Winston-Salem, North Carolina has long been known as the Camel City for the world-famous cigarette brand started here by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in 1875. In The Purple Menace and the Tobacco Prince, there’s no such thing as Camel cigarettes or RJR. In its place is the Williams Tobacco Company and its bestselling brand, Taxi.
In the novel, R.W. Williams got the idea for the cigarette’s name when he visited London and saw the hansom cabs and all the people clamoring for them. He figured if people wanted those taxis so badly, maybe they would feel the same way about his. In reality, Richard Joshua Reynolds named his new brand Camel after the Turkish tobacco blend it used in imitation of the then-fashionable Egyptian cigarettes. Famously, “Old Joe,” the camel on the package, is, in fact, a dromedary. From the November 1955 issue of The State magazine: Barnum & Bailey came to town. Monday, September 29, 1913, Roy C. Haberkern, Reynolds' young secretary, went to investigate. With a photographer, he visited the circus menagerie and found not only a dromedary, but a two-humped camel as well. When the animal's boss refused permission to photograph them, Haberkern pointed out that Reynolds had always closed offices and factories for the circus, a practice that could easily be discontinued. The trainer relented and brought out the two animals. The camel posed willingly, but Old Joe, the dromedary, wouldn't hold still. The trainer gave him a slap on the nose. Old Joe raised his tail, threw back his ears and closed his eyes as the shutter snapped. From that photograph a label was designed and Old Joe became the most famous dromedary in the world.
Today, Winston-Salem is teeming with businesses using “Camel City” as their prefix—Camel City Goods Co., Camel City BBQ Factory, Camel City Coffee, just to name a few—but one of the name's earliest uses was Camel City Flying Service, founded in the 1930’s at Miller Municipal Airport (renamed Smith Reynolds Airport in 1942) by Lewis “Mac” McGinnis, Smith’s flight instructor who gets reimagined in The Purple Menace as Mac McDonnell. Under McGinnis’ direction, Camel City Flying Service upgraded Miller Airport to include passenger service in 1935. A grandstand would later be added for aerial stunt shows that Smith would have certainly enjoyed, if not starred in. In 1940, Thomas Henry Davis purchased Camel City Flying Service and changed its named to Piedmont Aviation, which would eventually become Piedmont Airlines before being absorbed into USAir. USAir would change its name to US Airways before merging with American Airlines. So, the next time you fly AA, know that some of Camel City Flying Service’s DNA is in there.
You can get your very own Camel City Flying Shirt right here to wear while you’re reading The Purple Menace and the Tobacco Prince.
-WEB3
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