Sun-Rise started as a beverage line created by a soft drink manufacturer and bottler called the Tazewell Manufacturing Company. The company was started in 1910 by W. A. Scott and was located in North Tazewell, Virginia. The Sun-Rise line was developed as a group of fruit-flavored soft drinks in addition to a root beer flavor. Some of the other flavors available in the Sun-Rise line were Strawberry, Orange, Black Cherry and Lemon Sour flavors.

In 1922 the company name was changed to The Was-Cott Corporation, after their most famous soft drink, Was-Cott Ginger-Ale. The name changed again in 1931 to the Sun Rise Bottling Company, when the company was sold to James G. Buston. They started three new drink brands: Chro-Mo, Tazewell Orange and 2 To 1. They also continued to make the Sun Rise Beverages line.

In 1956 Sun Rise Beverages was sold and relocated. The new Sun-Rise Incorporated was now located in Marshall, Minnesota. The brand went national with the help of the Coca-Cola Company that took over the bottling and distribution of the Sun-Rise line.

I have been able to determine that Sun-Rise soda was around into the 1970s. If you have additional information to add, please blog-in and share it.

Sun-Rise, Inc.
North Tazewell, Virginia

Here at Retroplanet.com we are surrounded by all things retro. Not only the things we sell but original items and collections that decorate our offices. We thought it might be interesting each week to bring you a photo and information of an interesting, and maybe unusual, retro item we have kicking around. Please note these items are not for sale.
What a unique way to decant liquor, but in a replica of the Queen Mary ocean liner. This is a collectible decanter issued by Garnier Liqueurs of France that was sold at the Long Beach Queen Mary Hotel. It is ceramic with a smokestack serving as the pour spout. The date on the bottom of the decanter is “1970”, and there is also a copyright that reads, “1968 by City of Long Beach”.

The ocean liner Queen Mary began her maiden voyage for the Cunard-White Star Line on May 27, 1936. It was retired on December 1, 1967 and is berthed in Long Beach where it continues to serve as a hotel and museum. This decanter would have come from one of the Queen Mary hotel’s gift shops.

As we wish you all a very happy and healthy 4th of July, please check out some ‘revolutionary’ changes happening at Retroplanet.com. One of these changes is that you can now get the latest Retroplanet news on Twitter. Just click on the Twitter (bird) icon on our home page and you’ll be brought to our Twitter page so you can see the latest entries.

We have a few new faces in our Retroplanet offices, too. We would like to offer a warm welcome to Michael Forrest as our newest employee. We also have some new summer help: Jeremy, Patrick and Casey. They’ll be helping us with the huge load of work adding 1,000 new products to our lineup. These new items will be available to purchase over the course of the Summer. Visit our “What’s New” page regularly to view recently added cool retro stuff.

One of our new website posts is to the Retroplanet Museum. We’ve added photos and information about the classic Coca-Cola Glascock Junior soft drink chest cooler that was produced in the 1930’s. We’ve also added a striking retro-inspired Texaco design theme to our Retroplanet Decorating Ideas Gallery. Take a look and get inspired to take on your own decorating project.

And of course, we’re always adding to our Blogs section, so be sure to check back in often.

Sir Paul is coming back to Boston this August. The very first concert I ever went to was “Wings Over America” on May 22, 1976. Paul McCartney had formed a band in 1971 called Wings and, on that day, they were playing at the Boston Garden. I was a senior in high school, graduating in a few weeks and was not sure what I was going to do after that. A few days after the concert, I saw an ad in the back of Rolling Stone magazine for Wings tour t-shirts, and I sent away for one. It was a great shirt and I thought to myself, “How hard could it be to screen print shirts and sell them from Rolling Stone?” I ran the idea by my best friend Kyle, who was in the Navy, and he loved it. Long story short, we started printing shirts when he got out and, I have to say, we did pretty well selling band shirts from the Rolling Stone classifieds…and beyond.

Thanks, Paul for coming to Boston in 1976 and I’ll be seeing you in August.

This New England road map is from the mid-1950s. It was distributed by the Atlantic Refining Company that was founded in 1865. It became a subsidiary of Standard Oil in 1874, until it was made independent again in 1911 when anti-trust laws were passed. Atlantic Refining merged with the Richfield Oil Corporation in 1966, and eventually became the company known as ARCO.

There is a shield on the front of the map, which says “Atlantic Imperial”. Imperial was the name under which Atlantic sold their hi-test gasoline. The illustrations, both front and back on this map, are great retro images showing a 50s style gas station, uniformed station attendant and automobile.

