By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell
When my friend Carol and I were sophomores in high school, we’d have sleepovers 
most Saturday nights. When we slept at her house, we’d share the double bed in her guest room, but we’d have some uneasy feelings. So uneasy were these feelings that we’d have trouble falling asleep. Those feelings were based on a picture on a box on the dresser in that room. It was a creepy picture of Betty Crocker on Carol’s old baking set.
Not only was that picture disturbing, it also conjured up some suspicions in our adolescent brains. Was she real? Was Betty Crocker REAL? And based on that creepy picture, WAS SHE COMING TO GET US?!
At some point, I figured I’d better do some digging or I’d never comfortably sleep at Carol’s house again. So I did, and it was probably one of my earliest journalistic endeavors. (I eventually became a broadcast journalist, she an RN.) Of course, I couldn’t do the research from home because these were pre-Google days. Heck, these were pre-computer days! So off I went to the library.
My research showed that Betty was indeed, a fake.
According to an article in Ad Age published nearly three decades after I did my research:
Betty was created in 1921 after a promotion for Gold Medal flour flooded Washburn Crosby Co. with questions about baking. To answer customers in a more personal manner, the company created a fictitious kitchen expert, pulling the name “Crocker” from a recently retired director of the company and adding the first name “Betty” because it sounded friendly.
Washburn Crosby’s female employees were asked to submit handwriting samples for Betty’s signature and the one selected as “most distinctive” is still Betty’s signature today.
I presented my findings to Carol, and we didn’t know what to think! All throughout our respective childhoods, Betty Crocker was da woman. When we’d see that red spoon with white lettering, we’d think cooking…comfort…credibility. Now what?
Now nothing. There was nothing we could do.
So we decided to just get a good night’s sleep.
And we turned the box so that Betty’s picture faced the wall.
With ♥,
PS: Can you choose which picture above was the one that scared us? Comment here by posting the corresponding letter. If you’d like, explain why you chose her. I’ll give the answer in my next post.
What is the answer?
It’s “B,” J1 and Pandas! Thanks for asking.
It was answered in the next blog post after this. 🙂
And now I have a question for you. I love to know how people find my website. Would you mind letting me know? Thanks in advance!
Since I’m also a compulsive researcher, I found a baking kit online. The picture on the box confirmed my correct guess, even though I won’t give it away here. 🙂
LOL, Shelli! Of course you’d research it–you’re a writer, too! And thanks for not giving the correct answer just yet. Can you email the image to me? I’ll post it when I give the answer. I know Carol will enjoy seeing it again as much as I will. I hope it doesn’t scare us now. 🙂 (BTW, did it scare you, too?)
Thank you for your guess Cindy, but I am sorry to tell you that there was no real Aunt Jemima. She was characterized by a series of women who, during their separate tenures, went around the country making pancakes at fairs and other events. It will probably be the subject of an upcoming column. (Note to all: Cindy would join Carol and I for some of those spooky sleepovers, but we’d sleep in a different room–devoid of Betty Crocker’s picture–where the three of us would fit, and have a better shot at annoying Carol’s older sister Susan.) 🙂
hahaha! That was very funny. (I guessed C.) One of them seemed to consider Mrs. Nixon a fashion idol, based on the hairdo. I will be chuckling for quite some time. It’s totally believable!!
Please, please don’t tell me there’s no Aunt Jemima!
Tina: Great point! The Betty Crocker spoon is also red. I wonder if that has something to do with it. I found out that there is a book out called “Finding Betty Crocker.” It was published in 2005, so I think I’ll check the library. It would be a kick to read it.
I’m choosing A …she just doesn’t look friendly…and I could see why a child would find her scary. But all of the “Betty’s” are dressed in red…wonder why that is ???
Hi, Carol here. (The Carol mentioned in Tobi’s blog.) What fond memories!!! Great times!!!!
If my memory serves me correctly the Betty on the box was… {Oops! Sorry, Carol! You can’t tell our readers yet!}
Carol, I miss you! I am so happy we’re back in touch because of this silly little blog post. I hope you don’t mind that I edited out your answer. I’ll give the correct letter in my next blog post in about two weeks. And BTW, your memory served you just fine because you gave the correct answer, LOL! xoxoxoxox
After looking at all those photos, I’m still terrified of “A”. I’d never want her in my house, much less my bedroom !!
Or in your kitchen, Penny O.!
I’m going with C. And then I’m going to hide under the bed. 🙂
I couldn’t agree more, Roz. Every one of these renderings are bone-chilling.
I say A. She’s not a friendly looking Betty. I think I would have been afraid of her.
Barbara, thank you for the validation, LOL!
I’m guessing it was A, because that is the most stern-looking Betty Crocker. The others seem more friendly. If I’m wrong, then I guess that it’s one of the other non-smiling photos!
Jackie, thanks for your double-guess. 🙂
E. she looks like Laurie Petrie in the Walnut episode, you were afraid she was missing her thumbs and that she had eyes in the back for her head
I love all of your responses! Keep them coming. I’ll let everyone know the correct answer in my next email newsletter, coming out two weeks from now.
In the meantime, Carol and I had lost touch for a little while, and I am so thrilled that, thanks to this blog post, we are back in touch again!
Karen C: That was my and my sister’s favorite episode of “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” so you got an LOL from me on that.