Bowl:Frontiersman "Davy" Crockett

What would have been more popular with kids than this 1954 ceramic bowl emblazoned with the smiling countenance of the latest American hero, "Davy" Crockett? Disney's mini-series "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier" aired on television at the end of 1954 before being repackaged for movie theaters in 1955. Disney's frontier character sparked the biggest merchandising frenzy the country had ever known. Kids in coonskin caps, humming the theme song "The Ballad of Davy Crockett," lined up at department stores to buy every bit of Crockett paraphernalia imaginable - caps, jackets, toy guns, lunchboxes, ukuleles, and dishes, including this bowl. Crockett merchandising became a $300 million industry virtually overnight.

Disney's new role as "the Moses who led us into the Promised Land" opened up retailers' eyes to a tremendous new commercial market: kid consumers. Catapulted to national renown through television, which was already in millions of homes across America by the mid-1950s, Disney was stunned by popular response to its merchandising venture. But the Crockett craze died as quickly as it was born, ending in the fall of 1955, less than a year after it began. Fashion is fickle.