The Bizarre Saga of the Red Solo Cup

Summary

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Ridiculous History: The Bizarre Saga of the Red Solo Cup

Podcast: Ridiculous History
Hosts: Ben Bowlin & Noel Brown
Date: May 7, 2026
Duration: ~48 mins

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Overview

In this delightfully meandering and thoroughly entertaining episode, Ben and Noel tackle the surprisingly complex and quintessentially American history of the red Solo cup—the iconic disposable plastic vessel found at parties, picnics, and pop culture moments across the nation and beyond. Interwoven with jokes, personal anecdotes, and cultural asides, the hosts break down how a practical solution to a public health issue morphed into an emblem of both convenience and Americana.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Solo Cup: An American Icon

• The red Solo cup is synonymous with American parties, college life, and, for many, nostalgia.
• Ben and Noel open with jokes about the last time they had a “solo cup,” noting the pop culture prominence especially after Toby Keith’s novelty song “Red Solo Cup” ([01:14]).
• “It became a bit of like a pop cultural touchstone for the redneck class.” — Noel ([01:22])
• Even Toby Keith himself called it “the worst song he had ever heard” ([02:12]).

From Communal Dippers to Disposable Cups

• Disposable, personal cups were not always the norm. Originally, people used “tin dippers”—communal ladles or cups in public places ([08:50]).
• Adoption slowed by skepticism about germ theory (“If I can’t see it, if I can’t smell it, why would it make me sick?”—Ben, [10:08]).
• “Get out of here, pencil neck.” — Noel, joking about turn-of-the-century resistance to germ theory ([11:24]).

The Birth of the Dixie Cup

• The push for individual disposable cups was spearheaded by brothers-in-law Lawrence Llewellyn and Hugh Moore.
• A Boston physician needed disposable cups to test tuberculosis sputum ([12:05]).
• Lawrence invented the first wax-coated paper cup — ancestor to the Dixie cup ([13:00]).
• Hugh Moore jumped in, pushing legislation to ban public “shared cups,” aligning public health crusading with business interest ([14:17]).

Dixie Cups Go National

• The “Individual Drinking Cup Company of New York” began expanding with the support of public health studies showing germ-spread through communal cups ([17:56]).
• The name “Dixie” was borrowed from a popular doll brand to evoke trustworthiness and reliability ([22:02]).
• Soda fountains and ice cream machines fueled Dixie’s growth as the “Ice Cream Dixie” cup became ubiquitous ([24:51]).

Enter the Solo Cup

• Leo Hulseman, a Dixie employee, leaves to start his own paper cup company in Chicago in 1936 ([25:50]).
• Original “Solo” cups were cone-shaped, single-use, designed so you had to toss them (i.e., couldn’t set them down) – a built-in hygiene feature ([27:04]).
• “That’s kind of a feature, not a bug, isn’t it? … It was a built-in safeguard from maybe somebody accidentally sharing it.” — Noel ([27:24]).
• Solo innovated wax-lined coffee cups and larger cups for theaters and fast food.

The Rise of the Red Plastic Cup

• In the 1970s, Leo’s son Robert rebrands and creates the notorious red plastic Solo cup ([29:12]).
• The color was chosen to be “fun”—and stuck for cultural and psychological reasons, though blue cups are a distant second ([31:39], [32:13]).
• “It was stiffer and more resilient than competitor party cups like Dixie’s. Just squeeze it, throw it, drop it, flip it, bop it, et cetera—the Solo cup.” — quoting Steve Stevenson, Slate ([31:07]).
• Red color partly sticks due to color theory: red suggests energy and excitement ([33:00]).

Cultural Ubiquity & Folklore

• The red Solo cup becomes a symbol of American parties, depicted in TV and film worldwide ([39:50]).
• In some countries, Solo cups are washed and reused, treated as prized souvenirs ([41:21]).
• The “folklore” surrounding the lines/indentations on Solo cups: though often said to mark standard servings of liquor, beer, and wine, this was a happy accident, not a design feature ([35:55], [42:43]).

The Party Cup's Technical Details

• Solo’s signature: 18-ounce “flush fill,” more generous than competitors ([34:57]).
• Four indentations (“grips”) for easy handling ([35:33]).
• Originally made from #6 polystyrene—cheap, tough, but environmentally problematic ([44:37]).
• Some efforts at recycling and “dishwasher-safe” reuse are discussed ([30:27]).

