples become very collectible, they have inspired artists to recreate the designs. Artist Nicole Petrillo, a painter and muralist with over 20 years of experience under her belt, created immense paintings based on superhero lunchboxes. Hake’s is now selling two of her designs. The Batman and Robin painting based on the Aladdin artwork sees them in action with the Batmobile and Batsignal in the background. The Superman recreation painting based on King-Seeley’s design shows the Man of Steel soaring through the sky with Metropolis skyscrapers behind him. Each acrylic on canvas painting is housed in 49-1/2” x 61-1/2” cherry wood frames.
Hake’s Auction #230 is open for bidding at hakes.com now through Wednesday and Thursday, September 23-24, 2020.
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Out to Lunch with Aladdin Industries
Sometimes a small but brilliant strategic move can take a company from moderate to success to outright industry dominance. That happened for Aladdin Industries when they started creating character lunchboxes.
Aladdin Industries has made a variety of products, including lunchboxes, kerosene lamps, stoves, and thermal food storage containers. The company was created in 1908 by Victor Samuel Johnson Sr. who became interested in kerosene mantle burners and decided to sell mantle lamps.
He began manufacturing mantle lamps that gave off white light without smoke, so they were named Aladdin lamps after the wish-granting lamp of fairy tales. The company diversified into insulated cooking dishes called Aladdin Thermalware jars.
When Johnson Jr. took over as president, Aladdin started producing metal lunch boxes in the 1940s. The company hit their stride with lunchboxes in 1950 when they licensed TV character Hopalong Cassidy to appear on a lunchbox.
The lunchboxes were made in time for back to school shopping and sales went from 50,000 to 600,000 units that year. Banking on this new success, Aladdin started licensing other popular characters like Batman, Superman, Mickey Mouse, Spider-Man, Lost In Space, The Jetsons, and many other characters.
Aladdin became the industry leader for character lunchboxes. Between that company and others that sought to mimic their success, 450 different character lunchbox designs were made from 1950 to ’70. Today some of those popular characters, like superheroes, continue to appear on lunchboxes for hungry kids.
Not only have vintage examples become very collectible, they have inspired artists to recreate the designs. Artist Nicole Petrillo, a painter and muralist with over 20 years of experience under her belt, created immense paintings based on superhero lunchboxes. Hake’s is now selling two of her designs. The Batman and Robin painting based on the Aladdin artwork sees them in action with the Batmobile and Batsignal in the background. The Superman recreation painting based on King-Seeley’s design shows the Man of Steel soaring through the sky with Metropolis skyscrapers behind him. Each acrylic on canvas painting is housed in 49-1/2” x 61-1/2” cherry wood frames.
Hake’s Auction #230 is open for bidding at hakes.com now through Wednesday and Thursday, September 23-24, 2020.
Popular Topics
Overstreet Access Quick Links
