Richmond 'convinced' Springfield artist had hand in creating Pillsbury Doughboy

Chris Richmond said he is "convinced" that the Pillsbury Doughboy mascot likely began with Springfield artist Wynn T. Wilkins, a former supervisor at the mill on the city's north end.

Richmond, the founder and president of the non-profit that owns the 18-acre site of the former Pillsbury Mills, plant discovered in December what he thinks was an early model for the Poppin' Fresh Doughboy, which has starred in over 600 commercials for 50 Pillsbury products.

Richmond said Wednesday he has talked to family members of Wilkins, who was reported to have originated the "Bicep Doughboy" image, the one Richmond found on a control panel in the bakery mix building.

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That image shows the Doughboy wearing the familiar chef's hat and scarf.

Wilkins, professionally known as "Wilky," worked as a graphic designer at Pillsbury before leaving the company in the early 1960s. He died in Springfield in 2010.

General Mills, which owns Pillsbury, credits the Leo Burnett advertising agency in Chicago with coming up with the idea for the brand mascot, known for saying "Hoo! Hoo!" when its stomach was poked, in 1965.

While he continues to do research and interviews, Richmond said the story is "plausible and compelling" that the image was created well before 1965.

Richmond, who will speak at a Citizens Club breakfast at the Hoogland Center for the Arts on Friday, said he also has talked to former Pillsbury employees in Springfield who said Wilkins made drawings that hung up around the plant until the 1970s.

"People around the plant got to love these sketches Wilkins made," Richmond said.

Though he hasn't found "a smoking gun," a drawing of the Doughboy with Wilkins' signature attached to it, family members were going through Wilkins' belongings to see if such a sketch exists, Richmond said.

The model for the Doughboy was reportedly Wilkins' best friend, Jim "Jaws" Shrake, who worked with Wilkins at Pillsbury starting as teenagers in the early 1940s. Both served in the U.S. Navy, which Richmond thinks accounts for the origin of the Doughboy's scarf.

Shrake died in 1999. Both are buried at Camp Butler National Cemetery in Springfield.

Richmond said he has talked to Shrake's children to round out the story.

Representatives from General Mills and Leo Burnett didn't immediately respond to inquiries from The State Journal-Register seeking further comment.

Springfield plant employees were known as "Doughboys" even in the 1930s and 1940s, Richmond added. Pillsbury sponsored bowling, baseball, and softball teams touting the "Doughboy" moniker.

The bicep-flexing Doughboy could be likened to Rosie the Riveter, who was associated with female defense workers during World War II, Richmond said. That imagery would have been familiar to post-war Springfield, he added, and both Wilkins and Shrake were war veterans.

Richmond said other images of Doughboys could be dotted around the former mill, which shuttered in 2001. Richmond has secured the panel where the line drawing was found.

Moving Pillsbury Forward has hired a local patent and trademark attorney to assess the situation and research the mascot. That attorney also would be responsible for dealing with General Mills and Leo Burnett, Richmond said.

"This is really exciting stuff, having a strong case be made that the originator of the Doughboy is a Springfield Pillsbury worker rather than the 50-plus year narrative from the Leo Burnett ad agency," Richmond said. "It's pure Americana."

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Springfield man may have hand in creating Pillsbury Doughboy