05/12/2025
Northern Valley Regional High School, Demarest, students Deborah Ward, Marilyn Miller, and Vandy Van D**e in 1965, are here shown taking a break at the school’s “Refrigerated Fruit-O-Matic.” The question is asked “What’s worse than biting into an apple and seeing a worm?” The answer of course “Seeing half a worm.”
In the late 1940s the Fruit-O-Matic Manufacturing Company, of Los Angeles, California started producing these fruit vending machines. The Fruit-O-Matic was both popular and dependable, and this unique vending machine was ideal for schools as it dispensed healthy chilled, fresh fruit. The machine featured a hermetically sealed refrigeration unit and an attractive fluorescent lighted front display panel.
The Fruit-O-Matic machine gained popularity when it appeared in a 1950 movie staring, Marlon Brando called “The Men.” The Fruit-O-Matic was later promoted by the actress, Jane Mansfield and began appearing on high school and college campuses. The Fruit-O-Matic even had a location in Times Square, New York. Did your school have one of these machines? Did you have any other type of vending machine at school? By the way, note the young ladies are wearing dresses. – Tim Adriance
