There has always been speculation as to who the face of the Gerber baby is. Some people still think it’s Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor, or Ernest Borgnine when he was a baby. Well, bad news for them because none of the faces of the aforementioned celebrities appear on Gerber baby food jars. But who is it then? Who is the mysterious boy?

The story dates back to the year 1928 when the Gerber Products Company, formerly the Fermont Canning Company, owned and operated by Frank Daniel Gerber and his son Daniel Frank Gerber, began producing Gerber baby food. They wanted to find a baby face that would represent their company and they organized a contest that same year.

Unsurprisingly, they received hundreds of paintings, drawings, and sketches. Surprise surprise, they didn’t have digital cameras back then. The winner was Dorothy Hope Smith from New England, who submitted an unfinished charcoal drawing, or rather, a sketch of a baby who had messy hair, big blue eyes, and round lips. She told the judges that if her sketch wins the competition, she will finish it professionally. There was no need for that because the judges liked her the way she was. It was exactly what they had been looking for; a healthy and beautiful baby face.

And who was the baby? Well, her name is Ann Turner (cook) and at that time she was a five-month-old baby. She is the best-known baby in the world because in a very short time – about 60 days – the Gerber baby symbol had achieved national recognition; a little later also international. From 1928, her face appeared on all Gerber products and in advertising, and in 1931 she became the company’s official trademark.

By the way, she is a retired English teacher and lives in Florida. She raised four children and became a mystery novelist. Her books include Trace Their Shadows, Shadow over Cedar Key, and Homosassa Shadows. She received a one-time cash payment from the company ($5,000) in 1951 and Dorothy Hope Smith received $300 for the rights to her drawing, but neither received any royalties for the famous image.

So this is the story of the Gerber baby face!