The original plastic, metal and neon Coppertone girl sign was designed and made in 1958 by Tropicalites, a sign company owned by Morris (Moe) Bengis. Tropicalites was located on North West 54th Street in Miami, about 3 blocks from Biscayne Boulevard, not far from where the sign will be reinstalled.
Before producing the original Coppertone Girl sign, Moe Bengis met with Benjamin Green, who invented the Coppertone product in his kitchen in 1944 and Abe Plough, the founder of Schering-Plough which bought Coppertone in 1957. Tropicalites' sketch artist Larry Moore drew most of the original sign layouts from a design of the little girl and dog created by the advertising agency Tally Embry. After the original designs were lost in a fire Joyce Ballantyne Brand recreated the now iconic Coppertone Girl ad campaign using her daughter as a model. Marvin Goodman, Morris Bengis' son-in-law came to work in 1958 for Tropicalites and was involved in the 1959 installation of the sign at its original location on the north wall of Parkleigh House at 530 Biscayne Boulevard. The 3-story high sign overlooked the New Year's Eve Orange Bowl Parade route.
Tropicalites produced many signs in their Miami workshop including Rayco (the original Tropicalites label may still be on the sign), the Vagabond Motel in MiMO, Burger King (Tropicalites made the first 700 signs for them) and all the original Royal Castles. Morris' son Jerome Bengis remembers meeting Bill Singer the founder of Royal Castle). There were other prominent signs near the Parkleigh House which were also made by Tropicalites: Delta Airlines, Hertz Rent-A-Car and the wonderful dinosaur for Sinclair. Moe Bengis merged Tropicalites with Claude Southern Corp. creating one of the largest sign companies in the United States in the early 60's. Unhappy with the new company, Moe left with his original sketch artist Larry Moore, Marvin Goodman and his two main accounts; Burger King and Coppertone. After graduating from college in 1968 Moe's son Jerome came into the company which was now Bengis Associates. Jerry handled both accounts as Morris was unwell. The Coppertone account became huge and they had about 500 signs all over the east coast but none more prominent than the "original" on the Parkleigh House which will now adorn the streets of MiMO.
In 1991 the sign was removed from Parkleigh House to make room for the expansion of Miami Dade Community College. Schering-Plough donated the sign to the people of Miami and placed it in the care of Dade Heritage Trust. Miami's Coppertone girl waited patiently in a warehouse until 1995 when the repaired girl, her 12 foot long dog and 5 foot high letters were mounted on the east wall of the Concord Building at 66 West Flagler Street across from the courthouse.
In 2008 another forced relocation brought Miami's girl back to Tropical Signs of Florida (the current iteration of Tropicalites/Bengis Associates). The sign was donated by Dade Heritage Trust to MiMO Biscayne Association which is overseeing the careful restoration of the Coppertone girl who will be returned to her old neighborhood where she will live with her dog on the side of a building at 7300 Biscayne Boulevard. The installation is scheduled for December 2, 2008.
References 1. Bengis, Jerome. “The Coppertone Girl Comes Home.” 15 Nov 2008. Dali Art Blog [1] 2. NYT Staff. 16 May 2008. "Joyce B. Brand, Commercial Artist, Dies at 88", New York Times External Links 1. Tomb, Jeffrey. 6 Feb 1995. ”COPPERTONE GIRL ON NEW TURF." Miami Herald 2. Klinkenberg, Jeff. 5 Sep 2004. "Real Florida: Red-faced with the Coppertone Girl", St. Petersburg Times (2004-09-05). Interview with Joyce Ballantyne Brand 3. Griffis, Margaret. Mar 2008. “Get That Girl in the Picture.” Biscayne Times 4. Viglucci, Andres. 17 May 2008. ”DOWNTOWN MIAMI: Iconic Coppertone Girl sign may move to MiMo.” Miami Herald 5. Griffis, Margaret. Uploaded 18 May 2008. Coppertone photo stream. Flickr.com 6. Bengis, Jerome. May 2008. “Get the story on the fate of Miami’s 1959 vintage Coppertone sign.” Bengis Fine Art. 7. TV News Segments. 2008. Coppertone Sign Removal. YouTube.com. 8. City of Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board. 7 Oct 2008. Agenda 9. Viglucci, Andres. 8 Oct 2008. ”Two Miami icons designated historic landmarks.” Miami Herald