This metal lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1973. The lunch box features the cartoon characters of the television show Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, on all sides of the lunch box. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was an animated series created by Bill Cosby that ran from 1972-1985 on CBS.
This metal dome lunch box is painted green and has a collapsible hinged metal handle. The box was made by Thermos in 1941. A five pointed star is molded into each end of the dome lid. A wire bail for the thermos bottle is located inside the lid. The green painting of this metal lunch box is a departure from the plain metal boxes in earlier years, but still a step away from the licensed images that made lunchboxes a hot selling item.
This metal lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1977. This box features images of the band Kiss. Kiss was well known for their flamboyant face paint and costumes, with its members Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss taking on alternate personas. Stanley was the Starchild, Simmons the Demon, Frehley the Spaceman, and Criss the Catman.
This tin lunch box was made by Thermos in 1964. The box has a metal snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible, dark brown plastic handle. The box has colorful action scenes and portrait drawings from the cartoon series Popeye on the lid, back and sides. Popeye the sailor was originally created as a comic-strip character by E.C. Segar in 1929, and has continued to the present while also appearing in radio, television, and movies.
This steel lunch box was made by Aladdin Industries in 1970. The bottle has a metal snap for hinged lid and collapsible white plastic handle. The box is entitled “The World of Dr. Seuss.” It features artwork from a variety of Dr. Seuss books. The lid features an image from The Cat in the Hat, showing the cat juggling an umbrella, book, fish, and a tea cup, while Thing One and Thing Two prepare to trip the Cat, bringing everything crashing down.
This metal lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1973. The lunch box features the cartoon characters of the television show Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, on all sides of the lunch box. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was an animated series created by Bill Cosby that ran from 1972-1985 on CBS.
This tin lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1960. It has a metal snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible, red plastic handle. The art on the lunch box features images of four submarines on the back and sides. The submarines are the USS Nautilus, Seawolf, Skipjack, and George Washington. The George Washington is shown firing an underwater missile, and there is a cross-section of the USS Nautilus on the bottom.
This tin lunch box was made by Thermos in 1957. It has a metal snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible, metal handle. The box has a blue background, with an image of Roy Roger’s horse Trigger bucking on an open plain with mountains in the background.
This metal dome lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1967. This lunch box features images from the television show Lost in Space, which ran from 1965-1968 on CBS. Lost in Space was originally named Space Family Robinson, and was a futuristic take on the Swiss Family Robinson. The box features a colorful scene of the Robinsons in their vehicle, the Chariot, motoring over a beautifully drawn alien landscape and fighting an alien with their laser guns on the sides.
This tin lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1967. The lunch box features imagery from the television series The Green Hornet on the lid, sides and back. The Green Hornet was originally created as a radio program in the 1930s, but existed as film serials, comic book series, and a television show that this lunch box was based on. The show ran for one season in 1966, and starred Van Williams as the crime-fighting Green Hornet, and Bruce Lee as his sidekick Kato.
This tin lunch box was made by Aladdin Industries in 1954. It features a picture of Gene Autry riding a bucking horse, and the back of the box features a tan and white design to resemble a cowhide. Autry was known as “The Singing Cowboy,” performing in radio, movies, and television from the 1930s to 1960s, becoming most famous for such songs as “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” and “Frosty the Snowman.”
This tin lunch box was made by Thermos in 1968. The box has a metal snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible, yellow plastic handle. The box has a pink and yellow background on the front and back, and an orange rim. The front and back of the lunch box has colorful drawings of the members of The Beatles from the animated feature, "Yellow Submarine.”
This steel lunch box was made by Aladdin in 1961. It has a metal snap for hinged lid and collapsible white plastic handle. The lunch box features cartoon images of Ludwig Von Drake at Disneyland on all external surfaces. Ludwig von Drake was introduced as a Disney character in 1961, as part of the first show of Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.
This metal lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1973. The lunch box has a blue rim and animated scenes of space life and travel on all sides. Due to the success of NASA and the popularity of Star Wars and Star Trek, companies tried to use space images to sell their products. This is an example of Thermos using generic “UFO” images to sell their lunch boxes.
This domed steel lunch box is a conceptual design by Aladdin Industries in 1968 that was never manufactured. It has two metal snaps for a hinged dome lid and collapsible yellow plastic handle. The box has an undulating orange, yellow and blue checkerboard pattern that is made of vinyl and taped to bread loaf lunch box (see 2001.3101.16).
This tin lunch box was manufactured by Aladdin Industries in 1954. As one of the earliest metal lunch boxes, it served as a template for future designs with large colorful images of licensed fictional characters. This box features images from Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, a television show that aired on all four major networks from 1950-1955. Tom Corbett, Space Cadet also appeared as a book series, comic strip, and radio program.
This tin lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1980. It features a blue plastic snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible blue plastic handle. The box is titled “Disco Fever” and is red and blue overall, and features images of disco dancers dancing in a dance hall on the front side, and the back side is dancers dancing in a dance hall wearing roller skates.
This metal lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1978. The lunch box depicts the three Bee Gees on front lid, Robin Gibb on the rear panel, and various song titles are written on the side. The Bee Gees mainly consisted of the brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, and each one had their own lunch box. The Bee Gees first achieved international fame in the 1960s as a rock group, but the height of their success occurred in the late 1970s, with their soundtrack to the hit movie Saturday Night Fever becoming one of the best selling soundtracks of all time.
This tin lunch box was made by Thermos in 1965. It has a metal snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible, olive green plastic handle. The lunch box is entitled “BATTLE KIT” and shows action scenes of soldiers in a jungle setting on the front, back, and sides.