Legacy & Philanthropy

• Profits from the Solo Cup funded philanthropic work, especially in Catholic education and poverty reduction ([45:00]).
• Games like beer pong and flip cup are indelibly tied to the Solo cup culture ([34:18], [45:36]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

American Party Iconography

• “It’s as if you see a can of Coca Cola but it’s blue—you wouldn’t trust it.” — Ben, on brand recognition and color’s importance ([32:51])
• “The Solo party cup could be squeezed in meaty frat guy paws and could be dropped to the ground by tipsy high school cheerleaders and mercilessly battered by flip cup contestants, all the while maintaining shape and functionality.” — Steve Stevenson (read by Ben, [31:07])

Cultural Diffusion

• “If you’re European…you will see so many films and TV shows that feature red solo cups at every party. This became more than a product, it became a symbol.” — Ben ([39:50])
• “There’s a Japanese game that is a beer pong simulator that absolutely has red solo cups … because that is how they see us.” — Noel ([41:03])

Design Folklore

• “The lines on the cups, man, I think they’re plastic extrusion. And then later the Solo Cup Company went back and said, here, we’ll publish a guide to how to measure stuff.” — Ben ([41:56])
• “…but they do acknowledge that it was arbitrary and that they were sort of just ... the real understanding of lines on a solo cup from the Solo Company—NOT true, or an original part of Solo cup design, but surprisingly accurate.” — Noel ([42:43])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Segment | Topic | Timestamp | |------------------------- |--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------| | Pop culture intro | Red Solo Cup song, US party culture | 01:05 – 03:11 | | The problem of shared cups | Communal tin dippers, germ theory, beginning of disposable cups | 08:21 – 14:41 | | The Dixie cup | Origin story, public health push, legislative milestones | 14:41 – 18:53 | | “Dixie” name origin | Marketing savvy, southern connotations, doll company connection | 22:02 – 24:51 | | Solo cup invention | Leo Hulseman, paper cone cups, first “solo” cups | 25:48 – 28:37 | | Solo cup rebranded & red | 1970s plastic cup, choosing the color red, color theory & party symbolism | 29:12 – 33:38 | | Party culture & folklore | Beer pong, Flip Cup, folklore about measuring lines | 34:18 – 36:33 | | Global influence | International use, red Solo cup as Americana | 39:50 – 41:21 | | Technical specs | “18-ounce flush fill,” grips/indentations, plastic recycling issues | 34:57 – 44:58 | | Legacy & philanthropy | Family philanthropy, pop culture tie-ins | 44:58 – 46:44 |

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Recap

The Bizarre Saga of the Red Solo Cup is not just a dive into the history of a disposable party cup, but a lens on shifting attitudes in American society—from communal to individual-use, from skepticism of science to germ-consciousness, from practical invention to cultural phenomenon. Ben and Noel trace its journey from a Boston lawyer’s response to tuberculosis to a red plastic cup with folk-legend properties, now washing up on screens and in cupboards around the world.

Takeaway:
The red Solo cup is more than a beverage holder—it’s a piece of Americana, shaped by public health needs, clever marketing, and the phenomenon of cultural branding. Its story is a reminder that even the most humble objects can have ridiculous, fascinating histories.

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Transcript

[A]

Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartradio. Welcome back to the show, fellow ridiculous historians. Thank you as always, so much for tuning in. Let's hear it for Our super producer, Mr. Max Party America, Premium Williams. There he is.

[B]

I don't understand,

[C]

but I couldn't get a retort of.

[B]

No one was like, trying to give me space. I can't wrap my head around that one.

[A]

That's none other than the legendary Mr. Noel Brown in his own mind. Yes, yes, they call me Ben Bullen. You're legendary in my mind as well.

[B]

Same and my heart.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. Hey, guys, when's the last time you had a solo cup?

[B]

You mean like a cup by myself?

[A]

Ah, that's a great question, Noel. We're specifically talking about those plastic red cups with the weird indentations.

[B]

You know, it's funny, Ben, it's been a minute. I don't really see those pop up as much. But you know what I always think of. And I'm not a fan of modern country and western music per se, but there's red solo cup. I fill you up. Let's have a party. It became a bit of a. Like a pop cultural touchstone for the redneck class.

[A]

This is the thing.

[B]

I don't mean it in any pejorative sense. I think they would gladly accept that term in the country music world and embrace it.

[A]

And I will argue that Toby Keith is somewhat of a bankrupt artist.

[B]

Is that who does that song?

[A]

Yes, it is the guy who does that song. And we'll share more of the lyrics as well.

[B]

The Internet calls it a novelty country song.

[A]

Yes. And Mr. Keith himself also in an interview called it the worst song he had ever heard.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. It reminds me of. Wow. It's funny. At least he owns it. It reminds me of a song by the Zach Brown man that goes just a little chicken fry, cold beer on a Friday night, a pair of pants that fits just right.

[A]

It also, yeah, I agree with you. It feels very American, such that it reminds me of the Alan Jackson song where they're like way down yonder on the Chattahooch. Never knew how much I've been went to.

