ROX-TV dips into the lunch box collection for “The Secret of NIMH”. We toss around some history on the movie and the lunch box 1980’s style.
Welcome back to the ROX-TV website. We’ve been switching gears lately in the HQ and I’ve decided to dip into some niche type of shit for a minute. I’m a collector of history and that requires that I save everything I come into contact with. I know that I’m not alone on this and so I move forward with confidence. Back in the 1980’s before the world became lame and soft, we used to carry metal lunch boxes to school. I had a few, one of my favorites and that still survives in the collection today is my “Transformers” lunch box. Granted, it’s beat to hell, but I still proudly display it with my Halloween Mask Collection in the dining room. I’ve always collected things, from my Insane Clown Posse stash to comic books, regular books, flyers, lunch boxes…you name it and if it’s cool, I probably got some.
So, tonight’s article is for the lunch box heads from the 1980’s as well as collectors of the pieces. The lunch boxes were a great representation of American life and the blending of lunch and entertainment. They were basically commercials that held lunch. Usually very colorful, exciting images, and all that eye catching madness that drove kids to beg their parents for the latest and greatest whatever. I would also like to take a moment and say that when the “plastic” lunch boxes came along, it was ruined forever. Less durable, less fun…they fucking sucked and I curse the day they switched from metal. You could fend off an attacker with a metal lunch box, sadly I cannot say the same for the plastic shit boxes. I don’t support or collect the plastic versions and that is all. So before I get lost in the weeds, I will bring this shit back around. Today we will be examining one of my favorite lunch boxes from my collection, the fabulous “The Secret of NIMH” lunch box. (If you’ve watched Archive81 on Netflix you will see several references to The Secret of NIMH, and I find that odd and rather interesting). Lets get to it…
Origin: The Secret of NIMH movie
Circa: 1982
The Secret of NIMH was an animated movie that was released on July 2nd, 1982 and was directed by Don Bluth. The movie is based in part on the 1971 children’s novel Mrs. Frisby and the rats of NIMH. Although I never read the book I was lucky enough to see the movie when it was released on the latest and greatest technology of the time, VHS. As far as animated movies go, this has to been in the top three for substance, quality of the animation, and movie effects that make others of the time pale in comparison.
The story was about a widowed mouse and her kids, who through no fault of their own, wind up in a bit of a jam. Mrs. Brisby’ s youngest child is sick and unable to move with the rest of the family on moving day. Moving day meant leaving the farmer’s field in search of a safer place to be when the tractor plowed for the new crops. As it was, Timmy, the youngest mouse is laid up with a fever and moving is not an option. Distressed, Mrs. Brisby seeks advice from the wise old owl who lives nearby in a tree. The owl advises that Mrs. Brisby seek the help of the local rat population in regards to moving her family.
When I first watched this movie it has a “Disney” feel to it, but seems to surpass what Disney was doing at the time. I found out later that Don Bluth and ten others were originally working for Disney but left when Bluth started his own independent studio. First working inside his house and garage, before moving into a 5,500 square foot building in Studio City, California. They shopped the movie around at Disney but were declined. Apparently there was only room for one mouse at Disney and Mrs. Brisby was out of luck.Lunch Box:
The lunch box shown above is from my private collection and still has the thermos inside. This is an example of a “rough condition” lunchbox and time has not been kind. Besides some denting and rusting, the thermos graphic is almost completely worn away. Although the 1982 trademark can still be observed. I would place an example in this condition around the $15-$25 dollar range.
