Morton Salt Girl Is 75 and Still Pouring Strong

CHICAGO — The little girl has been out in the rain with her umbrella and a container of salt for 75 years, demonstrating the slogan that helped make Morton Salt a household standby: “When it rains it pours.”

Customers still occasionally write Morton Salt Co. claiming to know the child’s true identity, but officials say she has none--she’s the figment of a forgotten artist’s imagination.

“Some people say they modeled for the illustration. Others swear it’s their daughter or granddaughter,” Earl C. Thorne, advertising and promotion manager for the Chicago-based company, said.

The Morton Salt girl debuted in 1914. The first of her incarnations was as a chubby child with curly hair, standing in the rain with a carton of salt carelessly tucked under one arm and spilling to the ground.

She’s been made over five times since, to update her dress, hair and face. For a while she had pigtails. These days she has sleek, dark hair.

But the idea is the same. All but the original are taking a step with the right foot. All are spilling salt, though the 1956 version and the current model, introduced in 1966, are losing just a sprinkle.

And the slogan hasn’t changed at all, though the scientific process it promotes has ceased to be a novelty.

“In the United States, it is one of the 10 best-known symbols,” Thorne said.