[B]

It's that muddy water. How much that muddy water to me learn how to swim and learn a lot about living and a little bad. What's the second thing you learned how to do to swim?

[A]

He learned. I learned how to swim and I learned who I was. Who I was living in a little batlust.

[B]

See, I was picturing it sort of like the mud skipper emerging from the water and swimming and then immediately sprouting legs, evolutionarily speaking down on the Chattahooch.

[A]

So if you are so pardon our very specific references here, folks. This is not just for our American ridiculous historians in the crowd. But yeah, hey, right on, brother. But if you are from the United States or have spent some time in this country, you are going to recognize this bad boy, the humble red Solo cup, instantly.

[B]

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[A]

They're at cookouts, they're at picnics, they're at house parties, they're at college campuses. Noel, back when our pal Max used to work at the hospitality, beverage, entertainment industry, you would give people plastic cups if you knew they would break a glass.

[C]

We actually had all of our rocks glasses for a very, very, very long time were just plastic rocks glasses. It took a very large, concerted effort to actually switch them to real glass, like, many years later. But we also were known for being a place that would involve some fights and a little bit of vomit.

[B]

Yeah. Yes, of course.

[A]

Learn how to live and you learn who you was. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

What about living in a little vomit, Guys? Ben, by the way, research associate extraordinaire on this particular topic. I grew up in the shadow of a Dixie cup factory in my hometown of Augusta, Georgia, where the building, the facade of the building looks like a giant cup.

[A]

Amazing. Phenomenal.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think there's Dixie, you know, down in Dixie. Dixie plays into this.

[A]

Yes, very much so, Noel, you're correct. The solo cup that you are going to see in film and fiction and television shows today, it's ubiquitous. It's cheap, it's disposable. It's pretty bad for the environment. It is super convenient. It's one of those inventions we take for granted. I remember a few episodes ago, we were talking about how we all took cups for granted, but we have to remember that somebody at some point in history looked at water and said, what if I could take this somewhere?

[B]

Ooh, a vessel, perhaps. Right, right.

[A]

We were so impressed.

[B]

What if it didn't leak? Right?

[A]

What if it was not a sieve? Why are we dedicating an entire episode to solo cups today? It's because there is more to these cups than meets the eye. The red solo cup in particular, and it is a brand name owned by a place called the Dark Corporation. Now it has become this ambassador for American culture. It's celebrated, or venerated, if we want to use that word, across the planet. How do we get there? We got to start the beginning. You absolutely nailed it, Noel. It really starts with Dixie cups.

[B]

So, to your point, Ben, about, you know, glassware versus disposable cups? We take for granted that there was a time where disposable cups just weren't a thing, dude.

[A]

Not even individual cups.

[B]

Maybe at the dentist, you know, where you'd spit into something or like those tiny cups you'd see at the water cooler, but it wasn't as much of A ubiquitous thing at barbecues, people would have like plastic, stacky, reusable cups or glassware.

[A]

Way before this, man. This is one of the first ridiculous facts of the day of this episode. Individual cups, folks, were not always a thing. It wasn't until the early 20th century that people in the United States figured out cups for yourselves. It was commonplace for the public to use communal cups. They called them tin dippers. So instead of a water fountain at your railway station or a public building, there would be a barrel of standing water and there would be a little tin thing that looks like kind of a ladle. A ladle, yeah, exactly.

[B]

I've certainly seen that depicted in, I want to say Deadwood, another. Those kinds of shows. But yeah, I mean, you would literally just scoop yourself up a swig and guzzle it down. It's a lot like what is perpetual stew.

[A]

Yes. Oh, distressingly so, man. Because this was before had to become

[B]

a cesspool for all the germs.

[A]

It was before the invention of the water fountains you'll see in schools and hospitals today, which people still call dirty. This stuff, this communal cup idea of was cheap to manufacture, but it was a disaster for public health because think about it, all it takes is one thirsty guy with a communicable disease to hit that little tin dipper.

[B]

Their mouths are gross even in the best of circumstances, communicable diseases aside.

[A]

Yeah. All it took was one thirsty person. And everybody after that person who hit up that communal tin dipper was going to be exposed to all sorts of nasty conditions. The boffins of the day, like the biologists, the public health folks, they embraced what we know as germ theory. By the 1890s, they said, yeah, this is real. The things that are too small for your eye to see can transmit between you. They can kill you. Microscopic organisms, bacteria, virus. But similar to the COVID pandemic, which continues today, most Americans in the late 1800s, early 1900s, they still fought against the idea. They were like, who are these nerds? If I can't see it, if I can't smell it, why would it make me sick?

