Bucks
Crayola and Margaret Anderson
Dear Friends,
Good morning. I think if I were to be a Crayola crayon, I’d pick orange. That’s the color that Keaton Anderson chose for a Crayola national contest. He’s a second grader at the United Friends School in Quakertown.
Orange was one of eight new kids’ colors introduced at Crayola’s extravaganza on Times Square on April 9. Crayola was celebrating its 50th birthday of the 64 Box [of different colors]. Crayola asked children across America to name those eight new colors. Each color featured a story about courage because Crayola had chosen St. Jude’s Children’s Research center as the beneficiary. St. Jude’s mission is eradicating children’s catastrophic illnesses.
“Fun in the sun” was Keaton Anderson’s color, “Like a vivid tangerine,” his mother confided. “Kids want to get outside and be active, not become couch potatoes,” Crayola says. “Fitness equals fun.”
Keaton wore a costume, which his mother, Margaret Anderson, created for the event. She’s a costume designer. Her connection to Crayola came through Tom Onushao, an actor friend. To support his acting career, Onushao works for Crayola’s parent company, Binney and Smith in Easton. Margaret designs costumes for Onushao. It was he that introduced Margaret to Crayola.
Margaret lives in Haycock Township and creates costumes for the theater and ballet. She also designs women’s underwear. Margaret works for Cupid Intimates, with design studios in Bethlehem and New York City. You see her products in stores from Nordstrom and Macy’s to Wal-Mart.
Her stretch fabrics are found in swimwear. Margaret was involved with Jane Fonda’s exercise video. Cher is one of the entertainment stars who’s worn Margaret’s costumes. As you’d imagine, Margaret is very fit.
She began her association with Crayola in 2001 with costumes for a public relations event on the “Today” TV show. Orange must be her special color. That first costume was an orange tangerine scuba diver…can you imagine orange flippers? It’s no surprise that Keaton’s crayon color was orange.
In 2002, Margaret created the eight crayon colors, which Crayola was retiring. She was very involved in 2003 for the 100th anniversary of the crayon. Margaret estimates that she’s done between 30 and 50 costumes for Crayola.
She produced the eight Crayola costumes for the April event at Times Square. “Giving Tree,” the green crayon, was the most complicated and took over 24 hours to produce. “Giving Tree” reflects kids’ involvement with environmental issues. “Fun in the Sun” (orange) was a 20-hour labor of love,” she told me.
Thousands of children participated in the naming of the crayons’ colors and the themes, which accompanied them. The remaining six crayons were: 1. “Famous,” a pinkish red color meaning, any kid can shine. 2. “Happy ever after,” (blue), representing the optimism of youth. Kids value peace and charity. They want every story to have a fairy tale ending.
3. “Bear hug,” (brown)…comfort, as cozy as a big bear hug. Kids feel the loving embrace of home and family and wish the same for others. 4. “Best friends,” (purple) kids consider their parents to be their best friends.
(Incidentally, some day, I’ll relay an AAA story about the decline of teenage drivers. That’s because an increasing number of teens from middle class families prefer their parents as drivers rather than driving themselves!! Would you believe that?)
But I stray.
5. “Awesome,” is a brighter red. It represents the mental energy it takes to excel. Being smart is cool! And 6. “Super happy,” yellow, meaning making themselves and the people they care about happy…the color of dreams coming true.
I was impressed with the depth of the children’s thinking. When I was their age, I cared about cowboys and Indians. These kids were writing about improving mankind and the environment.
Wow! Bravo children!!
And how did the Crayola Times Square birthday party go? I saw a video of the event. It looked like a zillion kids were there.
“It was great,” Margaret exclaimed. “Keaton was a bit nervous but adorable.”
I’d say so.
Do the little girls turn their heads when he walks into their classroom? I sure didn’t look like Keaton Anderson when I was eight.
Drat!! As I often say…in my next life.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith