Sacramento Business Daily

What are the origins of the jack in the box?Why called Jack?Why did it first change if it was first a clown?

I do not think that the origins of the jack in the box, are as simple, or indeed controversial as those that say it appeared first as a vile racist toy. Although there is every possibility that children will have been encouraged, and indoctrinated into beliefs that upheld the politics of slavery, there is alot of evidence to suggest that the jack in the box first appeared in the UK as a clown, or as a punch character. The important thing is, when did the toy become named as a Jack in the Box?

Public Comments

1. this is what I could find on the subject. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack-in-the-box
2. i have always thought it was a devil jack is also a name used for satan it was originally a court jester who used to be a devils advocate for royalty
3. There was nothing racist about it. It is an old english toy. They were made in the 1930s, if not after the 2nd WW. The faces were often clown like......perhaps a bit grotesque for a child....but nothing racist. The faces were "white" at a time when the population of England was overwhelmingly white. JACK is just short for John - for a long time the most common English boys' name. I'm not aware it ever had a strange meaning