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Let’s Do Lunch
Let’s Do Lunch (Boxes)

By Donald-Brian Johnson

Working Up An Appetite

Mark Kelehan of Elkhorn, Nebraska, brought his lunches to
school in a paper bag. Nowadays though, the avid collector has over
1200 lunchboxes in his collection, along with a massive assortment
of related artifacts and reference materials. Here, in his own words,
is how an enduring interest came to be:
“In 1994, I went to a flea market in Omaha and saw a 1980
Pac-Man lunchbox, and thought it was super cool, even though it
was a little beat up. It reminded me of a lot of things from my
childhood. After I bought that lunchbox, I was curious to know
what others there were, so I found a lunchbox price guide. When I
saw how many were actually made, it blew my mind and kick-started
my interest in buying more. I would go to flea markets, antique
malls, and garage sales, and just bought basically whatever I could
Lunchbox collector Mark Kelehan, and former Aladdin artist Robert Jones, at the that was within my geographic reach.
Kelehan exhibit, The Lunchbox: Packed With Pop Culture. The Durham “When eBay arrived, it became much easier to find lunchboxes.
Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, 2023.
During my time in New York, I started going to toy shows and meeting
collectors who had other things like
lame it on Hoppy. When the Hopalong production art and production plates. That
Cassidy tin lunchbox hit stores in 1950, bag
Blunches faced a formidable competitor.
Now, those tasty peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
could be packed securely in a container festooned
with images of your favorite performers or TV
characters. Even better, the accompanying thermos
bottle, (ready to be filled with anything from
chocolate milk to tomato soup), carried through
the visual theme. Kids loved ‘em. In the first year
of production, Aladdin Industries, Inc.
(“Aladdin”), the Hopalong manufacturer, sold over
600,000 Hoppy lunchboxes, at $2.69 each. For
the next 35-plus years (the “Golden Age of
Lunchboxes”), metal lunchboxes provided a
reliable source of bragging rights for schoolkids, a
reliable tug on parents’ pocketbooks, and a reliable The 1980 Pac-Man lunchbox from Aladdin, with
means of renewable income for the companies that artwork by Robert Jones. This box inspired Mark Original concept art for the Pac-Man lunchbox, by
churned out the boxes. After all, interests change. Kelehan’s collection. Robert Jones. Concept art was submitted for approval
When Hoppy was no longer in fashion, there were before the final art was created.
the Marvel Super Heroes. Or Snoopy. Or all the stars of Star Trek. Or started me on this journey to go deeper than just the lunchboxes. The
an entire busload of characters from the wonderful world of Disney. If other things were more challenging and exciting, like finding former
you found your way to the top of the pop culture heap, chances were employees who had the artwork or finding collectors who bought
you would soon be immortalized on a lunchbox.
prototype lunchboxes that were rare one-off things. I love hunting down

Title images: 1. What really started things hopping: the 1950 Hopalong Cassidy lunchbox, designed by Robert Burton for Aladdin Industries.
2. Aladdin’s main competitor, King-Seeley Thermos, soon headed west too, with a fully lithographed Roy Rogers lunchbox. (The final lunchbox added to A
the Durham exhibit, Roy was the first lunchbox of Mark Kelehan’s mother.) 3. “It’s Howdy Doody time!” ADCO Liberty’s Howdy Doody lunchbox, 1955. L
4. They’re out of this world! The Jetsons domed lunchbox from Aladdin, 1963.

28 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles