# Running Collection of Mountain Dew History



## Anthonicia (Apr 1, 2011)

Everybody has a reason why they collect, or why they started collecting.  Well, this is mine or what it has turned into anyways.  I know I am not the only one who has been hypnotized by the likes of hillbilly lore.  It drags you in with its mystical tales of yore, then smacks ya in the head and heart with the quickness of white lightning!  I have been hooked ever since I came across a hillbilly dew in an old farm/tobacco barn.  

 With the bottle and brand comes even more legendary stories.  Who was the first to bottle dew? who made the formula? who made the new-new formula? what was the city to first have dew?  If you are in the know then you have probably heard about all these mysteries.  I must give Mr. Morbious Fod mucho respecto for his non-biased insight into the history of Dew and other bottle related stories.  

 I am going to tell the "accepted" stories for these bottles pictured.  While they may may be valuable, or non-valuable bottles, their history is certainly worth hearing about.  Let's go from left to right:


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## Anthonicia (Apr 1, 2011)

#1) Barney and Ally- This particular bottle was made in 1955, or at least that's what it says on the bottom.  The design was copyrighted in 1948 and was the first Mountain Dew bottle PRODUCED, but not yet bottled and sold.  These were made from 51-58, and also had a clear version which is said to have carried flavored drinks like Orange, Grape, Strawberry, etc.  The green version (pictured) housed a lithiated lemon drink similar to 7up.  A lot of people don't realize that Mountain Dew was not always the citrus soda we have today.This has been, and continues to be my favorite bottle in my whole collection.  

 #2) Hartman Beverages- This resembles a Mil-Kay bottle made at the same time.  Hartman Beverages is the company owned and operated by Barney and Ally Hartman, the same Barney and Ally on bottle #1.  The idea and conception of Mountain Dew was theirs.  They initially made it as a mixer for their whiskey and jokingly referred to it as Mountain Dew.  Keep in mind however that this was a 7up flavored drink.  Typically everyone can agree on Barney and Ally being creators of the hillbilly dew iconography and design.  I believe this bottle to be from 1969, unless I am dating it wrong.

 #3) Charlie and Jim- This was the second bottle Tri-City made to carry Mountain Dew.  Charlie, Jim, and Bill bottle was the first hillbilly Mountain Dew to be sold to the public.  A bottle that I am in extreme need for sure!  Charlie Gordon owned Tri-City Beverage and Jim Archer was the VP and General Manager.  The way that Charlie Gordon obtained the right to bottle Mountain Dew from Barney and Alley Hartman is debated.  Some say it was purchased for $1, some say it was free, but they bottled it for sure anyhow.  This bottle was produced from 55-56, The Charlie, Jim, and Bill was produced in 54.

 #4) TIP Corporation Bottle- There are a couple different TIP bottles.  This was the TIP bottle used in the 40's and had Grape flavor.  TIP made the concentrate's for Tri-City, Hartman, and the various Minges bottlers.  They are a part of the controversy because Bill Jones ( I believe) claims to have made the new Dew flavor.  Bill Bridgforth and Hoyt Minges also have similar claims.  

 #5) Charlie and Bill (10 oz)- This bottle is well known because it is the only bottle with a white dot above the Hillbilly's head on the neck.  Charlie Gordon and Bill Bridgforth are the people on this bottle which was first made in 57.  The other Charlie and Bill was the 24oz rarity which is said to have been ordered destroyed everytime a delivery driver came into contact with one.  It is on my dream list along with the Party Jug !!!!   (pics of these to come later, but unfortunately they are not mine).

 #6) Hoyt, Jr., Jeff, Goodtime Charlie- This is the only bottle I have with a Hoyt Minges connection.  The Minges had bottlers throughout N. Carolina.  Hoyt Jr. was one of Hoyt Senior's 4 children along with Jeff.  Goodtime Charlie was Charlie Parrot, a playmate of the other 2 as children.  The Minges were very involved with the early history of Mountain Dew.  One of the reasons is that their distribution was so massive!  They had plants in Greenville, Fayetteville, Lumberton, Tuscaloosa Alabama, Rocky Mount, and Kinston, NC.  They were also responsible for the slogan "Mountain Dew is Good!" which is found on the back of some of their bottles.  If you find DIXIE refreshments on any of your Dew's it is a Minges product!

