by Donald-Brian Johnson
“Rosebud …”
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Most globes, fortunately, lead a happier existence. Glass (and later, plastic) fluid-filled snow globes (a.k.a. waterglobes, waterballs, snowdomes, snowscenes, snow shakers, or blizzard-weights), with their picturesque interior scenes and all those swirling flakes, have been delighting us for nearly 150 years.
The first documented appearance of a snow globe was at the Paris Universal Expo of 1878. According to the published Expo report, “French exhibitors of decorated glass exhibited paperweights of hollow balls filled with water and a white powder which, when the paperweight is turned upside down, falls in imitation of a snowstorm. “The first of those globes depicted a man with an umbrella, attempting, rather futilely, to protect himself against the snowy onslaught. Snow globes made their next Paris Expo appearance in 1889. Those globes, created by an unidentified souvenir seller, contained an image of the brand-new Eiffel Tower.
The demand for snow globes snowballed, and other European companies joined the fray. It wasn’t until 1900, however, that the first globe patent was issued, to Erwin Perzy of Vienna. A developer of surgical equipment, Perzy’s original goal was to come up with better reflective material for his “Schusterkugel,” a flask filled with water, used to focus light during surgery. A snow-like effect occurred when the flask, filled with fluid and the new reflective particles, was shaken. Inspired, Perzy said “auf Wiedersehen” to the operating room, and set up shop as a still-in-operation-today snow globe manufacturer. His first globe: an image of the Basilica of the Birth of the Virgin Mary. (By the way – that Citizen Kane globe, with its soon-to-be-demolished log cabin, was a Perzy.)
Collectors in Victorian England loved snow globes, but America had to make do with expensive imports until 1927. That’s when Joseph Garaja of Pittsburgh was granted a domestic patent for his innovation: snow globes assembled underwater. This ensured that the globes were completely filled with a tight seal, and also meant that the globes could now be mass-produced at much more affordable prices. Garaja’s first globe starred a fish floating in seagrass.
By the 1930s, William Snyder’s Atlas Crystal Works, in New Jersey, had become another major player in U.S. globe production. But it wasn’t until snow globes made their feature film debut that crowds began clamoring for them. In 1940s Kitty Foyle, Ginger Rogers, as “Kitty,” shook a globe that held the figure of a young girl on a sled, leading to a flashback scene. Ginger won an Oscar for her role. As for snow globes, their sales zoomed by 200 percent following Kitty Foyle’s premiere.
Citizen Kane hit the screens the next year, and once “Kane’s” snow globe hit the floor, globe sales continued to surge. Manufacturers in the United States and abroad were soon snowed under with orders, and domestic production, particularly of globes with patriotic themes, boomed during World War II, due to the loss of overseas imports.
But the recipe for what exactly went into a snow globe remained a closely guarded secret. The object, of course: to keep the snow whirling about for as long as possible before sinking to the bottom. While the original globes were water-filled, an eventual blend of water and glycerin or glycol helped the flakes make a lazy descent. Even better, the antifreeze-like mix kept the fluid from turning into a soon-to-shatter iceball. (A warning: ingesting that fluid mix can be deadly to cats and dogs, and not particularly pleasant for the rest of us.)
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While frosty figural themes, from jolly Santas to top-hatted snowmen, are a snow globe staple, much more has been captured within them. Snow globes celebrating scenic attractions and vacation destinations have remained tourist favorites since the 1940s, whether showing Niagara Falls (where it snows), or Bermuda (where it doesn’t). There are globes geared to such pop culture favorites as Batman, Mickey Mouse, and Davy Crockett. Looking for a snow globe for your favorite golfer? One for Valentine’s Day? A snowy salute to the Last Supper? You’ll find them all, somewhere amongst the 71,000-plus globes listed daily on eBay. You’ll even run across the occasional gotta-have-this advertising oddity, popular in the 1940s and 50s. Among the favorites: a snow globe promoting “Crown Termite Control “ (featuring an interior crown, naturally), and one with a suspended faucet, labeled: “turn off excess secretion of gastric acid with Nacton.” And, your day will be brightened considerably if you encounter a globe with a mass-produced foul-up: a bald bathing beauty, for instance … an upside-down Abraham Lincoln figure, head in the ground and feet in the air … or even the Eiffel Tower, mistakenly labeled “Souvenir of Puerto Rico.”
