Pop culture specialist Ed Polish supervising Jolly Green Giant shipment to Valley Relics Museum, Los Angeles
Jolly Green Giant, Mr. Clean, Charlie Tuna, Pillsbury Doughboy and friends get a new play-space in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA, November 30, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — Valley Relics Museum director Tommy Gelinas announced today the opening of the Museum of Modern Mythology Gallery of historic twentieth century American advertising characters. Thousands of colorful characters, ranging from an imposing eight-foot tall Jolly Green Giant and large mechanical Buster Brown Shoe display, to tabletop Kool-Aid Kids and Pillsbury Doughboy mugs comprise a collection focused exclusively on anthropomorphic figures used in brand marketing. The collection was acquired from Ellen Havre Weis, co-founder and executive director of San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Mythology, prior to her death in 2021.
“You may not realize it, but you know dozens if not hundreds of these characters,” said Gordon Whiting, Ms. Weis’s husband, who negotiated the deal with the Valley Relics Museum executive team. “They permeate our lives, whether smiling at us from cereal boxes or bottles of kitchen cleanser, or from billboards, shop windows and Internet screens. They impart a positive meaning for their products and are almost part of the family.”
The mythology part of the collection’s name derives from the idea that advertising characters are modern manifestations of classic mythic archetypes. This may be obvious with a figure like Jolly Green Giant, but other instances like talking fish, leprechauns, and magic dairy cows fill the shelves of supermarkets, imparting a friendly and appealing tone to go along with supernatural attributes. Mythologist Joseph Campbell served on the Museum of Modern Mythology’s board of advisers until his death in 1987.
The new permanent Valley Relics/Museum of Modern Mythology annex will host a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, December 2, 2022, at 5:00 PM PST. Tickets for the event are available through Eventbrite, keyword “ellen weis”.
Valley Relics Museum, specializing in twentieth century history, pop culture, and artifacts, is located at 7900 Balboa Boulevard Lake Balboa (Van Nuys), California.
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Gordon J. Whiting
The Ellen Havre Weis Archive of Modern Mythology
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