Bette Davis was born on April 5, 1908 in Lowell, Massachusetts as Ruth Elizabeth Davis. Her parents were Harlow Morrell and Ruth Augusta (Favor) Davis. Bette’s sister Barbara was born a year later. Bette’s parents separated in 1915, and although Bette’s mother had difficulty affording it, she placed both girls in boarding school in the Berkshires. The family moved to New York City in 1921 and Bette’s mother worked there as a photographer. Bette’s dream of becoming an actress took hold after seeing Rudolph Valentino perform in the movie “The Four Horsemen” and Mary Pickford in “Little Lord Fauntleroy” in 1921. Bette’s mother had once possessed the same dream, so she encouraged her daughter in her pursuit.

Bette’s desire to become an actress became more urgent after seeing Henrik Ibsen’s “The Wild Duck” on stage in 1926. According to Bette, “Before that performance I wanted to be an actress. When it ended, I had to be an actress…”. She auditioned to be admitted to Eva LeGallienne’s Manhattan Civic Repertory and was turned down but was accepted into the John Murray Anderson School of Theatre. There she studied dance with the pioneer of modern dance, Martha Graham.

Bette’s first paying job was playing a chorus girl in a play called “Broadway”. She made her Broadway debut in 1929 in “Broken Dishes”. She was performing in her next show, “Solid South” when a Hollywood scout invited her to do a screen test for Universal Studios. She did not pass the screen test on December 13, 1930, but was put under contract and used as a stand-in to test other potential actors. She appeared in small roles in six unsuccessful movies and Universal decided not to renew her contract. Bette’s looks and talent went unnoticed and underappreciated up to this point in her career.

In 1932 Bette received a phone call from Warner Brothers. The filmmaker George Arliss had selected Bette for the female lead for the 1932 movie, “The Man Who Played God”. The movie was a great success and throughout her life, Bette gave credit to George Arliss for launching her career. Warner Brothers signed a five-year contract with Bette. She received great critical acclaim for her role in the 1934 movie, “Of Human Bondage”, acclaim that included a statement by Life Magazine that they believed she had given “probably the best performance ever recorded on the screen by a U.S. actress”. Her performance in 1935 in “Dangerous” resulted in an Academy Award for Best Actress, the first for a Warner Brothers actress.

But in spite of Bette’s successes, the studio continued to give her unsatisfactory roles. She became worried these mediocre parts would hurt her acting career and in 1936 she was offered more challenging roles in England. Bette accepted the parts, despite her existing contract with Warner Brothers. When studio head, Jack Warner, heard what she was doing he sued her for breach of contract and won. Bette was forced to return to Warner Brothers, but did receive a new contract and better acting parts.

Bette was awarded her second Oscar for her performance in the 1938 movie, “Jezebel”. She continued to receive nominations every year for the next five years. Her first movie filmed in color was “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex” in which she portrayed Elizabeth I of England and starred with Errol Flynn.

In 1941 Bette was elected the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences but was soon forced to resign because members objected to her abrasive manner. Her male successor, actor Jean Hersholt, was able to bring about the changes that Bette had proposed while she had been president.

During WWII Bette devoted her time to selling war bonds and entertaining the troops. She claimed one of her proudest achievements was opening the Hollywood Canteen. It was an old nightclub she fixed up with the help of Jack Warner, Cary Grant and Jule Styne. There, Hollywood stars volunteered to entertain members of the U.S. Armed Forces that were visiting the L.A. area. In 1980 she received the U.S. Department of Defenses highest civilian award, the Distinguished Service Medal, in acknowledgment of this contribution to the war effort.

Bette continued to appear in successful films throughout the war. In 1943 her second husband died suddenly and the shock resulted in both demanding and erratic behavior during the filming of the 1944 release, “Mr. Skeffington”. Despite the difficulty experienced during filming, Bette won another Oscar nomination. Her next few films received mixed reviews and her 1946 film “Deception”, was her first film to actually lose money. She passed up the lead in “African Queen” because it was to be filmed in Africa, rather than on the lot. She proposed a couple of films to Jack Warner, “Ethan Frome” and a Mary Todd Lincoln bio, both of which were turned down. Her career continued to falter as Bette performed in disappointing roles with actors she considered to be difficult. In spite of the poor reception of some of her films, Bette negotiated a contract that succeeded in making her the highest paid woman in all of the U.S. (an estimated $10,285 per week).

Bette experienced a comeback and won her eighth Oscar nomination in 1950 for her starring role in “All About Eve”. In 1962 Bette was seen in her haunting performance in the successful “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” for which she received both an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA Award. More successful films followed, including “Dead Ringer” and “Hush..Hush, Sweet Charlotte” in 1964, “The Anniversary” in 1968 and “Connecting Rooms” in 1970. She continued to act through the 1970s in both films and television roles. In 1981 she appeared with her grandson, J. Ashley Hyman, in “Family Reunion”.

