Lorraine Collett | |
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Born | Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. | December 9, 1892
Died | March 30, 1983 90) Fresno, California, U.S. | (aged
Lorraine Collett Petersen (December 9, 1892 – March 30, 1983) was an American model hired to promote a corporate trademark as the "Sun-Maid Girl".
Lorraine Collett was born to George Dexter Collett and Martha Elizabeth Falkenstein in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1915, Collett was attending high school and working part-time as a seeder and packer for the Griffin & Skelley Fruit Packing Company in Fresno, California for $15 a week. [1] That May she was spotted by Leroy Payne, one of the executives of the raisin cooperative, while drying her curly brown hair and wearing her mother's red bonnet in the backyard of her family's home. She was hired to promote the California Associated Raisin Co. by handing out free samples at the Panama-Pacific Exposition and participating in an unusual promotion that had her dropping raisins from an airplane flying over San Francisco. [2]
The company later commissioned a watercolor portrait of Collett from San Francisco artist Fanny Scafford to use as the basis for the "Sun Maid" corporate mascot devised by advertising executive E.A. Berg. [3] Her likeness was trademarked and began appearing on raisin packaging in 1916. Use of Collett's image was so successful in promoting its products that by 1920 the company adopted "Sun-Maid Raisin Growers' Association" as its new name. Backed by an aggressive marketing push throughout the 20s, Sun-Maid managed to triple American consumption of raisins by the end of the decade. [4] A revised version of her likeness continued to be featured on all Sun-Maid packaging through 1960. In 1974, Collett was presented with a commemorative plaque by Sun-Maid's president at a ceremony where she presented Scafford's original portrait and the red bonnet to the company in exchange for $1700. Sun-Maid executives donated Collett's bonnet to the Smithsonian Institution in 1987 on the occasion of the company's 75th anniversary. [5]
After modeling for Sun-Maid, Collett moved to Hollywood to try to become an actress. She landed a small part in The Trail of the Lonesome Pine before returning to Fresno. There, she ran a restaurant for two years and later converted a former hospital into a nursing home. [6] Collett died on March 30, 1983.
Fowler is a city in Fresno County, California, United States. It is located within the San Joaquin Valley. It has a strong agricultural community, with lush grape vineyards and expansive farmland. Fowler is located 11 miles (18 km) southeast of downtown Fresno, at an elevation of 308 feet. The population was 5,570 at the 2010 census.
Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was a playwright and writer. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best known work, the play A Raisin in the Sun, highlights the lives of Black Americans living under racial segregation in Chicago. The title of the play was taken from the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes: "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" At the age of 29, she won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award — making her the first African-American dramatist, the fifth woman, and the youngest playwright to do so. Hansberry's family had struggled against segregation, challenging a restrictive covenant in the 1940 US Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee.
Phylicia Rashad is an American actress and singer. She is known for her role as Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–1992) which earned her Emmy Award nominations in 1985 and 1986. She was dubbed "The Mother of the Black Community" at the 2010 NAACP Image Awards and played Ruth Lucas on Cosby (1996–2000).
"Just Say No" was an advertising campaign prevalent during the 1980s and early 1990s as a part of the U.S. "War on Drugs", aiming to discourage children from engaging in illegal recreational drug use by offering various ways of saying no. The slogan was created and championed by First Lady Nancy Reagan during her husband's presidency.
Sunkist Growers, Incorporated is an American citrus growers' non-stock membership cooperative composed of 6,000 members from California and Arizona. It is currently headquartered in Valencia, California. Through 31 offices in the United States and Canada and four offices outside North America, its sales in 1991 totaled $956 million. It is the largest fresh produce shipper in the United States, the most diversified citrus processing and marketing operation in the world, and one of California's largest landowners.
The California Raisins were a fictional rhythm and blues animated musical group as well as advertising and merchandising characters composed of anthropomorphized raisins. Lead vocals were sung by musician Buddy Miles. The California Raisins were popular in the mid-to-late 1980s through claymation TV commercials and animated specials, winning an Emmy Award and one nomination.
