{"product_id":"the-optimists-print-mayflower-donuts-original-verse-1939","title":"The Optimist's Print (Mayflower Donuts Original Verse) 1939","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Optimist’s has been cheering up people for more than a hundred years and we are proud to play our part in keeping it in the public eye. This cheerful message was first published in the New York Sun newspaper in 1904. In 1929, a restaurant in Charleston, West Virginia, used the verse because it sold “sinkers” or donuts to customers in its coffee shop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1931 the verse was adopted by Adolph Levitt, an immigrant from Russia who invented the first automatic donut making machine, for his popular Mayflower Donuts chain of shops. He had the adage printed on every donuts box, showing two men dressed as old-fashioned jesters. One was smiling at a fat doughnut with a small hole and the other was frowning at a thin doughnut with a large hole.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSally Levitt Steinberg, his granddaughter, recalls: ”My grandfather found this motto, The Optimist's , as it is called, inside a cheap picture frame he happened to buy in a dime store. He adopted it as his philosophy of life.” This philosophical gem became so popular that both Franklin D Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover, campaigning in 1932 during The Depression, worked The Optimist’s into their campaign speeches.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Mayflower Donuts chain closed in the 1970s but the verse lives on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis illustrated version was created by LA based artist Terry Stafford in the mid 1920s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cspan style=\"line-height: 1.5;\"\u003eCourtesy Private Collection.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"line-height: 1.5;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGallery quality Giclée print on natural white, matte, 100% cotton rag, acid and lignin free archival paper using Epson archival inks. Custom printed with border for matting and framing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c!-- END UNDER IMAGE --\u003e","brand":"Cool Culinaria Original","offers":[{"title":"8.5x11\" Giclee Print (Unframed) $25.00","offer_id":57491515539622,"sku":"zxy1790050574229","price":16.25,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"11x14\" Giclee Print (Unframed) $30.00","offer_id":57491515572390,"sku":"ymi1790050574230","price":20.1,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"16x20\" Giclee Print (Unframed) $55.00","offer_id":57491515605158,"sku":"huq1790050574231","price":37.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0745\/9133\/8662\/files\/the-optimists-print-mayflower-donuts-original-verse-1939_1.webp?v=1790050578","url":"https:\/\/coffeetamper.shop\/products\/the-optimists-print-mayflower-donuts-original-verse-1939","provider":"My Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}