ANIMAL CRACKERS - A HUNDRED YEARS by Pam North Animal crackers. What child hasn't happily clutched a box of these, toddled off to line them up in animal parades, and then gleefully chomped their heads off? Half toy, half confection, these classic childhood cookies, representing a miniature munchy menagerie, are a part of all our pasts. This year, 2002, marks the 100th anniversary of Barnum's Animal Crackers, and to mark their centennial celebration, a consumer vote was held from October 15th through December 31st, 2001 to select the newest crispy critter to join Barnum's historic animal ranks. Choices to be voted on included a koala, a penguin, a walrus and a cobra. While the results haven't been formally announced as yet, it would appear that the animals ranked in popularity in the same order as just given, so look for that koala soon to be living in the colorful, red, circus-wagon box. In the late 1800s, animal-shaped cookies were originally available only as an import to the United States from England. Demand for fancy baked goods grew, and as "animals" or "circus crackers" became increasingly popular, a number of American bakers, such as the Dozier-Weyl Cracker Company of St. Louis, and the Holmes & Coutts Company of New York City, began to produce them. Bakeries soon united into larger regional and national distributing companies, and one of these was the National Biscuit Company. In 1902, the National Biscuit Company introduced "Animal Biscuit Crackers," intended primarily for children, and as a clever marketing touch for the holidays soon to come, a string handle, sized perfectly for a child's hand and nicely suited for hanging on a Christmas tree, was added to the box. It was the first time a package had borne such a novel touch. The idea proved to be so popular that it became a year-round item. They were distributed as such until 1948, when the product name was changed to "Barnum's Animal Crackers," taking on that legal trademark and adopting a circus theme. Nabisco, as the company came to be known (it's now a subsidiary of Kraft Foods, Inc.), hasn't changed its animal cracker recipe in a century of production (other than adding calcium to the product), making only modifications in the variety of animal species. Of the 53 varieties of animals that have been represented in the cracker box over the years, only the lion, tiger, bear and elephant have been there since the beginning. The animal cracker cookie zoo currently encompasses a bear (both in walking and sitting poses), a bison, camel, cougar, elephant, giraffe, gorilla, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, lion, kangaroo, wolf, monkey, sheep, tiger, zebra and seal. Until 1958, animal shapes were stamped out of the dough with a cutter, producing rudimentary outlines with little sophistication, but by installing rotary dies (still used today) in that year, production methods changed to allow much more intricate designs, with details actually engraved upon each cracker. In 1995, a special limited edition box was offered with all of the animals changed (a first in the company's history) for that occasion; all of the animals featured were endangered. The purpose was to instill awareness of rapidly vanishing species, and to raise money (5 cents for each box sold, up to $100,000) for the World Wildlife Fund's efforts to save endangered wildlife. Barnum's Animal Crackers are produced only in Fair Lawn, New Jersey and Chicago, Illinois. The cookies are baked on a 300-foot-long traveling band oven, and turned out at the rate of 12,000 per minute. The filled boxes use nearly 6,000 miles of string per year. Forty million boxes are sold annually, and they are exported to 17 countries. Animal crackers have been immortalized in both literature and films, symbolizing how much they have become an American tradition. Christopher Morley, poet and philosopher, penned a famous poem, the first stanza of which reads, "Animal crackers, and cocoa to drink/ That is the finest of suppers, I think/ When I'm grown up and can have what I please/ I think I shall always insist upon these." Shirley Temple, in the 1926 movie "Curleytop," sings, "Animal crackers in my soup/ Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop/ Gosh, oh gee, but I have fun!" A unique teddy bear was produced in 1937 by the Commonwealth Toy and Novelty Company to capitalize on this popular snack; it was called the "Feed Me Bear." A ring on the back of its head could be pulled to open its mouth to receive animal crackers. The crackers slid down a metal chute inside, where a zipper at the back of the bear could be opened to remove them for "recycling." The National Biscuit Company apparently used this toy as an advertising tool for their product, displaying the bear with their animal crackers in grocery stores. Even an impromptu game called "Animal Cracker Combat" has been devised. The rules are to: (1) Acquire a box of animal crackers (2) Shake the box well (3) Remove one animal cracker for each player (two, if the player is alone) (4) Determine which animal would win (example: would a headless lion win against a zebra missing two legs?). Additional definitive rules could include: whole animals always beat parts; carnivores generally beat herbivores; monkeys are wild; head beats any other limb; winning animal remains for next round; best argument in favor of an animal wins. A century is a long period of time for a product to survive, and even more remarkable for it to keep its original character for a hundred years. To hold a box of Barnum's Animal Crackers is to relive golden childhood days, to experience a link with a rich and simpler time, and to appreciate a bonafide American institution right up there with Mom's apple pie. Thank heaven some things don't change much.