[B]

Get out of here, pencil neck.

[A]

Egghead. Get out of here. And this is where we have onto the stage of history, strolling two brothers in law, Lawrence Llewellyn and Hugh Moore. That's his real name. I have to note this because, you know, I love a dumb joke. Noel Hugh Moore. M O O R E. But Hugh Moore, that's his real name.

[B]

Was he a funny guy, do you think?

[A]

I hope so.

[B]

Was He a fun guy?

[A]

I hope so. His brother in law, Laurence was a lawyer in Boston. And one of Lawrence's clients was this physician. And this physician came up and asked the same thing that you were talking about earlier. He said, look, I got a lot of tuberculosis patients. I need easily disposable cups so I can test their fluids. Or sputum. Jesus.

[B]

Yeah, man, sputum. That's sort of like the froth that is ejected from one's lips when speaking a little too robustly.

[A]

Yeah. Shout out to Doc Holliday. Right. So our buddy, who is again an attorney in Boston, he creates this small pleated wax coated paper cup. And then he further comes up with this idea of or cups up with this idea of a vending machine. So you put a penny in this awkward looking porcelain device, it will dispense a cup made of wax coated paper filled with cold water. This is the ancestor of the modern Dixie Cup.

[B]

Well, yeah. And again those little mouthwash cups, the little dentist cups that we remember from our childhood. Wax coated. I remember that distinct tactile sensation of a waxy cup. I even remember scratching on them, making little etchings or what. It doesn't seem like those are nearly as popular anymore. You don't see the waxy cups as much maybe in a water cooler. But even nowadays you see more little plastic ridged cups in the water dispenser in an office or like a waiting room.

[A]

Yeah. And okay, so this guy's brother in law, Hugh Moore, never a not funny name. Sorry about history there, bud. But he was. This guy is a pretty smart dude. He had actually moved into the neighborhood in Boston to go to Harvard. But as soon as he learned about this cup idea, he dropped out of one of the best schools in the nation to help with this business. And he got into politics. He joined the progressive movement at the time to abolish tin dippers.

[B]

What a cause. I think we can all support that. No more tin dippers. It's fun to see.

[A]

No more share cups. But also little self interest.

[B]

I mean, absolutely. He was lobbying.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I mean he had a business plan that would directly benefit from the abolition of the tin dipper. But it also happened to align with the greater good.

[A]

Yes. Happened to is the perfect phrase. It's 1908 and the brothers in law, they incorporate something they call the American Water Supply Company of New England. And their whole business is creating, installing and servicing these vending machines that will give you a paper cup of water for one penny.

[B]

One single penny. Writing for canals, historian Martha Capwell Fox put it this way. The same year, a Lafayette College biology professor, Alvin Davison, published Death in School Drinking Cups. The lurid title was understated compared to the results of his study of illness in Eastern school children as a result of common cup hyphenated contamination. Ccc. Yeah, yeah. She goes on paraphrasing here. He found, Davison, that classroom cups were absolutely riddled, as you like to say, Ben, with germs causing everything from colds and flus to more serious conditions that didn't even have vaccinations. I believe at the time, things like chickenpox and diphtheria. I mean, we already know that schools, especially elementary and middle, are already breeding grounds for these kinds of illnesses, let alone introducing shared spit troughs into the equation.

[A]

Yeah, it reminds me of how every year, without fail, one of my friend's children will get hoof and mouth disease. Foot and mouth disease. Like, why is that a thing? This guy that we're.

[C]

Hoof and mouth disease is not a thing with humans, but foot mouth definitely is.

[A]

That's the one we're looking for.

[C]

And the real name of it is coxsackievirus.

[B]

Who's that creeping out of your phone? It's Max. And he dropped the knowledge just for you. So good. There he goes. Max gave you his facts. All right, Watch your mouth.

[A]

Right? So most children, human children, do not have hooves. We have confirmed it here for the first time. This guy, this professor, Alvin Davidson, found that, look, there is a problem. He went to various public health institutions, various political outfits, and said, you know what's really smart? This guy Llewellyn has invented a vending machine with disposable paper cups. And so state after state begins passing laws that ban those shared cups, those tin dippers. And railroads start saying, hey, if we want to look fancy, we're going to put something like this in our passenger cars. We'll have a closed tank of water in each car. These guys are blowing up, dude. This is like when podcast became a thing. It's 1909. The guys have to move past Boston, and they move their operation to New York City, where they eventually get New

[B]

York City, but also the most clever name for any company ever, I have to say. The Individual Drinking Cup Company. That's almost as good as the Boring company, right?

[A]

Individual Drinking Cup Company of New York.

[B]

We needed to know where they were headquartered, right?

