Tom Rogers, 87; Created Starkist’s Hipster Mascot, Charlie the Tuna
LA Times
Tom Rogers, a retired advertising copywriter whose beret- and sunglasses-wearing hipster tuna became an icon of pop culture, died June 24 in Charlottesville, Va., where he lived with his son’s family. The 87-year-old Rogers drowned while swimming alone in the family’s backyard pool.
Charlie the Tuna was the likably obtuse deep-sea striver who never lived up to the taste standards of Starkist Tuna. (”Sorry, Charlie. Starkist wants tuna that tastes good, not tuna with good taste.”)
The character was based on an acquaintance of Rogers who was a habitue of the beat scene in 1950s New York City, said his son, Lance Rogers. A beat musician and part-time actor who called himself Henry Nemo, the man personified one of Rogers’ favorite aphorisms: “The straightest distance between two points is an angle.”
“Everybody knows somebody like that, an appealing character who’s totally confident but totally wrong,” Lance Rogers said.
Rogers had a hand in creating other memorable ad mascots of the 1960s and ’70s, the cookie-baking Keebler elves and the finicky feline in the 9 Lives cat food ads, Morris the Cat. He didn’t originate the characters, his son said, but he infused them with distinctive personalities based on a lifetime of observing human nature.
Thomas Russell Rogers was born in Minneapolis. During Prohibition, he occasionally hung out at speak-easies, where he earned a little money cleaning floors and scurrying around town making deliveries for bootleggers, who presumed the police wouldn’t suspect a kid.
Starkist Charlie’s Lunch Kit, 4.5 oz
Can/Tuna Colander - The Tuna Press & Strainer
