Saturday, April 21, 2012

Weekend Cooking #19: Victory through Colman's Mustard and The Three Mustardeers

When I was growing up, we always had Colman's Mustard on the table.  It was always the dry kind that had to be mixed up in order to use it.  And it went on everything.  So, naturally, when I struck out on my own, I continued to use Colman's Mustard because sometimes the apple just doesn't fall that far from the tree.

Funny thing, though, the other day I was going through some old girl's magazines looking for something completely unrelated to mustard, when I came across an ad that I knew was there but never really paid attention to.  Turns out, it was a very short story involving three kids - Jim, Mary and Roger.  They were The Three Mustardeers, who solved crimes and at the end of the story there was a plug for Colman's Mustard.   The magazines I own were published during the war, so, as one might expect, there were new war related stories every month.

I tried to find out more information on this advertising campaign involving this crime-fighting trio, The Three Mustardeers, but found nothing.  I do know that besides the Girl's Own Paper, these ads appeared in other children's publications, like the Boy's Own Paper and The Children's Newspaper and they continued for a while after the war.

There was always a central villain, The Man with the Twisted Finger, who managed to get away each month, just as the The Three Mustardeers exposed his latest attempt to help the Führer defeat England.

I have included three stories below to give you an idea of what they were like, but first some Colman's trivia:

1928 The Mustard Club advertisement 
In the 1926, Dorothy Sayers was working in advertising and created an advertising campaign for Colman's Mustard called The Mustard Club, which became immensely popular for a while.  And yes, a similar campaign showed in Murder Must Advertise for Whifflets Cigarettes and tells his friend "It'll be the biggest advertising stunt since The Mustard Club."

Apparently, Dorothy was also responsible for creating a Colman's Mustard slogan that went "Come on, Colman's, light my fire."

And if you are ever in Norwich, England, be sure to visit the Colman's Mustard Shop and Museum.

Now, some adventures of The Three Mustardeers:

GOP May 1943


GOP November 1943

GOP December 1943
Now, I want a nice corned beef on rye with lots of mustard - Colman's, of course!

Weekend Cooking, one of my favorite memes, is hosted weekly by Beth Fish Reads.


19 comments:

  1. Wow. I am a huge Sayer's fan but didn't know about her life as a mustard advertiser. LOL. How interesting. I love the three Mustardeers. What a creative advertising campaign.

    I'm always learning something from your great posts.

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    1. I love Sayer's too, and didn't know about the mustard connection either until I started doing a little research.

      To be honest, sometimes when I do a post like this, I learn new things, too and sometimes really add to the flavor of the post.

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  2. I love your post! Isn't great when something calls out to you and you make a new and wonderful discovery!

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    1. Glad yu enjoyed this post. And yes, it is great when that happens and you find something new and wonderful.

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  3. The Three Mustardeers and the Sayer's tie in...too funny.
    My brother loves the stuff, Colman's!

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    1. Yes, it is kind of funny when you think about it - sort of a six degrees of separation kind of thing.

      I am with your brother, I love Colman's too.

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  4. This is so GREAT! I did not know anything about this. Going to show it to my parents when I go over there later today. I know that they will get a big kick out of it. Thanks so much for sharing this with us :)

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    1. Oh, I hope your parents get a kick out of it, too. I would love to know their reaction. And I am glad you liked it, too.

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  5. Great post! I didn't know the were Three Mustardeers, love it. Coleman's is the best, always have a tin of it in my pantry!

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    1. I vaguely knew about The Three MUstardeers, but never paid such close attention until this week.

      Colman's is the best - on almost anything.

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  6. this is really fun! i hadn't heard of this before!

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    1. So glad you liked it. It was fun to write, too.

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  7. You have just enriched my (already high) appreciation for Dorothy Sayers. She was a very creative storyteller so I don't know why I'm surprised. I'd love to read some of these stories. They sound wonderful. Thanks for sharing this info.

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    1. I am a big Sayers fan, too. Did you have trouble reading the stories I posted? If so, I can make them bigger or email them to you.

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  8. I still use Colman's mustard powder. Interesting post, thank you.

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    1. Thanks, happy you liked this post and glad you enjoyed it.

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  9. Thanks for the Dorothy Sayers tidbit! I love Murder Must Advertise.

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  10. I thought the Dorothy Sayers tidbit was fun. I loved Murder Must Advertise and I suspect if it was on such a high bookshelf I might have reread it this weekend, but, alas, other things got in the way anyway.

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  11. The reason I googled "Colemans Mustardeers" was because, as a child, I remember having several pamphlet sized books containing their adventures. I wish I had them now. Nostalgia is a wonderful thing!

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