Plastic Drink Cups Guest Pictures

Today we have photos of four very neat plastic drink cups provided by Paul Merolle. I really wanted to make these exhibits, but Paul says he is not sure they were ever produced, so I am counting them as prototypes and sharing them with you, my readers, as a Harvey corporate post. Paul says they are from the 1970’s, and were made for a chain of convenience stores called UtoteM. He thinks they were made by the same company that made promotional Slurpee cups for 7-Eleven. Long-time readers of the Mercheum blog know that 7-Eleven is near and dear to my heart, because in the early 1980’s, my father and I used to walk to our local 7-Eleven at least once a week to see if any new Richie Rich comics had come out.

The first cup Paul shared with me shows Little Audrey cleverly feeding several cats at once:

Front view of Little Audrey prototype UtoteM cup. Photo by Paul Merolle.Side view of Little Audrey prototype UtoteM cup. Photo by Paul Merolle.

The next cup features Little Dot:

Front view of Little Dot prototype UtoteM cup. Photo by Paul Merolle.Side view of Little Dot prototype UtoteM cup. Photo by Paul Merolle.The third cup features Harvey’s cat and mouse duo, Herman and Katnip:Front view of Herman and Katnip prototype UtoteM cup. Photo by Paul Merolle.Side view of Herman and Katnip prototype UtoteM cup. Photo by Paul Merolle.

The final cup is why I really wanted to make these exhibits. It would have been the first item to feature Stumbo the Giant:

Front view of Stumbo the Giant prototype UtoteM cup. Photo by Paul Merolle.Side view of Stumbo the Giant prototype UtoteM cup. Photo by Paul Merolle.

My thanks to Paul for sharing these wonderful items with us. More to come!