Royal Crown Cola
Red and yellow bottle
The tastiest drink in town
Pick up a frosty bottle of Royal Crown
I don't know what singer implanted that song in my mind, but it is as solidly there as "Amazing Grace"! I have three of those red and yellow bottles. There are pyraminds in the background and in the middle the initials "RC". Copyright 1936. Nehi Corporation. 12 Fluid Ounces.
Back in 1905 A Columbus Georgia grocer and pharmicist named Claude Hatcher invented the drink in his basement. He was in a feud with Coca Cola over in Atlanta. The first drink was Chero Cola. It wasn't until 1934 that Royal Crown Cola was born. A chemist named Rufas Kamm took six-months to come up with the "new flavor" that would become RC.
As a boy, RC was my drink of choice. It was five cents and twelve ounces. You got a lot more than in a bottle of Coke. I liked the fizzle or whatever that came through my nose after the first swallow. Our country store always had them iced down in a big metal box.
RC had famous names advertising in it's ads of the forties; Rita Hayworth, Shelley Winters, Shirley Temple, to name a few. At one time an RC Cola and a Moon Pie were known as the "working man's lunch". That was a cheap lunch. Ten cents, I believe. The drink was loaded with caffein and sugar! No wonder it was a picker-upper!
Another slogan that " took off " was "Best By Taste Test".. They had folks challenging Coke and Pepsi. In "All In The Family" Archie and Mike (Meathead) had a show about it. "Meathead" successfully named all three drinks after tasting them.
You can go to Bell Buckle,Tennessee (it is Bell) for the "RC Cola and Moon Pie Festival" held
each year. Today RC is owned by the Cadbury Schweppes Company. It never overcame Coca Cola which is known world wide. That's okay. It was number one to me. The best nickel
I ever spent....... "Royal Crown Cola, red and yellow bottle...the tastiest....."
