This 1901 political cartoon by R.C. Bowman is the earliest known cartoon of any type with an allusion to Cracker Jack, reflecting the height to which the confection had risen in American culture just five years after the product was named in 1896.
Citation: Bowman, R.C. "Put Me Off at Buffalo." Minneapolis Tribune, rpt. American Monthly Review of Reviews (June 1901). http://www.boondocksnet.com/gallery/panam01.html In Jim Zwick, ed., Political Cartoons and Cartoonists. http://www.boondocksnet.com/gallery/pc_intro.html (Nov. 21, 2001).
The cartoon first appeared in the The Minneapolis Tribune and was reprinted in the American Monthly Review of Reviews in June 1901. The Review of Reviews usually printed cartoons the month after they appeared in newspapers, so this cartoon probably first appeared in May 1901.
The caption of the cartoon in the American Review of Reviews was "Put Me Off at Buffalo," the site of the Pan-American Expostion. The ticket that is stuck in the star-spangled band of Uncle Sam's hat reads, "To the Pan-American Exposition Opened May 2nd 1901." On the seat next to him is a bottle of "Porto Rico Pop." A bag of "Philippine Peanuts" and a box of "Cuban Cigars" are on his lap, and his luggage is labeled "Treasury Surplus." And next to him is a box of "Hawaiian Cracker- Jack."
Cracker Jack collectors will find several things particularly interesting about the cartoon. First, there is the Exposition connection. Here in the cartoon Cracker Jack travels with Uncle Sam to the Pan-American Exposition. In 1893, the confection that was later to be called Cracker Jack was introduced to the throngs of people attending the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, according to published company history.
Then there are the peanuts. In the cartoon, Cracker Jack is teamed with peanuts, as it later would be in the lyrics of Take Me Out to the Ball Game in 1908: Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack."
And finally, there is a character in the cartoon that closely resembles one later associated with Cracker Jack. Sitting next to Uncle Sam is a little dog peeking up, remarkably resembling early versions of the dog that would become the constant companion of Sailor Jack on Cracker Jack boxes and in Cracker Jack ads more than fifteen years later. The dog's appearance in the cartoon almost seems a foreshadowing of Cracker Jack collectors' prized dog, Bingo. If the dog only had a spot over one eye, Cracker Jack collectors would swear that the dog is Bingo.
According to political cartoon historian Jim Zwick, the dog is actually a recurring signature character in R.C. Bowman's work. In a
political cartoon by Charles L. (Bart) Bartholomew of the rival Minneapolis Journal, several cartoonists, including Bartholomew himself, are depicted for overworking Uncle Sam. Bowman is included among the group, identifiable by the newspaper he is holding and the dog sitting at Bowman's left foot between his feet (just as Cracker Jack's Bingo has always traditionally been found at the the left foot of Sailor Jack).
The Cracker Jack Box gratefully acknowledges Jim Zwick for granting permission to use "Put Me Off at Buffalo" from his excellent Political Cartoons and Cartoonists exhibit, one of several in his Historical Graphics Gallery at
BoondocksNet.com .
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© Jim Davis 11/21/01