 Thanks for listening everyone!  I hope you learned something.  I tried to list things that weren't common to find on the net.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 1, 2011)

Ant ~

 Cool stuff!  I'm doin' the Dew jig!

 SPBOB


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## madman (Apr 1, 2011)

HEY ANTHONY VERY NICE! THOUGHT YOU MIGHT LIKE THESE


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## cobaltbot (Apr 1, 2011)

Thanks for the lesson, you deserve that cake!!!


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## madman (Apr 1, 2011)

ONE MORE


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## mindmaster (Apr 2, 2011)

Just a little failmly history..


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## mindmaster (Apr 2, 2011)

Here are a few pics


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## mindmaster (Apr 2, 2011)

faimly history


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## mindmaster (Apr 2, 2011)

My Dad JIMMY DAVIDSON  the youngest supervisor to ever work for the Hartman group --is the last on the right.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 2, 2011)

This 1948 trademark application was posted on a previous thread which I had saved in my photo gallery. I can't recall if it originated from morbious_fod or celerycola, but believe it was one of them. I thought it would be a good piece of information to add here.


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## Anthonicia (Apr 2, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  madman
> 
> ONE MORE


 
 Does that say Handy Dandy?  They are very cool.  Thanks for all the responses everyone.


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## madman (Apr 2, 2011)

HEY MAN IF YA LIKE THE RECIEPTS ILL GET YA SOME  LET ME KNOW!


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## madman (Apr 2, 2011)

> ORIGINAL: mindmaster
> 
> Here are a few pics


 HEY RALPH VERY NICE  ANY INFO YOU HAVE ON HARTMAN ID LOVE TO HEAR!


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## morbious_fod (Apr 3, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  Anthonicia
> 
> #4) TIP Corporation Bottle- There are a couple different TIP bottles.  This was the TIP bottle used in the 40's and had Grape flavor.  TIP made the concentrate's for Tri-City, Hartman, and the various Minges bottlers.  They are a part of the controversy because Bill Jones ( I believe) claims to have made the new Dew flavor.  Bill Bridgforth and Hoyt Minges also have similar claims.


 
 One thing should be cleared up right now on Bill Jones' claim to have made up the new Dew flavor. The Tip Corporation was given the Mountain Dew trademark by the Hartman Beverage corporation as part of a partnership buy in to the newly restructured Tip Corporation. The president of the Tip Corporation was Bill Jones of Marion, VA. Bill Jones actually owned and controlled the brand unlike Tri-City Beverage (Charlie Gordon and Bill Bridgeforth), who were only franchise holders and never owned the brand (which flies in the face of accepted legend) or were stockholders in the Tip Corporation, as for the Minges, they were shareholders in the company along with Wythe Hull of the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Marion, VA, and the Hartman Beverage Corporation of Knoxville, Tennessee. Nothing happened to the formula of Mountain Dew without Bill Jones' expressed permission to do so. All this changing of Mountain Dew's formula by franchise holders on a whim doesn't hold water.


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## madman (Apr 3, 2011)

RIGHT ON BROTHER!


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## Anthonicia (Apr 4, 2011)

I knew I was going to get it from you when I wrote that.  Is the story about Barney or Ally going out to eat with Charlie Gordon and giving him rights to mountain dew plausible???

 That was before the TIP re-organization right?  Morb, we all know that through your extensive research you reserve the right to call out anybody who claims anything about dew.  Your theories make a lot of sense and I put way more trust into your claims than Bill Bridforth or any other second, third hand stories.

 The truth will lkely never be known.  All it leaves us with is a mystery ripe with conspiracy, shady motives, and other back stabbing fodder!  It just adds to the allure for me though.  Its just like a family moonshine recipe that family's fight over.

 I know that Morb has written about all this before and has gotten into all the motives as to why each player would say he is the creator.  The TIP Corporation seems to be ressurected by a group of business buddies.  It doesn't really add up that tbhey would be bickering about such a thing and just give credit where credit is due...

 Idk, but let's keep searching.  Maybe more evidence will surface.

 Morb, didn't u say u questioned bridgforth about his dads claims and he said that he agreed that it seemed wrong?  What was Bridgforths honest theory if he agreed his father did not make the new flavored dew???


