The idea of a vinyl lunch box came from outside the box industry. Looking for new worlds to conquer, Standard Plastic Products, a New )Jersey manufacturer with a fast-selling line of Ponytail vinyl school accessories, approached KST about a box in 1958. "It was the logical next step," says KST. "We bought the idea." An array of vinyl boxes, in pastels for girls and earth tones for boys, hit the stores in 1959.
Aladdin caught wind of KST's coup and, unwilling "to let anyone
get the edge," rushed their vinyl contender, Bobby Soxer, into production in time for the midseason. Boxmen never were
very comfortable with vinyls: They were a "pretty bad kit. Just
a piece of shower curtain plastic, heat sealed over cardboard,"
says KST. "You'd get it out in the rain, and that was about it....
Who knows what kind of stuff would grow in there!" If that wasn't
enough, "the decoration was stinko, " groused KST. Although vinyl
sales reached thirty percent of the total market in the sixties,
thanks largely to KST's Barbie line, comparatively few boomer
vinyls have survived into the present. 
Wishing to hang on to their petite customers after they'd outgrown
their first boxes, Aladdin added purselike vinyl boxes with long
handles, called Brunch Bags, in 1962. Targeted mainly at preteens
in the third- to sixth-grade range, boxmen did well by this "sophisticated"
upgrade option. Brunch Bags such as The Beatles and The Flying
Nun were licensed, but most were embellished with dull, generic
patterns. 
Like their automobile counterparts, Nash and Studebaker, ADCO
and Universal couldn't put a dent into the market share of the
box industry leaders. ADCO dropped out of box produdion in 1956
after making the blunder of putting a non-Disney character on
the back of an "official" box. Universal was bought by general
Electric in 1963, which closed down the entire box and vacuum
bottle operation.
The Beatles Kaboodle kits were from standard plastic and came
in yellow, Lavender, white and blue. These were among the most
successful vinyls. Press the picture to download a picture that
is larger and contains some counterfiet kaboodle kits that were
also sold. 
The Banana Splits! I'm 29 and just barely remember watching this one. Their theme
song (Tra la la) is making a comeback along with several other
cartoon theme songs. The name of the CD is Saturday morning and
features modern bands covering old cartoon songs. Songs that have
boxes include; Scooby Doo, Spiderman, The Bugaloos and Underdog
Alvin!! 
Good morning captain! Another Favorite of mine while I was growing up. This show was
started in 1955 by Bob Keenshan. He was an ex-marine that got
fired from the Howdy Doody show, Where played Clarabell. Do ya
remember Grandfather Clock, Bunny Rabbit and Mr. Green Jeans?
Not to mention all those Damed Ping Pong balls.
My four year old still watches this lady on PBS. Shari Lewis was still going strong on PBS with Hush Puppy, Charlie Horse
and of course, Lamb chop. She recently went to the big puppet
show in the sky. 
1965. Soupy Sales.I really know very little about this one. I have seen small outakes
of bloopers from the show. It was a kids show and I remember that
a toopless dancer was once sent to the door as a practical joke
on Soupy.This page was last revised on 10/13/98
History