LAJFSTAJL / LIFESTYLE
it needed to be mass-produced—and that’s how Amer- ica joined the story. In 1927, a Pittsburgh man named Joseph Garaja filed his patent application. His real contribution to snow globe manufacturing was converting them from expensive me- mentos that were individually crafted to items that could be cheaply mass-produced and sold. But the big boom for snow globes came – as it did for so many items before and since – with the magic of a movie. In the 1940 film Kit- ty Foyle, starring Ginger Rogers, the young Kitty shakes a snow globe containing the figure of a girl on a sledge. Sales skyrocketed by 200 per cent after the film’s release. The next year, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane sealed the glo- ry. Perzy’s company made a little log cabin for the monu- mental opening scene. Charles Kane dies with the word “rosebud” on his lips, and the snow globe drops from his hand and shatters. Legendary! By the 1950s, innovations in plastics and injec- tion-moulding ensured that snow globes could be made even more cheaply. The industry continued to grow. By the 1980s, snow globes were still a staple of the gift in- dustry, but they’d also become the epitome of kitsch— probably because everyone and everything could be put under glass and forced to endure frequent snowstorms. Oddly enough, snow globes remain big business, and Erwin Perzy III’s company remains healthy, with his Vi- enna shop producing upwards of 200,000 snow globes annually. This may symbolise how much it has become part of culture, but also how a piece of innocent kitsch can be a source of joy packed in a strange, sometimes creepy, but also wonderful, little globe. So, why not gift a modest snow globe to someone you love this Christmas?
Ukoliko se zateknete u Beču, ne propustite Muzej snežnih kugli If you happen to find yourself in Vienna, don’t miss the museum of snow globes
76 | Suveniri » Souvenirs
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