Sun-Maid Growers of California is an American privately owned cooperative of raisin growers headquartered in Fresno, California. Sun-Maid is the largest raisin and dried fruit processor in the world. As a cooperative, Sun-Maid is made up of approximately 850 family farmers who grow raisin grapes within a 100-mile (160-kilometer) radius of the processing plant. Sun-Maid also sources dried fruit beyond this geographical area. In 2012, Sun-Maid celebrated its 100th anniversary as a grower cooperative.
The California Raisin Advisory Board was a California state marketing commission based in Fresno, California that was created in the mid-1900s to coordinate the regulation and promotion of the state's raisin crop. The group became most noted from 1986 to 1994 for developing an international advertising campaign using The California Raisins claymation characters. The California Raisin campaign was funded by an initial grant of US$3 million from the United States Department of Agriculture. Although popular with the public, the California Raisin campaign eventually failed because its production cost the raisin growers almost twice their earnings. CRAB was closed on July 31, 1994, due to disagreements with raisin producers over the fairness of required payments to the organization. In 1998, the California Raisin Marketing Board, funded by raisin growers, was established to replace CRAB as the promotional organization for the raisin crop.
L. Scott Caldwell is an American actress perhaps best known for her roles as Deputy U.S. Marshall Erin Poole in The Fugitive (1993) and Rose on the television series Lost.
The Fresno Giants were a minor league baseball team that played in the California League from 1941 to 1988. The team was based in Fresno, California.
Raisin bread is a type of bread made with raisins and flavored with cinnamon. It is "usually a white flour or egg dough bread". Aside from white flour, raisin bread is also made with other flours, such as all-purpose flour, oat flour, or whole wheat flour. Some recipes include honey, brown sugar, eggs, or butter. Variations of the recipe include the addition of walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans or, for a dessert, rum or whisky.
Melinda Lou "Wendy" Thomas-Morse is the daughter and fourth child of American businessman Dave Thomas, the founder of the fast food brand Wendy's. Morse is best known for being the namesake and mascot of the brand. She uses the name Wendy Thomas in her role as a spokesperson for Wendy's.
Fresno is a 1986 American television comedy miniseries that parodied prime time soap operas of the time such as Falcon Crest, Dallas, and Dynasty. Fresno was directed by Jeff Bleckner. The series featured high production values, including lavish haute couture gowns by leading costume designer Bob Mackie, a main cast including Carol Burnett, Teri Garr, Charles Grodin and Dabney Coleman, and supporting cast including Charles Keating, Pat Corley, Louise Latham, Tom Poston and Henry Darrow. It was noted at the time as being the first American satirical TV comedy to be made in the then-popular miniseries format.
Eliza "Virginia" Capers was an American actress. She won the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical in 1974 for her performance as Lena Younger in Raisin, a musical version of Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun.
William Angus Sutherland was a California politician, attorney and banker. Sutherland was elected to the California State Assembly in 1910, and re-elected in 1912.
A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes. The story tells of a Black family's experiences in south Chicago, as they attempt to improve their financial circumstances with an insurance payout following the death of the father, and deals with matters of housing discrimination, racism, and assimilation. The New York Drama Critics' Circle named it the best play of 1959, and in recent years publications such as The Independent and Time Out have listed it among the best plays ever written.
The National Raisin Reserve was a raisin reserve of the United States. It was created after World War II by the government in order to control raisin prices. The reserve was run by the Raisin Administrative Committee. It was enforced by means of a "marketing order". In 2015, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the confiscation of a portion of a farmer's crops without market price compensation was unconstitutional and ended the reserve.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Fresno, California, USA.
Robert Boot was an agricultural businessman in Central California in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was a promotor of the early raisin industry in Fresno, most prominently as president of the Fresno Raisin Growers Association from 1902 to 1904.
Robert B. Nemiroff was an American theater producer and songwriter, and the husband of Lorraine Hansberry.