| ACME Corporation | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
ACME Corporation |
|
First Appearance |
ACME Whistle (Mid-1870s) (Real world) |
|
Original Publisher |
J. Hudson & Co (real world) |
Origin[]
The ACME Corporation is a generic name for companies used in both the real world and fictional stories, particularly in comedy and animation. Although the brand name is Greek for "highest point", ACME products are typically portrayed in fiction as unreliable and fragile, most famously in the not-yet-public domain escapades of Wile E. Coyote. In the real world, ACME was a common name for brands that wanted to be placed at the top of phone books, due to it being comprised of letters early in the alphabet, but would mostly fall out of use as cartoons created an association of the name with danger and fragility.
Public Domain Film Appearances[]
- Neighbors (1920)
- Never Weaken (1921)
- Grandma's Boy (1922)
- Girl Shy (1924)
- Fluttering Hearts (1927)
Notes[]
- The ACME brand name has been briefly used in Donald Duck cartoons, but was quickly phased out in favor of "AJAX". Coincidentally, the AJAX brand was also used in the Tom and Jerry short A Mouse in the House (1947) for a pair of pistols used in a duel between Tom and Butch. Wile E. Coyote uses AJAX Bird Seed along with ACME Iron Pellets in a scene from the Warner Bros. short Zip 'N Snort.