DO YOU KNOW THE ORIGIN OF "WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS"?

 Looking back at things that occurred during Rosetta's early years

1911 - ROSETTA WAS TWO WHEN MORTON SALT BECAME AN INNOVATOR

So many things that we take for granted these days happened at the beginning of the 1900s when Rosetta was a young girl. We will be taking these trips down memory lane with her on this blog.

 Most of us know the expression, "When it rains, it pours," but did you ever wonder how it originated? Let's go back to the year 1911, the year Rosetta was only two years old.

Morton Salt Girl - 1914

In 1889 Joy Morton acquired the Onondaga Salt Company and renamed it Joy Morton & Company. In 1910 they changed the name to the Morton Salt Company.

In those days, when the weather was humid salt would cake and be hard to pour. However, by 1911 the newly named Morton Salt Company came up with a major advance—the addition of an additive that prevented caking, made their product free-flowing in any weather, and therefore highly competitive. 

They needed an advertising campaign to get this news out to the public and hired the advertising agency N.W. Ayer & Company. 

Their quest was to come up with a campaign that would put Morton Salt in every cupboard. It took twelve proposed ads and three substitute options, but they finally had it.

Morton Salt Girl Now

Joy Morton's son Sterling, decided upon an image of a young girl. Her umbrella was carefully held in one hand, but the blue package of salt was not so carefully held. Despite the rain, salt poured from the package in the soon-to-become iconic image. The picture told the story: Morton Salt was clump-free, regardless of the weather or storage conditions.

The slogan "When It Rains It Pours®", adapted from an old slogan "it never rains, but it pours," and the Morton Salt Umbrella Girl made its official debut on the blue package of table salt in 1914. Of course, a girl must keep up with the fashions and the image changed many times through the years, but the slogan is still used in general conversation today.

Rosetta's memoir, "CAN WE COME IN AND LAUGH, TOO" makes a wonderful gift during the holiday season.