"Purple Cow" is a short nonsense poem by American writer Gelett Burgess. It was first published in 1895.
"Purple Cow" is a short nonsense poem by American writer Gelett Burgess. It was first published in 1895.
I never saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one. [1]
The poem was first published in the first issue of Burgess's magazine The Lark in May 1895 and became his most widely known work. [2] It originally had the longer title "The Purple Cow's projected feast/Reflections on a Mythic Beast/Who's Quite Remarkable, at Least". [3] This publication of the poem also included an illustration by Burgess featuring a cow jumping over an art nouveau fence heading towards a naked human, with both the cow and the human filled in black. [3] A poster version of his illustration is part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. [4]
The poem became popular, eventually becoming what one commentator called "[t]he most quoted poem in twentieth-century America, after 'The Night Before Christmas'". [5] In addition to being widely anthologized, [2] it was often transmitted orally without credit to Burgess. [3] Many years after its appearance, publicist Jim Moran appeared at Burgess's home with a cow he had painted purple. [6]
Burgess came to resent its popularity. A few years after writing the poem, Burgess wrote another short poem in response, titled "Confession: and a Portrait Too, Upon a Background that I Rue", which appeared in the final issue of The Lark in April 1897: [7]
Ah, yes, I wrote the "Purple Cow"—
I'm Sorry, now, I wrote it;
But I can tell you Anyhow
I'll Kill you if you Quote it! [8]
Several parodies of "The Purple Cow" have been written by others, including O. Henry. [6]
United States President Harry S. Truman was once asked by UFO researcher and publisher James W. Moseley if he'd ever seen a UFO. Truman reportedly responded by reciting lines from Burgess's poem. [9]
"Purple Cow Creamery" is also the name of the creamery owned by Meijer stores which creates their Purple Cow brand ice cream. The Purple Cow brand started in 1934 and was an ice cream shop inside of Meijer stores starting in the 1960s. [10] [11] The name is based on Burgess's poem shared by founder Fred Meijer to his three sons. [12] Fred Meijer handed out cards for free ice cream at any Meijer Purple Cow ice cream shop to customers as part of a promotional campaign. [13] [ relevant? ] [14]
The "Purple Cow Drive-In" ice-cream stand in Crimora, Virginia has a purple cow head on a post. Its status as a local landmark led to the naming of Purple Cow Road. [15]
Marketer Seth Godin has used the phrase "Purple Cow" for the concept of marketing a product as "intrinsically different" in his book, Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable . [16] [17] The phrase has also been used for the marketing concept of choosing a name which "makes your audience stop in their tracks and wonder why the title was chosen." [18]
A purple cow is the mascot of Williams College, a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, which was named after the college's humor magazine Purple Cow, which, in turn, took its name from Burgess's poem. [19]
A slightly modified version of the final line of the poem is referenced in the book Fletch and the Man Who (1983) by Gregory Mcdonald in the line
"Irwin!" Roy Filby echoed. "I'd rather see one than be one!"
in which Filby is making fun of not only Fletch but his albatross of a first name, which is a recurring theme in the series of books. [20]
Purple Cow is a pipe tobacco blend manufactured by Cornell & Diehl blended by the late Bob Runowski and crafted for the Chicago Pipe Show years ago.
Frank Gelett Burgess was an American artist, art critic, poet, author and humorist. An important figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary renaissance of the 1890s, particularly through his iconoclastic little magazine, The Lark, and association with The Crowd literary group. He is best known as a writer of nonsense verse, such as "The Purple Cow," and for introducing French modern art to the United States in an essay titled "The Wild Men of Paris." He was the illustrator of the Goops murals, in Coppa's restaurant, in the Montgomery Block and author of the popular Goops books. Burgess coined the term "blurb."
A coffee cabinet is an ice cream-based milkshake found almost exclusively in Rhode Island consisting of coffee ice cream, coffee syrup, and milk. The ingredients are mixed in a drink blender or milkshake blender.
An ice cream float or ice cream soda, also known as an ice cream spider in Australia and New Zealand, is a chilled beverage that consists of ice cream in either a soft drink or a mixture of flavored syrup and carbonated water.
Seth W. Godin, also known as "F. X. Nine", is an American author and a former dot-com business executive.
Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable is a 2003 book by Seth Godin. The book presents Godin's personal belief that creative advertising is less effective today because of clutter and advertising avoidance. The book advocates that companies produce remarkable products and target people who are likely to spread word of mouth about the product. USA Today said it "reminds business people of the tried-and-true path to success: Make a great product".
Blue Bell Creameries is an American food company that manufactures ice cream. It was founded in 1907 in Brenham, Texas. For much of its early history, the company manufactured both ice cream and butter locally. In the mid-20th century, it abandoned butter production and expanded to the entire state of Texas and soon much of the Southern United States. The company's corporate headquarters are located at the "Little Creamery" in Brenham, Texas. Since 1919, it has been in the hands of the Kruse family. As of 2015, Blue Bell was the #2 selling ice cream manufacturer in the United States.
Newport Creamery is a chain of restaurants in Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts. Since its first restaurant opened in 1940, it has been primarily known for ice cream and, later, the "Awful Awful" milkshake. The company is based in Middletown, Rhode Island.
Fletch is a 1985 American comedy thriller film directed by Michael Ritchie and written by Andrew Bergman. Based on Gregory Mcdonald's popular Fletch novels, the film stars Chevy Chase as the eponymous character. It co-stars Tim Matheson, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Geena Davis and Joe Don Baker.
A palinode or palinody is an ode in which the writer retracts a view or sentiment expressed in an earlier poem. The first recorded use of a palinode is in a poem by Stesichorus in the 7th century BC, in which he retracts his earlier statement that the Trojan War was all the fault of Helen.
MaggieMoo's Ice Cream and Treatery is a chain of independently owned and operated franchised stores that specialize in serving ice cream and other desserts. The first MaggieMoo's opened in 1989 in Kansas City, Kansas. At its peak, the brand had 400 stores and had a goal of opening over 1,000 stores. The brand's headquarters are in unincorporated Fulton County, Georgia. When MaggieMoo's was an independent company, it had its headquarters in Columbia, Maryland. It later became a franchise brand in the portfolio of Global Franchise Group, along with Marble Slab Creamery, until 2021 after Global Franchise Group was acquired by FAT Brands.
Hershey Creamery Company, also known as Hershey's Ice Cream, is an American creamery that produces ice cream, sorbet, sherbet, frozen yogurt, and other frozen desserts such as smoothies and frozen slab-style ice cream mixers. It was founded by Jacob Hershey and four of his brothers in 1894 and taken over by the Holder family in the 1920s. The company was one of the first to offer consumers pre-packaged ice cream pints.
Blue Valley Creamery Company was a company that operated many creameries and milk plants across the United States.
The Cold Stone Creamery, Inc. is an American international ice cream parlor chain. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, the company is owned and operated by Kahala Brands. The company's main product is premium ice cream made with approximately 12–14% butterfat, made on location and customized for patrons at time of order. Cold Stone has also expanded its menu with other ice cream-related products, including: ice cream cakes, pies, cookie sandwiches, smoothies, shakes, and iced or blended coffee drinks.
Cows is a Canadian ice cream manufacturer and chain of ice cream parlors based in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Cows was founded in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island in 1983, and has since expanded into cheddar cheese, and cow-themed merchandise. Cows was named "Canada's best ice cream" in a survey of readers of Reader's Digest and named one of the world's top 10 places to get ice cream by Tauck World Discovery.
The Wilson Barn is a barn located at the northeast corner of Middlebelt and W. Chicago Roads in Livonia, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1973. This was the beginning of the Ira Wilson & Sons Dairy Company, a now defunct company. There were several large iconic cow's head sculptures, which were fixtures in the Detroit metropolitan area.
Lewis Road Creamery is a boutique New Zealand dairy company, located in northern New Zealand. They produce a range of milk products, including varieties of milk, cream, ice cream and butter. The company is best known for its brand of chocolate milk, which in 2014 sparked a frenzied, nationwide shortage.
Teeswater Creamery is a dairy business in the town of Teeswater, Ontario, Canada. It is the oldest creamery in Ontario. Since 1981 it has been owned by the Gay Lea Foods Co-operative.
Magnolia is a brand of dairy products owned by Singaporean multinational conglomorate Fraser and Neave (F&N). Aside from Singapore, the product is also sold in several other countries throughout the Asia-Pacific as well as at Asian supermarkets in non-Asian countries.