Today’s snow globes take many forms. There are globes that allow the proud possessor to insert a personal photo inside without soaking it. There are flat-bottomed plastic ovals, reportedly inspired by the view out the back window of a Volkswagen “Beetle,” and unfortunately prone to evaporation and cloudy liquid. There are “mechanicals” which light up or incorporate music boxes. Some globes even swoosh the snow around at the touch of a button, so there’s a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on without involving much personal effort. There are even figures built around snow globes, such as Santa displaying a toy shop globe in his tummy.
And then there are those huge outdoor inflatable snow globes. Each transparent vinyl globe has a blower in the base. Air from the blower sends polystyrene pellets up through a tube, to the top of the globe interior. There, they are blown out, cascading down and around the globe’s nylon fabric characters as interior lights illuminate the action. Static cling or humidity can sometimes result in the pellets sticking to the vinyl, and the majority of inflatable globes lose any of their claims to attractiveness when deflated.
Snow globes of the indoor sort, however, retain an irresistible, almost eerie appeal, thanks to frequent references in pop culture. Among the most interesting:
• St. Elsewhere ended its lengthy TV run with the suggestion that the entire series might have been a snow globe-inspired fantasy. An autistic boy, Tommy Westphall, reveals his most prized possession: a snow globe. Inside the globe: the recreation of a hospital building that looks suspiciously like the hospital where all the action in St. Elsewhere took place.
• In the movie Unfaithful, Richard Gere gives his wife, Diane Lane a snow globe. Later on, he uses the globe to knock off her lover.
• In Coraline, the movie based on the Neil Gaiman book, Coraline’s parents are trapped in a Detroit Zoo souvenir snow globe.
•An early Pixar short, Knick Knack, is all about a snow globe snowman trying to escape from his globe.
• In the very last seconds of the very last episode of TV’s The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, the visual zeroes in on a snow globe perched on Craig’s nightstand. As the group Journey wails out Don’t Stop Believin’ the camera moves in tighter. Inside the snow globe: images of Craig’s cohorts “Geoff,” the robot skeleton, and “Secretariat,” the pantomime horse. Right in the center of things: a rendition of Craig himself.
And then there are the snow globe songs. Some state the obvious:
I Live Inside A Snow Globe
(by the Laurie Berkner Band)
I live inside a snow globe
It’s winter every day.
And when I get up in the morning,
This is what I say—
Shake it up
Shake it, shake it
Shake it, shake it up
And then the snow falls down.
And more than a few are just plaintive pleas for help:
from the now-defunct Liberace Museum in Las Vegas.
Please Get Me Out Of This Snow Globe
(by David, Steven, & Susan Newberry, for “Scratch Garden”)
Oh this season is surely special,
everyone is glancing my way.
I sure do look fine
but if you got the time
I need one favor from you today:
Please get me out of this snow globe!
I’m tired of being on display!
I’m stuck in this position!
I wear the same thing every day!
Just get me out of this snow globe!
I wanna sleep in a nice proper bed.
Whatever you do, don’t shake me
Cuz’ it really really really really
really really hurts my head!
And there is a whole passel more. When it comes to romanticizing snow globes, the drifts are piled high.
Today, most vintage snow globes remain extremely affordable: under $15 for plastic, and under $50 for glass. (For imports, Disney globes, handcrafted globes, and globes used as a medium by contemporary artists, plan on adding plenty more.) So the next time you’re snowed in, check out some of those 71,000 eBay listings. Like Charles Foster Kane, the dreamy allure of snow globes may transport you back to your childhood. Just don’t drop one. Oh, and don’t drink the water.
Merry Christmas!
All photos by Donald-Brian Johnson
Photo Associate: Hank Kuhlmann
Donald-Brian Johnson, a syndicated columnist, is the co-author of numerous Schiffer books on design and collectibles. Among them: Postwar Pop, a collection of his columns. Please address inquiries (or holiday greetings) to: donaldbrian@msn.com
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