The Illustrated Catalog Of ACME Products — ACCEPT NO IMITATIONS

August 23, 2020 9:24 PM

ACME is a worldwide leader of many manufactured goods. From its humble beginnings providing corks and flypaper to bug collectors ("Buddy's Bug Hunt," 1935 [YouTube, rough copy with unofficial commentary] ) to its heyday in the American Southwest supplying a certain coyote (Wikipedia), from Ultimatum Dispatchers to Batman outfits, ACME has set the standard for excellence. For the first time ever, information and pictures of all ACME products, specialty divisions, and services (from 1935 to 1964) are gathered here, in one convenient catalog. Behold, The Illustrated Catalog Of ACME Products. [Via Mltshp]
posted by filthy light thief (29 comments total)

This would be absolutely perfect if someone would add in some J. Peterman-like catalog descriptions.
posted by brookeb at 9:31 PM on August 23, 2020 [5 favorites]

Or a "Next" button...
posted by Windopaene at 9:49 PM on August 23, 2020 [3 favorites]

Lore question: is the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator an ACME product (Martian division)?

The ACME Disintegrating Pistol is still one of my favorites.
posted by bartleby at 10:46 PM on August 23, 2020 [2 favorites]

Previously on Metafilter. (Not a duplicate, but a somewhat similar concept.)
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 11:04 PM on August 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

... Could someone forward the link to the price list? I can’t find it
posted by From Bklyn at 11:35 PM on August 23, 2020 [3 favorites]

There's a book too - though I think it's now out of print.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:28 AM on August 24, 2020 [2 favorites]

How much has Jeff Bezos' philosophy been inspired by ACME, I wonder? For example, from the wikipedia link: "while their products leave much to be desired, Acme delivery service is second to none".

Here's a glimpse into a present-day Acme Systems™ facility.
posted by misteraitch at 4:58 AM on August 24, 2020 [3 favorites]

I realize that ACME is a pretty generic example of a brand name, but they must have gotten it somewhere. I've been listening to Ron Chernow's "Titan", a biography of Standard Oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, and it mentions that some of their products were branded "ACME". Makes me wonder...
posted by hwestiii at 6:09 AM on August 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

The first supermarket I remember going to as a kid was an Acme Market.
Their Wiki entry says this: Acme was a popular name for businesses at the time. The name was not only used for fictional markets, but drugs, delivery services, anvils, and even traffic signal companies.
posted by MtDewd at 6:23 AM on August 24, 2020 [2 favorites]

Acme threads are named after the Acme Machinery Co. in Cleveland, who supported it in 1895 but don’t seem to have invented it. (link to historical magazine archive with slightly weird interface.)
posted by Huffy Puffy at 6:25 AM on August 24, 2020

anvils

One morning I actually slipped on a banana peel on the ground; I kept a close eye out for falling anvils the rest of the day.
posted by thelonius at 6:31 AM on August 24, 2020 [5 favorites]

There's also Acme Whistles, a British company founded in 1870. Their whistles are very good.
posted by pipeski at 6:33 AM on August 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

I had reached an embarrassingly mature age before I learned that Acme was a real word simply meaning "best."
posted by adamrice at 6:49 AM on August 24, 2020 [5 favorites]

I was told on the playground that ACME was an acronym for "American Company that Manufactures Everything".
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:27 AM on August 24, 2020 [4 favorites]

Wikipedia says that Acme became a ubiquitous company name when phone books made it advantageous to be near the top of the alphabet, but I think it’s also significant that the Acme Peg Bar (for registering animation cels) would have been staring every WB animator right in the face as they worked.
posted by migurski at 7:27 AM on August 24, 2020 [3 favorites]

Acme is memorable because it's by far the most sophisticated phone book hack, but I wonder how many instances of companies named "AAA " or "A-Plus " exist in animation.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:02 AM on August 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

ACME, in my reference, is the BEST bread in the Bay area.
posted by semmi at 9:01 AM on August 24, 2020

acme.com is one of the true old-school websites, I think it's one of the oldest registered domains and could command a pretty sum if the owner was looking to sell. I'm glad that doesn't seem to have happened yet.
posted by lon_star at 9:22 AM on August 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

I have this fine piece of artwork with illustrations of every ACME product: From the desk of Mr. Coyote framed and proudly placed on my wall. It's sold out, unfortunately, but the more product catalog type version is still available.
posted by ssmith at 9:36 AM on August 24, 2020 [4 favorites]

ACME is - canonically - “A Wholly-Owned Subsidiary of Roadrunner Corporation”.

Nothing that happened to Wile E. Coyote was an accident.
posted by mhoye at 10:09 AM on August 24, 2020 [7 favorites]

There's a local grocery chain called Acme. It always gets a chuckle when I have an out-of-town visitor.
posted by slogger at 10:27 AM on August 24, 2020 [2 favorites]

There are ACME grocery stores in my area and I honest-to-god shop at them sometimes because I like the idea of buying my food at the same place that the coyote buys his anvils and rocket skates.
posted by ElKevbo at 10:53 AM on August 24, 2020 [4 favorites]

My favorite piece on the subject - Ian Frazier's Coyote vs. ACME
posted by Mchelly at 11:54 AM on August 24, 2020 [3 favorites]

I was told on the playground that ACME was an acronym for "American Company that Manufactures Everything".

As the Wikipedia article puts it:

Although it can be so used, it is a misconception that ACME was intended by cartoonists to be an acronym standing for such things as "A Company Making Everything", "American Companies Make Everything" or "American Company that Manufactures Everything".

posted by zamboni at 2:48 PM on August 24, 2020

Acme was also the name of a recording studio in Chicago that, among other things, was where The Curly Shuffle by the Jump 'n the Saddle Band was recorded. It was partly owned by two of my uncles and the name choice was entirely a deliberate reference on their part.
posted by wanderingmind at 3:25 PM on August 24, 2020 [3 favorites]

Also a series of books by cartoonist Chris Ware under the moniker Acme Novelty Library.
posted by lathrop at 3:37 PM on August 24, 2020

ACME is - canonically - “A Wholly-Owned Subsidiary of Roadrunner Corporation”.

Not sure if this is the specific reference you have in mind, but I once saw a piece of official WB artwork showing the boardroom of the Acme Corporation with a roadrunner at every seat round the table.

Also, I remember a critic a few years ago describing a collection of Hunter S. Thompson's 1970s letters as "the kind of letters Wile E. Coyote would write to the Acme Corporation". Perfect.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:53 AM on August 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

When I moved to this area, with Acme Markets next door, I couldn't help but giggle and ask the checker, "Where are the anvils?" Purely thinking of Wile E. LOL I had no clue they were a real company that made anvils. That honestly makes it funnier, to me.
posted by Goofyy at 8:28 AM on August 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

There's a local grocery chain called Acme. It always gets a chuckle when I have an out-of-town visitor.

Growing up in my hometown, there were only two major supermarkets, Acme and A&P. We shopped at Acme. The connection to Roadrunner cartoons never occurred to me back then, obvious though it would seem to be.
posted by Philofacts at 9:46 AM on August 26, 2020