Phoebe Snow (character)

Phoebe Snow was a fictional character created by Earnest Elmo Calkins to promote the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.

After a long trip on a train hauled by a bituminous coal-fired steam locomotive, travelers would frequently disembark covered with black soot.

To promote this, the Calkins advertising department created, "Phoebe Snow", described as "a young New York socialite, and a frequent passenger of the Lackawanna.

For his new campaign, Calkins adopted a form of verse inspired by an onomatopoetic rhyme, Riding on the Rail, that he felt offered endless possibilities.

[citation needed] As she passed into legend, the Calkins heroine said farewell with the following jingle:[5] On November 15, 1949, the Lackawanna Railroad inaugurated a new streamlined passenger train named after its long-dormant promotional symbol.

[citation needed] The Brandy Alexander, a cocktail containing cognac, crème de cacao and cream, was said to have been created for a dinner celebrating Phoebe Snow.