Minties - Place in Australian Culture

Place in Australian Culture

MODERN CATCH WORDS.

Catch phrases start up from unknown sources, and
sweep around the world with almost unbelievable rapidity.
The origin of many of them is hopelessly lost. Who, for
instance, was the first person to say " There you are, then"?
A few years ago it was heard on every lip. Some of them,
like "Yes, we have no bananas" come from comic songs,
and others from newspaper advertisements.
One of the most popular of the latter variety is "It's mo-
ments like these you need 'Minties'". At the present time,
one hears the phrase wherever one goes.
The makers of "Minties", Messrs. James Stedman-
Henderson's, of "Sweetacres", receive dozens of suggest-
ions by every post from people instancing "Moments like
these", when "Minties" would have been most acceptable.
"It's moments like these" has proved itself to be one of the
most catchy catch phrases that has ever caught on, and it
shows no signs yet of fading out of publie recognition.

The (Rockhampton) Morning Bulletin, 19 July 1927.

Minties' first cartoons appeared in 1927; from then on providing an episodic documentation of an era.

At one stage in the 1940s Minties were using three different cartoons a week, appearing on every form of printed advertising: the 3oz (around 85g) boxes in which they were originally sold, newspapers and railway station hoardings.

The cartoons depict mishaps and unfortunate experiences, sometimes featuring recognisable sporting or political figures, but more often general comic situations, captioned "It's moments like these" or "Another Minties moment". The catchphrase "It's moments like these" has become part of the Australia language. The entry for "Mintie" in a major Australian dictionary defines the phrase as "... widely current ... used allusively as an emblem of solace".

At that time, the lolly wrappers (white waxed paper) were decorated only with the text "Minties" "The Universal Sweet" in red and green. Now the only artwork is on the wrappers; simple anonymous cartoons of people engaged in recognisable activities with no attempt at humour accompanied by the caption "It's moments like these ...".

The number of cartoonists to have drawn "Minties moments" is large. Many were unsigned, but some of the better known names are:

  • Dick Alderton
  • George Aria
  • James Bancks (creator of "Ginger Meggs")
  • Ian Gall
  • Alex Gurney (created "Bluey and Curley")
  • Peter Harrigan "Middy"
  • Norman Hetherington "Heth" (created Mr Squiggle)
  • Eric Jolliffe
  • Hardtmuth Lahm "Hotpoint" "Hotti" or "Hottie"
  • Percy Lindsay
  • F G Longstaff
  • Jack Lusby
  • Stewart McCrae "Pep"
  • Arthur Mailey
  • Emile Mercier
  • Syd Miller (Chesty Bond artist)
  • Minainnick
  • Norm Mitchell
  • Rufus Morris
  • Morrissey
  • Syd Nicholls (creator of "Fatty Finn")
  • Adrienne Parkes
  • Petrov
  • William Edwin Pidgeon "Wep"
  • Hal Quinlan
  • Virgil Reilly "Virgil"
  • Jim Russell (drew "The Potts")
  • Ted Scorfield (largest number of contributions)
  • David Souter
  • Les Such
  • Dorothy Wall
  • Harry J Weston
  • Unk White
  • Jeremy Andrew

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