[A]

They had to put it in the name, apparently. And their business skyrockets. A few years later, they're selling something they're calling the Health cup with a K. And they make a lot of money during the influenza epidemic of 1918. But they're still not called Dixie Cups. So riddle us this, Noel. How did they become called Dixie cups? Guys, we live in the beautiful southeastern part of the United States and every time spring comes we get a lot of pollen, get a lot of flowers, we get a lot of bugs.

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[B]

It's kind of weird, man. I didn't know this at all, but Mr. Moore had the idea that the term Dixie might be a positive association to make with the cup because of the Civil War and the Dixie dollar, it was a type of currency that was used. They called it the. What is it? The French Dicks.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. French word for Ted.

[B]

Uh huh. Okay. I wish I wasn't Dixie. Hooray, hooray, Dixieland. I don't know about all that, guys, but at the time it seemed like it was gonna hit. But unfortunately there was already a doll company. Yeah, that's right. Like dolls, like Cupid dolls, but you know, not that brand that bore the name Dixie. The Dixie Doll Company, of course. And so he asked the doll maker laureate there if he could borrow the business name Dixie and use it as a marketing tool because he figured that adding that very popular and zeitgeisty name word to it was going to convey a sense of reliability. Kind of funny because no one really talks about the Dixie buck anymore. But I guess at the time it made sense it would read as like, oh, this is an old trustee. That's gonna get us through the hard times.

[A]

Yeah, it's kind of like naming your disposable cup Old Reliable because just so

[B]

they should have put that in the name of the company.

[A]

They should have. Maybe they didn't have the space to print it.

[B]

The Old Reliable Dixie Cup Company of New York.

[A]

Oh wow, perfect. Yeah. The French issued a currency in Louisiana or was French language prior to the Civil War. So it's a weird thing for our buddy Hugh Moore to seek out. It is out of the box thinking this is just what the company needed. Their reputation as a Dixie cup grows over time and they get this huge boost when Soda fountains throughout the United States introduce their own vending machines, kind of automatic machines that can fill a cup with two flavors of ice cream at the same time. Nice, nice. Right, Forward to the future.

[B]

Holy cow. Like a squirrel.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Just so we're not at Neapolitan just yet, but we're on the way.

[B]

This is also quite soft, sir Serve.

[A]

It's not. I believe you're correct.

[B]

You know what you should do? We should do a history of soft serve. Because there's a lot of interesting technology and cultural significance in soft serve. You know that really popular thing in Japan, there's like a whole milk based soft serve that people are screaming about. It finally made its way over here. I would love to know about all of those things.

[A]

We should do it. That's an excellent idea, Noel. We also know that there was a new kind of cup that came along with all these new ice cream machines. It is called the Ice Cream Dixie. It's still the same cup and the Dixie brand is around today. But this is not answering our question about the solo cup. So while the Dixie company or while this paper cup manufacturing company is blowing up, there is a guy who works there named Leo. Yeah, yeah. This is our solo cup guy.

[B]

By the way, Ben, there's apparently even a historical debate on who invented soft serve. So we've got to do it.

[A]

We have to do it.

[B]

There's a lot of science behind it. Sorry, just putting that out there. It's between Tom Carvel and Dairy Queen. The big beef, the soft serve beef. So we'll get to that in a future episode.

[A]

Feels real Pepsi versus Coke.

[B]

It really does. So as you said, Ben, we've got Leo Holzman Holtzman entering the chat. 1936, he ventured out on his own and founded the another brilliantly descriptively named paper Container Manufacturing Company. Not of Chicago. It wasn't in the name, but it was in Chicago. And by this point, a lot of folks were trying to get into the old paper cup game because it was boom time for the paper cup.

[A]

Yeah, again, like podcasts. During the pandemic, public opinion grew increasingly on board with germ theory. Paper cups are a huge business and their business is often supported by the medical community and politicians. So what we're saying here is if there was ever a tin dipper communal cup lobby, they were done for. At this point. Holzman's Paper Container Manufacturing Company. Again, weird name. I agree with you there. They created a signature item. It was not ready, it was not round, it was a cone. So very Familiar to the kind of cone paper you might see at a dentist office. Right?

[B]

That's right, Ben, you really nailed it. Because I wasn't even hearkening back that far. But that's certainly. You're triggering a core memory for me. Because the earlier days were a comb. But problem there is you can't set a cone down.

[A]

No. You just throw it away. Right. It's a paper cone for a limited time. It was also.

[B]

That's kind of a feature, not a bug, isn't it? You don't want people setting them down. You want them drinking it once and then tossing it. Because it was a built in safeguard from maybe somebody accidentally sharing it.

