Fay Wray Wants You to Buy Dole

In 1937 there was a desire for Pineapples.  This is something that has started in the late 1800's with the original plantations being located in the Florida Keys.  By the early 1900's 2 new acquisitions would put paid to the Florida Pineapple, Hawaii and the Philippines.  Dole had previously imported Pineapples from South America but they soon laid out huge plantations in Hawaii fueled by imported Filipino laborers.  Their main competitor, Del Monte, located their plantations in the Bukidnon Province of Mindanao in the Philippines.  With the late 30's came the onset of the Tiki culture and a fascination with anything tropical.  If one had the money you could take a trip to Hawaii, Cuba or even the Philippines for fun in the sun and tropics.  If you didn't have the money for all that you could let a little sunshine into your kitchen with fresh and canned pineapple and pineapple juice.



Fay Wray of course is best known as the blonde paramour of  King Kong in the 1933.  She had a long lived career, finally retiring in 1980 and passing away in her sleep in 2004 at the age of 96.  On a historical note, during World War II when the Philippines was invaded by the Japanese, the Filipino and American resistance used the town of Del Monte as a base.  In the early days of the war the airstrip there was used by American fighter planes and the dense jungles of Bukidnon were never totally pacified by the Japanese.  Both Dole and Del Monte still have their plantations in Hawaii and the Philippines to this day, although these are supplemented by imports from South America.

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