Red & Green; Oddities and Trivia • Vol. 17: #52

‘Tis the season for the display of red and green. While these festive colors are traditionally used to celebrate the holiday season, this week Tidbits looks at a variety of other things red and green that likewise bear significance.

• Red is a primary color, meaning that it is a pigment that cannot be made by combining any two colors. Garnet, scarlet, crimson, vermillion, carmine, rose, brick, cardinal …no matter the shade, they all spell red! We often associate red with love, passion, and romance, but it also symbolizes strength, confidence, and leadership.

• The red stripes of the American flag represents valor and bravery. But red can also be a show of hatred, anger, danger, and malice. Pirates flew a red flag over their ship as a sign to their targeted prey that they meant to show no mercy. Likewise, during the Middle Ages, armies carrying a red flag signified “mortal warfare,” in which no enemy soldiers would be spared or taken prisoner. A red flag on the racetrack warns drivers to slow down and stop due to danger ahead.

• The meanings of colors carry different messages in different cultures. In China, for example, the color red denotes happiness and fortune. Brides wear red dresses and walk down a red carpet to the groom, who lifts her red veil. When the couple has children, friends and family give them red eggs. During Chinese New Year, homes are decorated with red, red clothing is worn, and unmarried children are given red envelopes filled with “luck money.” It is also the reason that red is used so predominantly in Chinese restaurants.

The color red is associated with good fortune and happiness in Chinese culture.

• Red is also the color used by many countries to signify the bloodshed sacrificed to gain victory in their wars, while other cultures display red to signify beauty, as in Russia's Red Square in Moscow.

Red Square, in Moscow.

• Back in 1976, the Mars candy company discontinued red M&Ms from their mix of one of our favorite candies. The removal was due to the “Red Dye No. 2” scare, when the dye used in red food coloring was linked to cancer in a 1971 Russian study. When FDA testing concluded that the colorant caused malignant tumors in female rats, it was banned, and red M&Ms were replaced with orange coatings. We lived without red M&Ms for over a decade, even though Red Dye No. 2 wasn’t even used in them. In 1987, the red ones reappeared after the FDA finally gave approval. The orange version was retained in their color variety.

After being discontinued in 1976, "red" M&Ms made their come-back in 1987.

• The red carpet has become synonymous with status, celebrity, and prestige. We roll out the red carpet at awards ceremonies, for royalty, and for leaders. The tradition got its start in Ancient Greece, around 460 BC, when the story was told of a king returning from the Trojan War being welcomed with a red carpet. As time went one, only religious leaders and royalty walked the red carpet.

• Red dye came from an expensive pigment made from cochineal insects, only afforded by those with considerable wealth. In 1821, fifth president, James Monroe, became the first U.S. leader to have the red carpet rolled out. In 1922, the custom migrated to the entertainment world when the stars of “Robin Hood” walked on a red carpet to enter the film’s premiere at the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles. The red carpet at the annual Academy Awards, where stars pause to make their entrance, is 500 feet long and 33 feet wide.

• Rubies and sapphires belong to the family of the mineral corundum, a very hard and tough mineral, second only to diamonds in hardness. Rubies get their red color from chromium, and all rubies are red, named as such from the Latin word “ruber” for red.

Rubies are the most valuable member of the corundum mineral family.

• Rubies are made under extreme heat and pressure deep below the Earth’s surface. Under the pressure, oxygen and aluminum atoms become corundum. When chromium is present, the red hue is created. The world’s finest rubies are mined in Burma, with a lesser quality mined in Afghanistan, Cambodia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. The gift of ruby jewelry symbolizes love, passion, and commitment.

• How many different ways can you say green? How about lime, olive, hunter, avocado, mint, sage, emerald, kelly, celadon, eco, pea and chartreuse -- just to name a few!

• Because it’s the most common color in nature, the color green represents growth and the future. It’s also associated with prosperity, hope, and health. However, it’s also linked to the negative emotions of envy and jealousy, as the “green-eyed monster.”

• Just two percent of the world’s population has green eyes. This compares with 79% of people with brown eyes, 8% with blue, and 5% with hazel eyes. Green eyes, which often are associated with German or Celtic ancestry, are most common in the Netherlands, Scotland, Iceland, Great Britain, and Scandinavia.

• That rubbery character known as Gumby was created by a 32-year-old animator, Art Clokey, in 1953, when the figure appeared in a three-minute animated film. Clokey named his creation Gumby after the muddy clay, or gumbo, found at his grandparents’ farm. Clokey’s wife suggested that Gumby be modeled after the Gingerbread Man, and Clokey colored him green so that he would be racially neutral and a symbol of life. Gumby’s slanted head was modeled after the hairstyle of Clokey’s father. “The Gumby Show” ran for 233 episodes from 1956 to 1981, along with a feature-length film. Gumbo and Gumba are Gumby’s parents, and Nopey is his dog, since the pet’s one-word vocabulary is the word “nope.”

• Dr. Seuss introduced his green-skinned Grinch in the 1957 book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” According to the story, the Grinch had secluded himself on the cliff above the town of Whoville for the previous 53 years, because, according to the Whos, he was born with a heart that was “two sizes too small.” The first film adaptation was a 1966 television special, in which the Grinch was voiced by famous horror film actor Boris Karloff.

• The Minnesota Valley Canning Company opened in Le Sueur, Minnesota in 1903, using the brand name “Le Sueur Z” for its canned vegetables. In 1925, they first used the brand name “Green Giant,” but it was three years before the company incorporated the figure of a giant into their advertising dressed in a bearskin. Ten years later, the giant’s garb was changed to a leafy suit, he was given a big smile, and became the “Jolly Green Giant.”

• Television advertising added the Giant's familiar “Ho ho, ho” in 1961, and his sidekick, Little Green Sprout, was added in 1972. Sixty miles south of the cannery lies the city of Blue Earth, Minnesota, where in 1978, a 55-foot fiberglass statue of the Jolly Green Giant was erected.

The town of Blue Earth, Minnesota is home to the Jolly Green Giant and Little Green Sprout statues.

When the interstate was routed to bypass Blue Earth, a local radio station owner rallied local business owners to contribute to the construction of the four-ton figure to attract tourists to their community. It took just a week for the $50,000 in necessary funds to be raised. About 10,000 travelers now visit the looming green statue each year for photo ops. □