90-year-old Sun-Maid ‘girl’ gets a face-lift

At 90, the Sun-Maid of raisin fame was starting to look a bit more like an old maid. So, the raisin brand called in makeover artists from Synthespian Studios in North Adams, Mass., and, voila! The Sun-Maid looks years away from being dried up. At her coming-out party this week, the Sun-Maid inspired trivia freaks to dig up her roots. Dig this: The Sun-Maid we’ve admired on raisin boxes all our lives was a painting of Lorraine Collett, who posed for the dried-fruit trademark 90 years ago. According to Sun-Maid historians, Collett was discovered drying her black hair curls in the sunny backyard of her parents’ home in Fresno, Calif., in 1915. “She was then asked to pose for a painting while holding a basket tray of fresh grapes. This striking image was first applied to packages of Sun-Maid raisins in 1916.” The original watercolor painting is locked in a concrete vault at Sun-Maid’s HQ in Kingsburg, Calif.

—Posted by Richard Williamson

March 16, 2006 | Permalink