Sunny Jim was the name of a brand of peanut butter produced in the Seattle area. It was manufactured in Seattle, Washington, by the Pacific Standard Foods company. The company was founded by Germanus Wilhelm Firnstahl in 1921 after he moved to Seattle from Wisconsin and bought a peanut roaster.[1] Firnstahl based the apple-cheeked character seen on the jars on his son, Lowell, after taking photos of all his children and selecting the best photograph as model (allegedly because Lowell was the only child with all his teeth at the time).[2] During the 1950s the brand accounted for nearly a third of all peanut butter sold in the Seattle area.[1] The company was sold in 1979 for $3 million to the Bristol Bay Native Corp. A large sign on the factory building made the "Sunny Jim building" on Airport Way South a familiar landmark to motorists passing on nearby Interstate 5 which Firnstahl had purchased during the Great Depression. In 1997, there was a fire at this plant (by then owned by the city of Seattle) which destroyed the sign and a portion of the building.[3] On September 20, 2010, a massive fire finished off the Sunny Jim plant as well as a vacant building on the factory site.[1] The main advertisement for Sunny Jim was "Sunny Jim has underground peanuts with a flavor that's outta sight".
References
edit- ^ a b c "120 firefighters battle Sodo blaze; 1 firefighter injured" Christine Clarridge and Jennifer Sullivan, Seattle Times. Updated 21 September 2010. Accessed 28 June 2020.)
- ^ Article from The Bulletin, 4 October 1977. Reproduced on Vintage Peanut Butter Jars, Glasses, Ephemera & Sometimes Jelly Too. Accessed 28 June 2020.
- ^ "Fire Destroys I-5 Landmark -- Warehouse That Housed Sunny Jim Plant Burns" by Leyla Kokmen, Dee Norton, Tyrone Beason, and Dave Birkland; Seattle Times. 21 February 1997. Accessed 28 June 2020.
External links
editSeattle Times stories about Sunny Jim peanut butter (registration required):
- Fire Destroys I-5 Landmark -- Warehouse That Housed Sunny Jim (Peanut Butter) Plant Burns
- Celeste F. Rogge, Who Inherited The Sunny Jim (Peanut Butter) Fortune, Dies At 84
- "The Case for Sunny Jim: An Advertising Legend Revisited" by Eileen Margerum in Sextant, the journal of Salem State College (cereal)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 17. Since the word 'sunny' is not capitalized in this instance, this could simply be a greeting in the UK and not a reference to this character.