![Question:](images/question.gif)
Like many creations, the story of the development of the TV dinner
is not straightforward. Many people and companies played a role
in the development of the concept of a complete meal that needed
only to be reheated before eating. The invention of the TV dinner
has been attributed to at least three different sources, primarily
Gerry Thomas, the Swanson Brothers, and Maxson Food Systems, Inc.
Maxson Food Systems, Inc. manufactured the earliest complete frozen
meal in 1945. Maxson manufactured “Strato-Plates” – complete
meals that were reheated on the plane for military and civilian
airplane passengers. The meals consisted of a basic three-part
equation of meat, vegetable and potato, each housed in its own
separate compartment on a plastic plate. However, due to financial
reasons and the death of their founder, Maxson frozen meals never
went to the retail market. Some feel that Maxson’s product
does not qualify as a true TV dinner, since it was consumed on
an airplane rather than in the consumer’s home.
Following in the footsteps of Maxson Foods Systems was Jack Fisher's
FridgiDinners. In the late 1940's FridgiDinners sold frozen dinners
to bars and taverns. Frozen dinners did
not take off, however, until the Bernstein brothers came on the
scene.
In 1949,
Albert and Meyer
Bernstein organized Frozen Dinners, Inc., which packaged frozen
dinners on aluminum trays with three compartments. They sold
them under the One-Eyed Eskimo label, and only
to markets in the
Pittsburgh
area. By 1950, the company had produced over 400,000 frozen dinners.
Demand continuted to grow, and in 1952 the
Bernstein brothers formed the Quaker State
Food Corporation. They expanded distribution to markets
east of the Mississippi.
By 1954, Quaker State Foods had produced and sold over 2,500,000
frozen dinners!
The concept really took hold in 1954 when Swanson’s frozen
meals appeared. Swanson was a well-known brand that consumers recognized,
and Swanson launched a massive advertising campaign for their product.
They also coined the phrase TV Dinner, which helped to transform
their frozen meals into a cultural icon.
But this is where different stories begin to emerge. Until recently,
the most widely credited individual inventor of the TV dinner was
Gerry Thomas, a salesman for C.A. Swanson & Son
in 1953. For example, the American Frozen Food Institute honored
him in their "Frozen Food Hall of Fame" as the inventor
of the TV dinner. However, his role as the inventor is now being
disputed.
Conversely, Betty Cronin, a bacteriologist who was also working
for the Swanson brothers at that time, asserts that it was the
Swanson brothers themselves, Gilbert and Clarke Swanson, who came
up with the concept of the TV dinner, while their marketing and
advertising teams developed the name and design of the product.
Cronin also worked on the project, taking on the technical challenge
of composing a dinner in which all the ingredients took the same
amount of time to cook, also called synchronization.
So who really invented the TV dinner? It depends on your definition.
One thing is for sure, though: the first company to use the name
and successfully market the TV Dinner was Swanson.
Related
Web Sites |
- 500
Years of American Food: 1950-2000+ -
Although the blurb on the TV dinner is brief, this site
includes lots of information about the evolution of American
food and eating habits, with accompanying snapshots and
advertisements.
- At
50, TV Dinner is Still Cookin - This article was printed in the Christian Science Monitor
on November 10, 2004. It credits Gerry Thomas with inventing
the TV dinner.
- Defrosted
Dinners -
The New Yorker Archive reprinted this article from August
4, 1945. Lillian Ross reports on Maxson’s brand new
frozen dinners, and gives a great description of the technology
involved.
- The
Food Timeline -
Lynne Olver, a reference librarian from the Morris County
Library, created the food timeline. This site is a good
starting point for food history questions.
- Swanson
50th Anniversary Special -
Swanson has put together a Web site commemorating the 50th
anniversary of the TV dinner. Included on this site are
a timeline, print ads, TV dinner commercials, and fun TV
dinner facts.
- 'TV
Dinner' Reheated for 45th Anniversary -
From CNN March 31, 1999 this article honors Gerry Thomas
as the inventor of a meal on a tray.
- TV
Dinners Celebrate 50th Amid Changing Channels, Time -
This is an article that appeared in the Courier-Post
out
of Cherry Hill, NJ on November 25, 2004. It highlights
Betty Cronin’s role in the development of the TV
dinner.
- Who
invented frozen food? -
A brief introduction to the history of frozen foods.
|
Further
Reading |
- Mingo,
Jack. How TV dinners became tray chic in How the
Cadillac got its fins: and other tales from the annals
of business
and marketing. New York, HarperBusiness, c1994: p. 197-200.
- Mouchard,
Andre. Frozen in time: fifty years ago, the TV dinner
appeared and changed the way America thinks about the
family meal. Orange County Register, Jun. 20, 2003: p.
Accent.1-Accent.3.
- Phipps,
Robert G. The Swanson story: when the chicken flew
the coop. Omaha, NE, Carol and Caroline Swanson Foundation,
1977. 100 p.
- Rivenburg, Roy. A landmark idea, yes, but whose? Tracing the invention of the TV dinner opens a can, er, tray of worms. Los Angeles Times, November 23, 2003: p. E1 & E4.
- Schwarz,
Frederic D. The epic of the TV dinner. American Heritage
of Invention and Technology, v. 9, Spring 1994:
p. 55.
- Shapiro,
Laura. Something from the oven: reinventing dinner
in 1950’s America. New York, Viking, 2004: p. 17-20.
- Swetnam,
George and Charles A. Locke. Albert Bernstein and Meyer
Bernstein in The Bicentennial history of Pittsburgh
and Allegheny County. v. 3. Pittsburgh, Historical
Records Association, 1955: p. 942-948.
- Voorhees,
Don. What’s the connection between TV dinners and
television? In Why does popcorn pop? Seacaucus, N.J.,
Carol Pub. Group, c1995: p. 195-196.
|
For
more print resources...
Search on "cold
storage," "cookery frozen
foods," "frozen foods," or "home freezers"
in the Library of Congress Online
Catalog.
|
From the
Swansonmeals 50th
Anniversary Celebration Web site.
![Photo of a frozen dinner](images/frozendinner.jpg)
Frozen
Dinner, from US Department of Agriculure Web site.
![phto of a man bending over a freezer case inthe grocery store](images/freezercase.jpg)
At the freezer
case in a grocery store - from the Imaginary World Web site.
![Ad from 1950's showing woman unpacking frozen dinners from grocery bag, saying, "I'm late - but dinner won't be."](images/swanson-ad.jpg)
From the
Swansonmeals 50th Anniversary Celebration Web site.
|