Everlastingly Brite!

“Shiny Brites have come to represent the hope and optimism of Americans in the mid-20th century - probably because they were a childhood fixture for lots of baby boomers.” so says Alyson Ward, a writer with Knight Ridder.

It may be the simplicity of the designs or the funky colors, but something about shiny brites makes them universally appealing and a shiny symbol of boomer culture.

We had them on our tree, and chances are, you had them at your house, too. They came mostly from Woolworth’s and were created to fill the impending ornament void brought on by World War II. Prior to the war, Americans bought intricate ornaments imported from Germany and Poland.

The war created an opening for American made and designed ornaments. And importer Max Eckard seized the opportunity. Eckard, a German manufacturer of toys and glass ornaments, met with representatives of Woolworths and Corning Glass in 1939 to work on mass producing ornaments in the U.S. By the time the war began, Corning was able to produce more ornaments in a minute than German glassblowers could make in an entire day, according to Ellen Gardner (in her article “Finders Keepers,” Mary Englebreit's Home Companion, December 2004.)

Boomer culture fans will likely already know that Shiny Brites were reintroduced to the market in 2001. I know I went out and bought two boxes when I heard the replicas were at Garden Ridge in 2002. Designer and collector Christopher Radko remained true to the original styles and even the packaging. Radko owns one of the world’s largest collections of Shiny Brites.

Purists can find original shiny brites on Ebay. Very rare are the ones with cardboard caps, manufactured when metal was unavailable. I like the ones with the white glitter or “flocking,” that was applied with stencils. I have a few originals--none in perfect shape--and I also
have my copies. Those ornaments, along with some of the original Christmas songs, never fail to evoke “Christmas” for me.

Check out these links for more about shiny brites and Christopher Radko:

http://www.jsonline.com/homes/remodel/nov05/372500.asp

http://www.christopherradko.com/

http://www.radko.net/sb401.html

http://www.stanglpottery.org/ChristmasWithAllTheGlitz.htm

—Roxy Boomwinkle

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