[A]

Yeah, because you can't put it on the table. God forbid there be some sketchy dude who rocks up and sees a paper cup of unidentified liquid and says, is that tuberculosis spit or is that what, Typhoid Mary over.

[B]

Right. But you know what's funny, Ben? Those paper cones did still get some use at places like diners, who invented these little. Little cone holder things. So you'd have a cone full of, say, French fries or even a malt.

[A]

Oh, right.

[B]

And it would be in one of these paper cones. And then the cone would go in these weird little, little, what do you call it? Caddies, kind of, you know.

[A]

Okay, yeah. Kind of defeats the purpose a little bit. Yeah.

[B]

But there must have been a reason. That's a. Maybe that's a discussion for another day.

[A]

It's a good way to serve fries. Also, we have to emphasize that these little guys, these cone cups, they were called solo cups first meaning cups you don't have to share with strangers.

[B]

Just for you.

[A]

Just for you. This solo cup, solo dolo hand. Solo you. And so Solo went on to make other innovations. They made disposable coffee cups. They made the cups that you will see in movie theaters, fast food restaurants. So if you go to a theater and you get a medium soda, or you go to a fast food place and you order a drink with your combo meal, you'll see that the inner and outer lining is waxed. That's the Solo cup guys, they're the ones who figured that out.

[B]

But it wasn't until the 1970s that Leo's son, Robert, Leo Huelsman, decided to do a little bit of rebranding. Because, you know, when we think of the Solo cup, we always think of the quintessentially fire engine red version. Kim Healy, who was the VP of consumer business for Solo in 2011, actually admits that the history might be considered A little bit sketchy, a little bit of a gray area. However, the company does maintain. We know we were one of the first to introduce a party cup, so making it red was just making it fun. It's a fun cup.

[A]

A party cup. That sounds so crazy.

[B]

Let's have a party.

[A]

We've been in a lot of situations, folks, the three of us, over the years, and we have walked into places where someone says, oh, do you have your badge? Do you have your bracelet? Or whatever, here's your party cup. We've been in those situations.

[B]

Well, the funny thing about these. These cups as well, Ben, is they're practically. I mean, are you not supposed to dishwash them? I feel like they're not gonna melt if you.

[A]

They're top dishwasher, top rack.

[B]

Exactly, they're top rack. So, I mean, it's sort of like they're becoming less disposable at this point, but it's more a product of consumerism that they're still considered disposable. It's interesting. Interesting. It's just sort of a cheap plastic cup that is fun looking.

[A]

Right. Steve Stevenson, writing for slate back in 2011, describes it as the Sherman Tank of disposable mealware. It is made of a thick, molded, specific type of polystyrene. And it gets. Let's just give you the point.

[B]

Oh, he's good. This is good writing.

[A]

Okay. So he says the Sulu Party cup could be squeezed in meaty frat guy paws and could be dropped to the ground by tipsy high school cheerleaders and mercilessly battered by flip cup contestants, all the while maintaining shape and functionality. It was stiffer and more resilient than competitor party cups like Dixie's. Just squeeze it, throw it, drop it it, flip it, bop it, et cetera. The solo cup.

[B]

And it's so funny because it's just as simple as, like, making a cup a color. That was innovation at the time. What if. What if they were a color? Right. And then you just gotta pick one and they went with red. And solo company representatives told Slate that the red cups make up about 60% of solo party cup sales to this day, with a distantly second blue cups as the runner up. Right.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And they've tested over and over again, but no matter what colors or designs they try, it just seems like the red solo cup just really stuck.

[A]

That's the thing. Yeah. I mean, you can see blue cups, as you said, yellow cups. I've seen some green ones in the same design, maybe. Why red? Maybe it's because it is the expected color. At this point, I was thinking people are creatures of habit, right? And tradition and legacy. So maybe, for example, we could imagine how off putting it would be to walk through your favorite store and you see your usual can of Coca Cola, but it's blue. Or you see your usual can of Pepsi, but it's red. You know, you wouldn't trust it.

[B]

No, no. That's why I like. I mean, sometimes brand recognition is more important than the quality of the product.

[C]

Product.

[A]

Quite often, actually. There's also this color theory argument. We've talked about this a little bit in the past. The argument of color theory proposes that there are certain hues or certain colors that incite immediate primal reactions in human psychology. So red in color theory would signify the ideas of things like high energy or passion or emotional intensity. Yes. And red. Yeah. And blue is more tranquility and depth or consideration or thought.

[B]

And I believe they say that yellow makes you hungry. So combining red for that excitement and yellow for hunger makes a whole lot of sense for the golden arches.

[A]

That's a great point. Yeah. And also yellow in large amounts can apparently make people panic a little. So that's why he always felt weird in a yellow kitchen.