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## morbious_fod (Apr 4, 2011)

The accepted stories about Mountain Dew by those who get the most notice, often tend to put the contributions and control of The Tip Corporation in the background as just that guy who happens to own the drink, while his franchises are putting whatever they want into his products bottles. I just wanted to point out that Bill Jones makes the decisions during the period of the creation of the new formula, and nothing happens without his expressed permission.

 As for exactly what Charlie had to pay or how he got the franchise, until actual records arise that state how much was paid we are damned to depend upon anecdotal evidence. Dick Bridgeforth has the 1954 Tri-City Beverage franchise agreement listed in his book; however, when you actually read the document pictured it is actually the August 1958 franchise agreement with the Tip Corporation of America, so the records of the original 1954 agreement are either still in the hands of Tri-City Beverage, or the long lost records of Hartman Beverages.

 I never broached the subject of the new formula, due to the personal nature of the subject to him, which is why my questioning stuck to the Tri-City bottled first argument. I'm working on the second part of the article which will delve into the real fued in this legend of who created the modern formula, and when.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 4, 2011)

Hey Morb ~

 Speaking of fact vs myth ... what say you in regards to what I have read numerous times about the original bottle label being drawn on a napkin by a high school art student (I can't recall his name) who supposedly had dinner with the Hartman's at a club somewhere back in the 1940s, and then presented the drawing to them for consideration? 

 Thanks,

 SPBOB


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## madman (Apr 4, 2011)

> ORIGINAL: SODAPOPBOB
> 
> Hey Morb ~
> 
> ...


 bob,  since i live in knoxville, i decided to do some investigating and found john brichettos wife and son, he said that john was a professional artist, i hope to be talking to his wife soon for THE REST OF THE STORY!and this is only the beginning!


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## madman (Apr 4, 2011)

now weve heard all about marion va. and johnson city, now its time for the real story! i will contact the surviving hartmans and the rest my friends will be history!


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## morbious_fod (Apr 4, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  SODAPOPBOB
> 
> Hey Morb ~
> 
> ...


 
 The guy was indeed a professional artist Madman, I have seen other art work that he had done, it is possible that maybe he was a student at the time that he designed the original paper label, and then it was modified by another artist.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 5, 2011)

Question number two ... w/three parts.  Re: Bottle label.

 1. Is the guy running for the outhouse a neighboring hillbilly, and are they having a feud?

 2. Or is he a federal revenuer running for cover? 

 3. That same guy (hillbilly? / revenuer?) is carring a rifle in one hand, but what is he carring in the other hand?  Jug?  Briefcase?  ??? 

 I'm not sure these questions have ever been fully resolved. Surely it's one way or another. But does anybody have a "for sure" answer? 

 Thanks,

 SODA "PUZZLED" BOB     

 {Knoxville, Tennessee ad - 1928}  {This is from another thread - not sure who posted it}


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## Anthonicia (Apr 5, 2011)

That's a good question SodaBob!  I always assumed it was a revenuer, but he is outfitted like a moonshiner himself.  It sure won't ol' Big Six Henderson, that's fo' sure.  I think it is a jug in his hand.  Maybe it is toilet paper and he is just running to the outhouse and his hillbilly brother/cousin/friend/paw/or, and any combination of those is playin' a game with him by shooting his feet.  You know, some sort of hillbilly game?

 When I was growing up with the older kids, we played BB gun tag.  It sure hurt like H-E-double hockey sticks.  Anyways, I like the way this thread is going.  Madman, please do that!  Everybody wants to know the history!  Well, we do at least!


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 5, 2011)

Here's a closeup of the ??? running for the outhouse. I'm not sure if it's a hillbilly or a revenuer, but if that ain't a jug he's holding, then I don't know what it is. His hat looks hillbilly-style too, and not that of a city slicker.

 SPBOB


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 5, 2011)

Here's one I bet not many of you have ever heard before. I can't even remember where I first read about it myself. But someone claims there is a hidden name concealed in the bush above the pig. I see a few things that look like letters, but other than that I cannot make out a for sure name. What say y'all?

