Source: Gerber
She was one of the most famous babies of all time! The Gerber Baby.
Back in 1928 the Gerber company advertised a contest, looking for the perfect baby to feature on all of their baby food products. The company asked the public to submit pictures of their baby to the company. That’s when Dorothy Hope Smith sketched a charcoal drawing of her five month old neighbor and submitted it to the contest.
Source: Gerber
The drawing clearly won and in 1931, was trademarked by Gerber. The image Smith drew is now completely iconic so they obviously chose the right picture! But who was the baby behind the picture?
Smith was neighbors with cartoonist Leslie Turner, who was the the artist behind Captain Easy. Captain Easy was a syndicated comic strip in the newspaper at the time. It ran for over 50 years until it was discontinued in 1988. He had three daughters, one of which was named Ann. Smith drew the photo of Ann when she was only five months old.
Ann Turner Cook has been the face of Gerber’s baby food for nearly a century and she is now 91-years-old. Her identity was kept private until Gerber’s 50th anniversary celebration in the 70’s.
Source: Fox 5 Atlanta
Ann became a novelist and wrote a series of mystery novels. It is the Brandy O’Bannon series which have all been reviewed very positively.
Source: Amazon
…and now you know!
