The first metal lunchbox produced
was the Hopalong Cassidy created by the Aladdin Company of Nashville in
1950. They made a blue and a red lunchbox with a four-inch decal on the
front side. The profits from the new lunchboxes enabled Aladdin to build
a new lunch box manufacturing plant. Their second lunch box design was
the decaled Tom Corbett Space Cadet box made in 1952. The American Thermos
Company introduced the first lithographed lunchbox in 1953, it had a Roy
Rogers design. The Aladdin company then changed their lunchboxes to being
fully lithographed instead of using decals, in 1954.
Metal lunchboxes were banned in the
early 1970s, as a result of a campaign of "concerned" Florida mothers against
the steel lunchboxes. Children being children, were using the metal lunchboxes
as a type of weapon, cases of permanent head injuries were being reported.
The state of Florida banned the sales of metal lunchboxes in 1972, and
other states soon followed in the banning. Box makers switched from metal
boxes to softer plastic boxes. The last steel metal lunchbox was a Slyvester
Stalone's Rambo model, produced by KST in 1985.
Further Research - Lunch
Boxes Exhibit - Land
Lunch Box Collectibles on the Net
- written by your About guide to Collectibles, Barbara Crews.
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