 SPBOB


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 5, 2011)

I realize this is most likely a wild goose chase, but here is a list of related Mountain Dew names just in case someone chooses to chase that goose. If in fact it is a name concealed in the bush, then I would say the last letter on the bottom is an "S"  Other than that ... the only other thing that looks like a letter is the one at the end on top that appears to be an "R"

 LIST:

 Jim Archer
 John Brichetto
 Bill Bridgforth
 Charlie Gordon
 Barney and Alley Hartman
 Wythe Hull
 Bill Jones
 Bill Kibler
 Dean Minges
 Herman Minges
 Hoyt Minges
 R. B. Minges


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 5, 2011)

I'm changing my name from ... SODAPOPBOB ... to ... CRAZYBOB  []


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 5, 2011)

As they say ... "Just shoot me!"   [sm=rolleyes.gif]


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## celerycola (Apr 5, 2011)

The "Secret Message" looks like "Bob" to me!


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 5, 2011)

Celery ... Very funny. Seriously! I think it's halarious. I suppose a person could make just about any words or names out of the bush if we tried hard enough. I will leave it up to Morb or one of the others to explain who the names "Archer" and "Minges" were. Otherwise, about the only other thing I can say about our mysterious little bush is that it disappears from the bottle label around 1968.  WHY?

 SPBOB


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 5, 2011)

Here's a 1965 and a 1968 bottle side-by-side. (Bush / No Bush). Plus a few other obvious changes. Including a different  .... Over-under wording - Pig - Hillbilly/Revenuer running for the outhouse (Who is no longer holding the same jug in the same position).


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## celerycola (Apr 5, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  SODAPOPBOB
> 
> about the only other thing I can say about our mysterious little bush is that it disappears from the bottleÂ label around 1968.Â  WHY?
> 
> SPBOBÂ


 I think the pig ate it.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 5, 2011)

Celery ~

 Oink! Oink!  Good answer!  [sm=lol.gif]

 Bob


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## madman (Apr 5, 2011)

> ORIGINAL: SODAPOPBOB
> 
> Question number two ... w/three parts.  Re: Bottle label.
> 
> ...


 bob i posted the 1928 dew add,  i found it in a news paper at the knoxville history center,  this was the first mountain dew in knoxville tn. max light did indeed know the hartmans  they may have got there idea from him................


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## madman (Apr 5, 2011)

> ORIGINAL: SODAPOPBOB
> 
> Here's a closeup of the ??? running for the outhouse. I'm not sure if it's a hillbilly or a revenuer, but if that ain't a jug he's holding, then I don't know what it is. His hat looks hillbilly-style too, and not that of a city slicker.
> 
> SPBOB


 thats charlie gordon stealin the moutain dew formula from ali hartman lol


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## morbious_fod (Apr 6, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  SODAPOPBOB
> 
> Question number two ... w/three parts.  Re: Bottle label.
> 
> ...


 
 Let's look at the pre-pepsi carton I own for a few answers.






 Here we see the typical scene depicted on the bottles. Hillbilly pointing a rifle at a fleeing individual who is running for the nearest cover, and outhouse. There is another scene that doesn't show up on the bottles.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 6, 2011)

And that is the Prequel scene. Where we see that the other, looks like a hillbilly to me, is slowly approaching the sleeping hillbilly, who appears to have passed out from his own consumption.






 There is no outstanding signs that he is a revenuer, he is holding his own rifle and what is obviously a whiskey jug of his own. Not to mention he is wearing the same ragged pants as our "hero". So most likely he his a neighboring hillbilly who was trying to sneak up on the other hillbilly who stereotypically is a rival in a hillbilly feud. He pulls a Han Solo on Endor and ends up giving himself away by stepping on a twig, thus waking our "hero" who proceeds to lock 'n load and is watching his lane.


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## Anthonicia (Apr 6, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  SODAPOPBOB
> 
> Celery ... Very funny. Seriously! I think it's halarious. I suppose a person could make just about any words or namesÂ out of the bush if we tried hard enough. I will leave it up toÂ Morb or one of the others to explain who the names "Archer" and "Minges" were. Otherwise, about the only other thing I can say about our mysterious little bush is that it disappears from the bottleÂ label around 1968.Â  WHY?
> 
> SPBOBÂ


 

 If there is a name in the bush then it likely wouldn't have been any of the Minges or Jim Archer or Charlie Gordon even.  The money would be on the the artist Brichetto(sic), or the Hartman's.  Th bush is the same on the early Hartman bottle as it is on the later hillbilly bottles made by everyone else.  You made me look to make sure though!  Funny story.


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