Bette was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1983. Shortly after surgery she had a series of strokes, resulting in partial paralysis and slurred speech. Bette appeared in her final film in 1989 in the title role in “Wicked Stepmother”. She died on October 6, 1989, shortly after learning that her cancer had returned.

Bette Davis had appeared in over 100 films, been married four times, widowed once and divorced three times.  She had been a mother to her daughter as well as two adopted children. In her career, Bette was nominated for an Academy Award 10 times and had won twice. She was the first female actress to be awarded the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She was a larger than life actress who, according to her own words, “Did it the hard way”.

Did you ever wonder about what The Beatles were up to on a week-to-week basis?  Are you a Beatles trivia buff?  Test your knowledge here as you look at what happened to The Beatles in a specific week in time.

July 1, 1963 – “She Loves You” and “Get You in the End” were recorded. The songs made up the Beatles’ first million-selling single and reached No. 1 in the singles charts.

July 1, 1964 – The band ends their tour of New Zealand and Australia, and fly home to London.

July 4, 1964 – The Beatles attended a preview of the movie “A Hard Day’s Night.

July 3, 1965 – The band played a show in Barcelona, ending their European tour.

June 29, 1966 – The boys flew into Tokyo to continue their tour. They were greeted by 1500 fans who were being handled by riot police.

July 4, 1966 – The Beatles played two performances in Manila at the Rizai Memorial Football Stadium in front of a total of 80,000 fans.

July 3, 1967 – John, Paul and George were guests at a party held for the Monkees at the Speakeasy.

June 28, 1968 – Recording began for “Good Night,” written by John for his son, Julian.

July 1, 1969 – John and Yoko with her daughter Kyoko and his son Julian were in a car accident while vacationing in Scotland. John remained in the hospital for a few days.

July 4, 1969 – “Give Peace A Chance”/”Remember Love” by the Plastic Ono Band was released worldwide. It was the first solo single by a Beatle.

The National NuGrape Company introduced Sun Crest brand soda in 1938. It was created as a companion brand to their other soft drink line, NuGrape. Sun Crest soda was available in the following flavors: Orange, Strawberry, Grape, Pineapple, Peach, Cherry and Grapefruit.

Sun Crest became the property of The Moxie Company in 1968 when they purchased NuGrape. The company name was eventually changed to the Monarch Beverage Company. In 2007 the Monarch brand was sold to Hedinger Brands, LLC. They acquired Sun Crest soda as part of the buyout, as well as Dad’s Root Beer, Bubble Up and the Dr. Wells soda brands. Sun Crest Orange soda is still manufactured today under name of Dad’s Root Beer Company, LLC of Jasper, Indiana.

National NuGrape Company
Atlanta, Georgia

Here at Retroplanet.com we are surrounded by all things retro. Not only the things we sell but original items and collections that decorate our offices. We thought it might be interesting each week to bring you a photo and information of an interesting, and maybe unusual, retro item we have kicking around. Please note these items are not for sale.
These are two examples of some of the many commemorative items the Russians produced to celebrate their success in the race into space. The item on the left of the photo is a paperweight, inscribed with the date of “1961”. This was produced to commemorate the first manned space flight on the Soviet rocket Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961. The Soviet cosmonaut onboard was Yuri Gagarin. The ‘path’ of the rocket is indicated by the wire and begins at the original point of departure in the USSR, which is marked by a star. The rocket has been launched and is orbiting the Earth. The actual flight lasted for nearly 90 minutes.

The clock on the right of the photo is a mechanically wound alarm clock. It was manufactured to commemorate the same event as the paperweight, and was most likely made exclusively for export, due to its decent quality. The stand is made of Bakelite and the clock case is made of aluminum. Although these items are available from time to time at online auctions, they are certainly not something you see everyday.

More items have been added to our product selection again this week. We’ve added a great collection of retro toys that you may remember from your own childhood. Now these classic toys have been brought back for you to enjoy once again or to introduce to a new generation. Among the new additions are the Wild Frontier and Knights playsets with handpainted figures that are ready for action. There are other truly nostalgic items like a Pin The Tail On The Donkey Game and Tiddledy Winks and a new assortment of old fashion games and wind-up toys. There are new additions to our housewares lineup, including a Food Face Plate and a very practical 500-Pack of Wrapped Straws. The What’s New items run the gamut, so be sure to have a look at these new offerings for yourself.

We continue to add new items to the Retroplanet Museum, such as the 1950s-era Texaco and Ford Eco Air Meters in the Gas Station Accessories section and new blogs are posted several times a week, so be sure to browse all the retro products and information we make available to you on our website. And thank-you for stopping by!