Shinola
 Original tin of Shinola shoe polish | |
| Founded | 1903  |
|---|---|
| Products | shoe polish |
Shinola was a twentieth century shoe polish company, that went out of business in 1960. The brand name was acquired by Shinola Detroit in 2011.
History
The name "Shinola" was trademarked in 1903,[1] and the shoe polish company of that name was founded at 822 Jay Street, Rochester, New York in 1907.[2] The name was thereafter acquired and a new company revived under the old name. It gained popularity during World War I and World War II as an effective shoe polish. The original trademark was filed to the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1929 and registered in 1930 by '2 IN 1-SHINOLA-BIXBY CORPORATION' (NJ, USA).[3] According to a review in the trade magazine Commercial America, the tin polish container was notable for having a "key" that could be turned to separate the lid from the can, an innovation of the time.[2] In a 1945 ad that ran in Popular Mechanics magazine, Shinola marketed itself as a wax that could also be used as a polish for scratches in furniture, a polish for linoleum, and a finish for toy models (e.g. airplanes).[4]
Ultimately, the company went out of business in 1960.[5]
In popular culture
- Shinola was immortalized in colloquial English by the phrase "You don't know shit from Shinola" which first became widely popular during World War II.[6]
- In the 1979 film comedy The Jerk, the character Navin R. Johnson (played by Steve Martin) is tested by "Daddy" (Richard Ward) on whether he knows the difference between shit and Shinola before leaving home.
- The 1992 movie Basic Instinct features Gus telling Dr. Lamott, "Most times I can't tell shit from Shinola, Doc. What was all that you just said?"[7]
- Ween released a 2005 compilation album titled, Shinola, Vol. 1 that plays on the colloquial phrase mentioned above.
- Dolly Parton wrote the song "Shinola"—which also uses a lyric that plays on the colloqial phrase—for her 2008 Backwoods Barbie album.
- Shinola Detroit—a luxury lifestyle brand that sells watches, bicycles, Shinola shoe polish, and other goods—legally acquired the name after the company's founder heard the expression "shit from Shinola" used during a dinner party.
References
Footnotes
- ^ Dalzell, 2009, p. 863
- ^ a b Commercial America staff (July 1912), "Shinola Polish and Polishers". Commercial America. 9 (1):33
- ^ "Trademark Status & Document Retrieval". uspto.gov.
- ^ Popular Mechanics ad, 1945, p. 248
- ^ Klara, Robert (June 22, 2015). "How Shinola Went From Shoe Polish to the Coolest Brand in America Nobody's confusing shit with Shinola anymore". AdWeek. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
- ^ Martin, Gary (2015). "Doesn't know shit from Shinola". Phrase Finder. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
- ^ "Basic Instinct". imsdb.com.
Bibliography
- Tom Dalzell - 2009 The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English p. 863
- Popular Science Sep 1945), Vol. 147, No. 3 ISSN 0161-7370 p 248