Sunny Jim facts for kids
"Sunny Jim" is a name that has been used for two different things:
- A cartoon character who helped advertise Force cereal, which was one of the first successful wheat flake cereals.
- A brand of peanut butter made in Seattle, USA.
The name "Sunny Jim" has also been used as a friendly way to address men, especially those named James.
Contents
Sunny Jim and Force Cereal
The happy character on Force cereal boxes was created in the United States in 1902. A writer named Minnie Maud Hanff and an artist named Dorothy Ficken came up with him for an advertising campaign.
Instead of just saying that wheat was healthy, the advertisements told fun stories in poems. One famous poem went like this:
- Jim Dumps was a most unfriendly man,
- Who lived his life on the hermit plan;
- In his gloomy way he'd gone through life,
- And made the most of woe and strife;
- Till Force one day was served to him
- Since then they've called him "Sunny Jim."
Other catchy phrases used in the ads included "Better than a Vacation" and "A Different Food for Indifferent Appetites." Another popular rhyme was:
- High o'er the fence leaps Sunny Jim,
- Force is the food that raises him
This last line became very well-known!
The advertising campaign was a huge hit, making Sunny Jim very popular. In 1902, a magazine called Printer's Ink said that Sunny Jim was "as well-known as President Roosevelt or J. Pierpont Morgan." However, the cereal company later hired a different advertising firm. This new firm didn't like humor in ads, so they mostly stopped using the Sunny Jim campaign.
In the United States, Force cereal eventually stopped being made in 1983. But in the United Kingdom, both the cereal and Sunny Jim were much more successful. Force cereal was sold in the UK until 2013, and Sunny Jim was still on the box!
Sunny Jim Peanut Butter
The Sunny Jim peanut butter brand was made in Seattle, Washington. A man named Germanus Wilhelm Firnstahl started the company in 1921. He had moved to Seattle and bought a machine to roast peanuts.
The friendly, apple-cheeked character on the peanut butter jars was based on Firnstahl's son, Lowell. Firnstahl took pictures of all his children and chose Lowell's photo because he had all his teeth at the time!
In the 1950s, Sunny Jim peanut butter was very popular in the Seattle area. It made up almost one-third of all peanut butter sold there. The company was sold in 1979.
A large sign on the factory building made it a famous landmark for drivers on nearby Interstate 5. Sadly, a fire in 1997 destroyed the sign and part of the building. Then, in 2010, another big fire completely destroyed the Sunny Jim plant.
The main advertisement for Sunny Jim peanut butter was: "Sunny Jim has underground peanuts with a flavor that's outta sight."
General Usage of the Name
After the cereal advertisements, the name "Sunny Jim" became a common way to describe a cheerful man. It was also often used as a nickname for people named James, like UK Prime Minister James Callaghan. In Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, people sometimes used "Sonny Jim" as a friendly way to address someone.
Famous People Nicknamed Sunny Jim
Many famous people have been called "Sunny Jim":
- James Rolph (1869–1934), an American politician.
- Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons (1874–1966), a famous horse trainer.
- James Mackay (1880–1953), an Australian cricketer.
- James Young (1882–1922), a football player for Celtic FC.
- Jim Bottomley (1900–1959), an American baseball player.
- James Callaghan, who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979.
- General Alexander A. Vandegrift, a leader of the Marine Corps, who was nicknamed by his mentor Smedley J. Butler.
Other Uses of Sunny Jim
The name "Sunny Jim" also appears in other interesting places:
- At La Jolla Cove beach in San Diego, California, there's a sea cave called "Sunny Jim Cave." If you look at the cave from a certain angle, its opening looks a lot like the cartoon character's face! You can swim to the cave or walk down steps from a nearby store.
- In the movies The Elephant Man and the TV series Twin Peaks, both by director David Lynch, there are characters nicknamed Sunny Jim.
- In the 1968 film Coogan's Bluff, a picture of a fugitive is signed "With Love, from Sunny Jim."
- The Sunny Jim wheat flakes character is mentioned in the song "1000 Umbrellas" by the band XTC.
- In the Lobo web series, there's a villain named Sunny Jim.
- Sonny Crockett from the TV show Miami Vice has the legal first name James and is sometimes called "Sonny James Crockett."