[B]

Folks.

[A]

Apollo gets it.

[B]

Apollo gets it.

[A]

So perhaps if color theory holds a red colored cup just feels psychologically somehow more correct for your next frat rager. You know what I mean?

[B]

It's those associations, man. And I mean, like when I think of beer pong, which I've never in my life participated in, I think of red solo cups. And they even sell little small versions that are specifically for shots or for those kind of games.

[A]

We both spent a lot of time in Athens, Georgia.

[B]

You know what's funny? I never went to fraternity. I was never in a college that had fraternities. I never went to frat parties when I was actually of college age. But when I moved to Athens as a adult, I had some younger friends who invited me to these frat parties that I went to more as sociological experiments. And man, red solo cups were everywhere.

[A]

Yes, debrie Gour. Yeah, Solo keg cups in particular. They hold more liquid than competing cups. They have an 18 ounce flush fill, the company calls it, as opposed to the 16 ounce fill offered by their competitors. So let's exercise empathy. If we're a college kid with a perishing thirst and not much in the way of cash, the big cups maximize the amount of cheap beer you can scarf at a single time, which is why they're at every Party.

[B]

And they're grippy.

[A]

And they're grippy. Yeah.

[B]

For pounding it back. For knocking them back, as they say.

[A]

Yeah, they evolved. Now, the current cup model has four grips, one on each side, four indentations,

[B]

which is funny though, because they still, to the naked eye appearance round. They're not like square cups, but they have these edges. It's a pretty clever design, if I'm being honest.

[A]

Yeah, it's a very clever design. The earlier versions had ridges that people made folklore about. Like the red cup has become folklore. The idea was you could measure liquid, you could even if you needed to mix cocktails based on the ridges, the horizontal ridges in the solo cup. And there are some substance abuse educators that even say college students should use the lines in the solo cup to monitor how much alcohol they are ingesting. Pretty weird.

[B]

Good luck getting them to do that, right,

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We do. And it gets a little hot and humid out there. And so you do end up having bugs kind of seeking cooler climbs and then often involves climbing under your door. In my case, it was an ants at a picnic situation. But thankfully, I was able to knock those ants out of the frame using Pesti.

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[A]

But this is not the end of the story as we teased and Noel, I think you did a beautiful job in this. In particular as we teased, the United States is more than just home to the solo cups. It's also home to one of the world's largest, most successful entertainment industries. It's been one of Uncle Sam's largest exports post World War II up there with the arms trade and the defense industry. So if you are European or Australian, South America, if you are, heck a person from anywhere but the United States, you will see so many films and TV shows that feature red solo cups at every party. This became more than a product, it became a symbol. Like when I can't remember the last time you were in Europe. The last time I was in Europe I did go to an American party. They had solo cups as a themed prop and weirdly a lot of peanut butter.

[B]

You know there's this arcade that I love to go to called Round One that specializes in a Lot of kind of more obscure Japanese cabinet games and rhythm games. And there is a Japanese game that is a beer pong simulator that absolutely has red solo cups, but not actually branded. It's just, that's the look because that is how they see us.

[A]

That's the folklore, you know. And it's weird because a lot of people might try travel to the US and look for low cost souvenirs instead of partying and chucking the cups in the trash the way so many people in the States do. Folks in Europe wash them, put them in the top rack of the dishwasher and then reuse them. This does not seem to be the result of a conspiracy. Does not seem to be the result of a backroom deal or some crazy awesome Bernays level PR campaign. These cups are cheap, handy, convenient, ubiquitous. Now they're thoroughly American. We even mentioned at the top Toby Keith, who recorded a weirdly addictive homage to the red Solo cup in 2011. So now, for better or worse, this is a piece of Americana. I don't know how it works for everybody in this wide beautiful country of ours, but we do have to debunk this one thing. The lines on the cups, man, I think they're plastic extrusion. And then later the solo cup company went back and said, here we'll publish a guide to how to measure stuff.

[B]

But they do acknowledge that it was arbitrary and that they were sort of just. I kind of give them props for this. You know, the point that you made about how much liquor you should consume, how much wine or how much beer. They say what you've seen in this advertisements, the real understanding of lines on solo cup from the solo company. Not true. Or an original part of solo cup design, but surprisingly accurate.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, they have a, they have a great breakdown of a old school solo cup, the one without the grips. But the one that does have the lines over the cup, they have one picture that says 12 ounces of beer. That's the. Oh gosh, help me out here.

[B]

Third line down, there's a double line around the ridge and then there's two big lines. So it would be. The second big line would be like,

[A]

okay, that'd be your, that'd be your

[B]

fill line for around 12 ounces of beer.

