The Man Buried in a Pringles Can [time.com – June 04, 2008]
“In 1966, Baur came up with a clever way for Procter & Gamble to stack chips uniformly rather than tossing them in a bag. He was so proud of the achievement, he wanted to go to his grave with it. So when Baur died last month, his children buried the 89-year-old’s ashes in one of his iconic cans.”
Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips, 1970 & 1973 tubes. (flickr user Roadsidepictures)
So I have vague recollections of hearing about the death of Fred Baur in 2008, the organic chemist who created the first ever Pringles crisps, came up with the original tubular can concept and then asked that his ashes be buried in one when he died.
But now through the magic of the internet I can happily spend an hour reading about the world’s most popular crisps and compile my findings.
In this time I have…
- Learned that Proctor and Gamble no longer own Pringles. They sold the brand they’ve developed since the 1960s for $2.35 billion to Diamond Foods in April.
- Found this lovely guide to building an iPod dock out of your old pringles can.
- Gotten quite excited (maybe a little aroused?) by this flickr pool “I Love Crisps“
- Discovered that they’re not crisps – “Pringles ‘are not potato crisps (4 Jul 2008)”
- Oh no wait… they actually are. – “Pringles lose Appeal Court case (20 May 2009)”
- Discovered the Jackson Generals minor league baseball team play their games at Pringles Park, 4 Fun Place, Jackson, Tennessee. [view picture of the depressing carpark…]
- Been bemused by the company’s current promotion for free speakers that attach to the top of the can “amplifying whatever sound is coming from an attached MP3 player“.
- Realised I never saw the episode where Ally McBeal was arrested over a can of Pringles – “Ally comes down the potato chip aisle, and sees a red-haired lady putting a can of Pringles back on the shelf (the last can, of course)…” [Ally McBeal Season 1, Episode 5 – One Hundred Tears Away]
- Had fun reading the Beaver County Times from Dec 20, 1975 using Google News Archive tool – “The Case Of Pringles, Or When Is A Potato Chip Not A Chip?“
- Concluded that Pringles are addictive and evil and you’re better off smoking or developing a heroin habit. A lot of their flavours contain Monosodium glutamate (MSG / E621), which is the work of the devil. But then I look at this picture and all is forgiven. How cute!
Once you pop...
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