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Westport native whose image was the Gerber Baby dies at 95
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Gerber baby food products are seen on a supermarket shelf in 2007 in New York City. Ann Turner Cook, the face of Gerber baby food for more than 90 years, has died at the age of 95. (Mario Tama/Getty Images/TNS)
Mario Tama / Getty ImagesTAMPA, FLA. — The Connecticut-born woman whose face became the enduring logo of the Gerber baby products brand has died at 95 years old.
Ann Turner Cook was born in Bridgeport in 1926 and spent her early childhood in Westport. That’s where her family’s next-door neighbor, artist Dorothy Hope Smith, drew a sketch of her that later won a nationwide contest Gerber was holding to market baby food.
Gerber announced her death in an Instagram post on Friday.
“Many years before becoming an extraordinary mother, teacher and writer, her smile and expressive curiosity captured hearts everywhere and will continue to live on as a symbol for all babies,” the post said.
Cook later moved with her family to Florida, where she would remain for the rest of her life. She graduated from the University of Florida in Orlando.
Cook had a long career as an English teacher at the Hillsborough High School in Tampa and later became a prolific mystery novelist.
Hope Smith submitted the drawing of Turner Cook in 1928 as part of Gerber’s contest to find a baby to represent its advertising campaign.
“Artist Dorothy Hope Smith entered her simple charcoal sketch of a tousle-haired, bright-eyed cherub of a baby with endearing pursed lips,” according to Gerber.
“In her entry, Smith noted that she would finish the sketch if she won. Her drawing competed with elaborate oil paintings, but the judges fell in love with the baby face Smith drew, and when they chose it as the winner, they insisted that the simple illustration remain a sketch.”
The image was so popular that Gerber adopted it as its official trademark in 1931, using it on its packaging and advertisements.
With the identity of the face behind the iconic logo a longtime secret, speculation ran rampant for decades about who the Gerber baby could be. Many people guessed it may have been movie star Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor, Sen. Bob Dole. and Jane Seymour, according to Gerber.
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Cook’s name was released in the late 1970s.
She told the Tampa Bay Times in a 1992 interview that though she did not receive royalties from the image, she had been given a one-time payment of $5,000 in 1951.
The money was enough for a down payment on Cook and her husband’s home in Florida, as well as a car.
“All babies are appealing,” Cook told the Associated Press in a 1998 interview. “The reason that drawing has been so popular is the artist captured the appeal that all babies have.”
This story includes reporting from the Associated Press.
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Baby myths grow as time passes
The notice spread down my street like the flu bug at day care.
My neighbor, an engineer, said a co-worker had copied it from his child's school newsletter. It stated that Gerber, the baby food maker, had lost a class-action lawsuit over false claims that its foods were all natural. As part of its settlement, it was giving every child born between 1985 and 1997 a $500 savings bond.
"There must be 40-million children born between those years," I told my husband. I didn't bother to do the math on Gerber's potential gazillion dollars liability; I was too busy scrambling through dresser drawers to find our daughter's Social Security card.
As I looked, I called a friend in St. Petersburg to relay the information and the Minneapolis address where the notice instructed parents to send a copy of their child's birth certificate and Social Security card.
Then she told two friends. And they told two friends. And so on. And so on.
Later that night another neighbor called to say Gerber's World Wide Web site indicated the lawsuit and savings bond business was a false rumor.
I guess most parents would rather overlook the obvious and hope for a leg up on a college fund. I felt a little less naive when I mentioned the too-good-to-be-true offer to five more parents and only one was skeptical right off the bat.
"We've had thousands of calls," said Van Hinds, director of corporate affairs for Gerber Products Co. in Freemont, Mich.
Hinds' best explanation was that Gerber's name somehow got connected to a 1996 legal settlement involving makers of infant formula such as Similac, Enfamil and Isomil, who were charged with price fixing and agreed to pay restitution to consumers.
(But don't go looking for that Social Security card again. The deadline to file a claim has passed. Besides, claims in Florida averaged just $3.60 each.)
The infant formula claims were to be sent to the same Minneapolis address falsely listed as the Gerber claims address.
"We're in the infant feeding business, and somebody assumed Gerber had something to do with it," Hinds said.
As far as he knows, no one is intentionally trying to obtain children's birth certificates and Social Security cards for any kind of false identities scam. Any letters mailed to the Minneapolis address are returned to senders.
Well, maybe it was a little corporate sabotage from the folks over at Beech Nut, I offered. But Hinds isn't blaming the competition either. Instead, he points to modern communication.
"In the age of electronic communications like e-mail and even the accessibility of copy machines, it's pretty easy for this kind of thing to spread," he said. "Somebody saw it and they told a friend and they passed it out at work and put it on the bulletin board."
This is not the first urban myth related to Gerber. Over the years there have been numerous rumors of the true identity of the Gerber baby. Humphrey Bogart, Brooke Shields and Jane Seymour are among the celebrities said to have been the model for the fat-cheeked baby jar star.
It also seems everybody knows somebody who knows somebody who is a descendant of the Gerber baby.
Eight years ago when I lived in South Carolina a friend of mine with quite rosy cheeks swore she was somehow related to the Gerber baby.
"She couldn't be," Ann Turner Cook said. "There is only one Gerber baby."
And that baby is Cook, who at age 71 lives in Temple Terrace and knows of no relatives in South Carolina.
