Vintage Snow White Dairy Glasses

With the general release and subsequent success of Disney's Snow White, demand was high for all manner of merchandise featuring characters from the film including drinking glasses.

1938 Snow White glass from personal collection.

Milk glasses had already proven themselves to be a highly successful marketing premium. The first Disney tumblers were produced in 1931 and featured images of an early Mickey Mouse. In 1936, a dairy series appeared which included Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck and several other characters from the Disney shorts.

Then in 1938, the first of the Snow White dairy series was issued featuring the princess and each of the dwarfs. A four-line verse referencing the individual character was printed on backside.

1938 Glass set 4 3/4" tall.

Dairy companies would purchase the glass sets, and then offer their dairy product with the glass as a premium give-away. They came in a wide variety of sizes including 3 1/2", 4 3/8", 4 1/2", 4 5/8", 4 3/4" and 6". Colors varied too from red, light blue, dark blue, green, black, orange, light orange, red brown, yellow and white.

1938 set 4 5/8" tall. Note: Snow White glass is all white. Images via Hake's Americana and Collectibles.

1938 Doc glass. Images via Audrey's Antiques and Collectibles.

A rare "white graphics" Snow White glass, 4 5/8" tall. Probably would have shown up best when used with chocolate milk...

Images courtesy of Disneyana Collectibles 4U. Used with permission.

_____________

And an orange-colored metal serving tray was released to accompany the set of glasses. It featured Snow White and Doc in the center with the forest animals along the border...

Black and White tray image via Tomart's Price Guide to Character and Promotional Glasses, 1990, p.45.
Color image from back cover

_____________

This set also came in two-color glasses (see boxed set by Libby)...

1938 two-color Happy glass. Image via treasuredrunk.

Two-color glass set. Image via The Glass Junkie.

_____________

And in a full-color set that was probably sold in department stores...

 Black and White image via Tomart's Price Guide to Character and Promotional Glasses, 1990, p.46.

_____________

Bosco, a brand name for a type of hot chocolate drink, issued a set of 3" inch premium glasses in 1938. They used the same character graphics as the first dairy series above, just smaller.

Snow White Bosco glass. Image via Call Me Cami.

1938 Bosco 3" glasses (missing Sleepy and Sneezy). Image via The Glass Junkie.

_____________

Other sets of glasses were also issued in 1938 including a much rarer second dairy series depicting the characters as they appeared in the "Silly Song" scene from the film. Additionally, individual Snow White glasses were produced in 1939-41 as part of larger sets featuring other Disney characters. More on these in future posts.

Also see post on Snow White milk bottles.