[A]

Okay. And then five ounces, they have lower wine. They have one ounce for liquor. But then they go to the next picture and they have the same beer line, 12 ounces. And they say this is the amount of water you should drink five times a day. Yeah.

[B]

And then seven ounces for cereal. Standard serving of cereal, and then one ounce. I love this because it's the same as like a shot of liquor. So, you know, if you. If you're out of liquor and you want to just pound some mouthwash, it's the same amount.

[A]

Jesus H. Sorry, Hubert Christ. Wow.

[B]

A pretty solid amount of mouthwash each morning. Do not drink it. I was just joking.

[A]

And they also give you other things, like five ounces. A perfect amount of juice for kids. One ounce. This is how much chocolate syrup you need to make chocolate milk. Look, these folks are selling cups.

[B]

No doubt they are. And doing a fine job of it. Yeah.

[A]

And we do know that obviously this kind of mass production can be controversial because these cups are made from number six, thermoplastic polystyrene. It is moldable, it is ductile, it's very cheap to make it, but it is also very difficult to recycle it.

[B]

And it's inside of all of our

[A]

bodies and all your bits. And these profits from the solo cup, we're happy to report, have helped make the world a better place in other ways. The guy you mentioned earlier, Noel Huelsman Sr. Was super big on philanthropy. He donated a ton of his money to Catholic education, to anti poverty initiatives and religious communities. I don't know. I didn't know that you never played Flip Cup.

[B]

Well, I played the game at the arcade.

[A]

Ha. Yes. Well, okay.

[B]

Good for anyone that doesn't know, though, Ben. Oh, sorry. Flip cup's different. I played the beer pong simulator. For anyone that doesn't know, myself included, I don't think I know what Flip cup is is.

[A]

Flip cup is where you have to take a standing cup and then flip it perfectly upside down. Oh.

[B]

Kind of like a bottle flip, right?

[A]

Yeah, just so on a horizontal surface.

[B]

And at which point you're punished or rewarded by having to take a drink,

[C]

chug the beer, and then you put it down, you have to flip it.

[A]

Yeah. And if you flinch, you have to marry your mother in law.

[B]

Got it. Yeah, it's a. It's a. It's a reference to. I think you should leave.

[A]

We're a lot of fun at parties, Max. How do we do?

[B]

We have a car with steering wheel. It doesn't fly off. Fly out your hands when you turn it. I don't remember how it goes.

[A]

Look at him. He admits it. So thank you so much for tuning in, fellow ridiculous historians. We had a great time with this one. We hope you tune in as we continue to explore the ridiculous history of potatoes. Uh, Max, You've got some background on this. How'd we do overall with red solo cups?

[C]

You did. You did them well. You served them well. I will say that.

[B]

Well, they've served us well.

[A]

You know, big thanks to our super producer, Mr. Max Williams. Big thanks to Alex Williams, who composed this slap and bop. Big thanks to everybody who is playing Flip cup tonight right now. Noel, who else?

[B]

Well, first of all, drink responsibly when playing flip cup or beer pong or, you know, attending frat parties. Gosh. Who else? You know, who we heard from today via email. Our buddy, the puzzler, AJ Bahamas Jacobs. I think we're gonna get him to come back around real soon. Jonathan Strickland, AKA the Quister, who we did not hear from today.

[A]

And big thanks, of course, to our returning friend of the show, Jordan Runto. Check him out. Very soon we're going to be getting weird with Elvis. Big thanks to the rude dudes over at Ridiculous Crime. If you dug our story about Dali and Rikers island, you will love these folks. So hi thee to a podcast platform of your choice. Check them out and you know what? I'll say it. We can prank them a little bit. Nolan Mack, Just write to them and challenge them to a game of Flip Cup.

[B]

Yeah. And Ben, thanks to you for the research on this one. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[A]

Oh, man. Same thanks.

[B]

Heck, yeah. We'll see you next time, folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite show.

[D]

Owning a home is full of surprises. Some wonderful, some not so much. And when something breaks, it can feel like the whole day unravels. That's why HomeServe exists. For as little as 4.99amonth, you'll always have someone to call a trusted professional ready to help, bringing peace of mind to four and a half million homeowners nationwide. For plans starting at just 4.99amonth, go to HomeServe.com that's HomeServe.com not available everywhere. Most plans range between $4.99 to $11.99 a month. Your first year terms apply on covered repairs.

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Hey, everyone, it's Kalpen. I'm inviting you to join the best sounding book club you've ever heard with my podcast, Hearsay, The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club. Every episode, I nerd out with amazing guests and dive into the best new audiobooks available on Audible. It's the book club for your ears. Listen to ears, The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm U.S. transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. The sound of a Seatbelt it's one of the most important sounds in our car.

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