POTW: Can of the Hour

This 1,000-pound radio-controlled walking, talking, hand-shaking ambassador of goodwill for the American Can Company, gets last-minute road information from Pamela Livingston of Richmond Hill before taking off on a cross-country tour. 

Once I saw him, I couldn’t resist the combined creepy-cheery affect of today’s Photo of the Week. Our protagonist is “Canco Charlie” a robotic, hand shaking ambassador for the American Can Company - here pictured at the start of his cross-country truck tour in 1952. I learned that he appeared at many promotional events for the company, such as conventions and plant openings, from this delightfully futuristic  blog. It gives quite a comprehensive history of Charlie’s doings - although our Eagle photo is uncredited.

The American Can Company was incorporated in 1901 and became an important supplier of tin cans through most of the 20th century. They later expanded to include paper products (producing the once ubiquitous waxed paper Dixie cups, now, sadly replaced mostly by plastic) and acquired Sam Goody, a record chain, before being restructured out of existence in the 1980s. 

Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images, or the digital collections portal at Brooklyn Public Library. We welcome appointments to research our entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections. Our reference staff is available to help with your research! You can reach us at cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org.