Sunscreen was established during WWII when then airman and future pharmacist Benjamin Green helped develop a sun protective formula called 'red vet pet.' Soldiers, to protect themselves from the South Pacific sun, used this petroleum-based, sticky red 'goo.'
In 1944, Green used his invention as the basis for Coppertone� Suntan Cream � the first consumer suncare product. The more user-friendly mixture, with coca butter and jasmine, concocted by Green on his wife's stove and tested on his own bald head, was created for his customers in Miami Beach.
The Coppertone brand of suncare products has come a long way since Green's first homemade concoction. In 1957, Plough, Inc, (part of the Schering-Plough Corporation since 1971), acquired what was then known as the Coppertone Sales Corporation. In 1971 the company opened the Coppertone Solar Research Center in Memphis, Tennessee. Today, the Center is one of the world's largest state-of-the art facilities for testing the efficacy of suncare products.
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RED VET PET? Somebody should name their band this!! RED VET PET...it makes no sense to me whatsoever. I remember my Malibu/Coppertone Barbie with the permanent bikini lines and permanent scent of Coppertone (I still picture the old brown bottle..is it still a brown bottle?)
I used to lie in our dehydrated backyard when I was a young teenager (the grass always seemed SOO parched during the summertime..Central Illinois does get really fucking hot in the summer!) and try to "tan." It was SOOO boring, though I liked the feeling of intense sun on my paperthin eyelids. It made me see red and pink behind my eyes, I think. I would never drift off to sleep..I could never get comfortable if trying to read a book. Bugs would crawl all over me. I have fond memories of a faint radio in the distance, playing classic rock in some neighbors back yard, the melodies drifting over our hedges and red fences. I remember swimming at Indian Acres, a private swimming pool that we had joined. I always felt like such a geek when I'd go there...all legs and arms..no tits..boring one piece suit. It took me forever to have the nerve to go off the high dive. I think I even tryed to back out of it and crawl back down the ladder my first couple times but there was already a line of kids. I remember the intensity with which you'd hit the water from that height. It HURT my skin. I would be so happy to be alive when my head finally pushed back out of the water. I remember the slimy and pruny feeling of the bottom of my feet from the pool. I remember turning sommersaults under water and then having a friend tell me when I came up afterwards that I had boogers hanging out of my nose (things like used to embarrass me...hell EVERYTHING freaked me out...I guess I grew out of alot of that insecurity..THANK GOD!) I have NEVER felt sexy in a bathing suit, though. I've always felt really self-conscious..even to this day. I remember getting hot dogs or twinkies or chips at the snack bar. I remember going to Baskin Robbins (which was almost next door to the pool) after swimming..the ice cream (Daquiri ice was always my fave..I still love it) making me thirsty. Dripping in my towel, slurping from the heavily chlorinated water fountain after my ice cream. Wow, haven't thought about those summer memories for awhile.
