Of Humpty Dumpty and Potato Chips

My post yesterday about Story Book Forest in Ligonier, Pennsylvania included a postcard (above) of the classic nursery rhyme character Humpty Dumpty.

A few of my younger co-workers, upon seeing this image, remarked that he looked fairly creepy.

I had to agree with their observation about the ill-fated hen's fruit. Perhaps it's his carefree smile, and his apparent obliviousness to his precarious position. We know that after the inevitable fatal fall, poor Humpty ends up looking like one of the ingredients in a Denny's Grand Slam Breakfast. Thus he evokes uneasy (or over easy) thoughts.

Humpty's double over in Don Hilton's Fairyland Forest in Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania has the same insipid grin on the postcard below. (I love that the kids are all wearing the same pointed chapeau and standing in front of him as if in a hypnotic trance. "We will obey you, Grade A Farm Fresh Master.")

Anyway, all this talk about Humpty Dumpty reminded me of an article that I wrote for a house organ more than twenty years ago about famous Canadian advertising brands, which included Humpty Dumpty Potato Chips. I first encountered the popular salty snack when I started making semi-regular visits to Canada in the late 1980s. 

The chips have an interesting history. In my article, I wrote, "Humpty Dumpty is the mascot for a popular brand of Canadian potato chips. He first appeared in 1948 when Dorothy and Phil Cole founded Humpty Dumpty Potato Chips in Maine."

Here's an early mascot logo, and one of the cans in which they were distributed.

"When the couple divorced in the 1950s, however, the company was cracked in two, forming two separate companies, one Canadian and one American. 

"The Canadian company was purchased by Ohio-based Borden Inc. and by the 1980s, Humpty Dumpty was the No. 2 potato chip in Ontario. The company was returned to Canadian ownership in 1994 when Small Fry Snack Foods purchased it from Borden. 

"The American company in Maine, however, scrambled to stay in business. Although its chips were a regional favorite, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2000. Fortunately, Small Fry Snack Foods purchased the company’s assets, putting Humpty Dumpty back together again! 

"The Humpty Dumpty mascot has received several makeovers. While the American version remained largely the same through the years, the Canadian version was redesigned in 1999, after being absent from the packages for five years. The redesigned mascot was hatless, with a sleepy look and wry smile.

"The nursery rhyme icon was updated again in 2003, when he adopted his current “hats off” party-animal appearance. 

In 2006, the company and brand was purchased by Old Dutch Foods, which rebranded the product as Old Dutch potato chips. 

As a result, in Canada the Humpty Dumpty brand name is used for other non-chip snacks, such as a popular Party Mix.

However, you can still buy Humpty Dumpty Potato Chips in Maine as well as a few other New England states where they are still hugely popular. You can even order them online.

And if all this egg-cites you, here's the link to the Humpty Dumpty products page on the Old Dutch website.