Hilda Clark (1872 – May 5, 1932) was an American

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a mea ...

and

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

, known as the basis for the character depicted in the early-20th-century

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

advertisement ''Drink Coca-Cola 5¢.''

Early life

'Hilda Clark was born in Leavenworth,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, to Lydia and Milton Edward Clark.

Career

As a young adult Clark moved east to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

to become a popular

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

singer and actress. However, Clark became famous as a model in 1895 when she became the first woman to be featured on a tin

tray. Hilda Clark remained the advertising "face" of Coca-Cola until February 1903 when she married Frederick Stanton Flower in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, taking the name Hilda Clark Flower. Flower was a nephew of New York Governor

Roswell P. Flower Roswell Pettibone Flower (August 7, 1835May 12, 1899) was an American politician who served as the 30th Governor of New York from 1892 to 1894. He also served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1889 to 1891. Biography He was bo ...

. Clark had been an active

socialite A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having traditio ...

in Boston but retired from the stage when she married. Frederick Flower was a millionaire, involved in banking concerns and director of several railroads. Flower died in December 1930.

Death

Hilda Clark died on May 5, 1932, in

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

, Florida. She was buried at Brookside Cemetery, Watertown,

Bibliography

* Pendergrast, Mark. ''For God, Country & Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It.'' New York: Basic Books, 2000.

External links

Business Week - Hilda Clark
* People from Leavenworth, Kansas Coca-Cola people Female models from Kansas 1872 births 1932 deaths {{US-model-stub