"I think the confusion comes because the Gerber company has used other babies for promotional works and other pictures in their advertising, but my picture is still the only trademark," she said.
She credits the artist and family friend, Dorothy Hope Smith, who sketched her in 1928 for the longevity of the trademark. Smith sent the sketch to Gerber for an advertising contest it was staging at the time, and it's been the trademark ever since.
"It is a likeness of me but (the artist) captured the essence of what makes babies so appealing," Cook said. "I think it's so popular because all parents see their children in that trademark."
Cook and her husband have four children and 10 grandchildren.
After teaching English for 23 years at Hillsborough High School she is concentrating on writing mystery books.
So what was it like to spoon pureed peas into your children's mouths and see your own picture on the jar?
"I can't say I thought a lot about it," she said. "My kids enjoyed it, and they used to tell people about it. I have enjoyed it because it has made me some kind of a conversation piece."
Though she has never received any free food from Gerber, the company did recently give her a framed copy of the original sketch of her little face.
"Through the eyes there is still a resemblance," Cook said. "We don't change as much as we think we do."
The baby in the Gerber baby food package turned 91 and this is what he looks like now
people
then and now
children
11/28/2017
2324
Some faces are familiar to us from childhood (or just familiar) through their image on food packages, such as the boy with Kinder Chocolate or the baby with Gerber baby food.
Looking at them for many years, we forget that they are real people and now they look completely different. However, if about two decades have passed since the photograph of the boy was placed on Kinder chocolate, then the child from the Gerber logo has already turned 9 this year.1 year! We've all been children and/or fed them baby food
Baby food can be anything from mashed bananas to meat. Most importantly, it should be nutritious and safe.
Chances are you've seen Gerber baby food before and if so, you know the picture of this baby28 years old Artist Dorothy Hope Smith submitted this sketch to a Gerber competition when the firm was looking for a new face for their advertising campaign.
Dorothy Hope Smith said that if her drawing won, she would finish it, but Gerber liked the sketch so much that they decided to use it as they got their hands on it.
Although Gerber only looked for a baby face for one ad campaign, this sketch quickly became the face of their brand
For years, the identity of the baby from the Gerber baby food jar has remained a mystery, but that hasn't stopped some people from coming up with their own guesses.
Some thought it was little Elizabeth Taylor, others thought it was actress Jane Seymour.
The company still uses images of this baby on their product packaging to this day.
[region:bone:inline_1]
She celebrated her 91st birthday last week!
Her name is Ann Turner Cook and you should see what she looks like now.
Here she is! Adult Baby Gerber!
Ann Turner Cook is a retired mystery writer and teacher of English.
When she was 5 months old, Dorothy's neighbor sketched her for a Gerber competition. The rest you already know.
Gerber revealed the identity of their famous baby in 1978
Then Anna was 52 years old and was officially announced as the face of Gerber.
Thus, the face of the company was not some celebrity, but the most ordinary woman.
Anna's father was also quite famous
Her father was a famous comic book artist named Leslie Turner, who created a series of comics called "Captain Easy" that ran for over 50 years.
Many users can still see the resemblance to her childhood sketch.
Be that as it may, she has taken her place in history and it's amazing.
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What the baby looks like now from the Gerber baby food package
Miralanim
Author:
Miralanim
29November 2017 09:21
Tags: Gerber Appearance Age Children Children Stories Nutrition People
27847
10
Looking at them for many years, we forget that they are real people and now they look completely different. However, if about two decades have passed since the photograph of the boy was placed on Kinder chocolate, then the child from the Gerber logo has already turned 9 this year.
1 year!
All of us were once children and/or fed them with baby food
Source:
Baby food can be anything from banana puree to meat. Most importantly, it should be nutritious and safe.
Chances are you've seen Gerber baby food before, and if so, you know the picture of this baby
Source:
This cute face has graced Gerber baby food jars since 1928. Artist Dorothy Hope Smith submitted this sketch to a Gerber competition when the firm was looking for a new face for their advertising campaign.
Dorothy Hope Smith said that if her drawing won, she would finish it, but Gerber liked the sketch so much that they decided to use it as they got their hands on it.
Although Gerber only looked for a baby face for one ad campaign, this sketch quickly became the face of their brand
Source:
For years, the identity of the baby from the Gerber baby food jar has remained a mystery, but that hasn't stopped some people from coming up with their own guesses.
Some thought it was little Elizabeth Taylor, others thought it was actress Jane Seymour.
The company still uses images of this child on the packaging of its products
Source:
But despite the fact that the child on the package has not changed much, the real woman who posed for the original sketch has grown up a long time ago.
She celebrated her 91st birthday last week!
Source:
Her name is Ann Turner Cook and you should see what she looks like now.
There she is! Adult Baby Gerber! Source:
Ann Turner Cooke is a mystery story writer and retired English teacher.
When she was 5 months old, Dorothy's neighbor sketched her for a Gerber competition. The rest you already know.
Gerber revealed the identity of their famous baby in 1978
Source:
Then Anna was 52 years old and she was officially declared the face of Gerber.
Thus, the face of the company was not some celebrity, but the most ordinary woman.
Anna's father was also quite famous
Source:
Her father was a famous comic book artist named Leslie Turner, who created a series of comics called "Captain Easy" that ran for over 50 years.
Many users can still see the resemblance to her childhood sketch.
Be that as it may, she has taken her place in history and it's amazing.
Source:
Source:
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Tags: Gerber appearance age children stories food people
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