Small Home Gazette, Fall 2017
History Brief: I’m Just Wild About Animal Crackers
Can you envision Shirley Temple singing those words? It was in the 1935 movie “Curly Top,” and the song “Animal Crackers in My Soup” became a hit, selling thousands of sheet music copies.
At the time of the movie, animal crackers had been around a long time, originating in the late 1800s in England. As they gained popularity, American bakeries began making their own animal crackers and, wanting a wider reach for their product, they began to unite into larger companies.
The product we know of as Animal Crackers was produced by the National Biscuit Company (now known as Nabisco) in 1902 and was named “Barnum’s Animals” after the popular circus. For Christmas, the package was redesigned to look like a circus train with a string attached to encourage hanging on the Christmas tree. The box sold for 5 cents and was an immediate hit.
Over time, 54 different animals have been featured. By the way, the rabbits mentioned in Shirley’s song have never been in the box!
