The Gold Dust Twins, the trademark for Fairbank's Gold Dust Washing Powder products, appeared in printed media as early as 1892. "Goldie" and "Dusty", the original Gold Dust Twins, were often shown doing household chores together. In general use since, the term has had popular use as a nickname on several occasions. The sobriquet, "Gold Dust Twins," is often used to describe two talented individuals working closely together for a common goal, especially in sports.
The Gold Dust Twins, 'Goldie' and 'Dustie', were the 'faces' of the Fairbank's Gold Dust Washing product lines. The original version of the twins was a drawing of two young black children cleaning up together in a washtub. On the original containers, they are simply pictured standing side-by-side behind a mound of gold coins, under an arch reading "Fairbank's" and over the "Gold Dust Washing Powder" text. By 1900, the twins had been transformed into a cartoonish pair of caricature, bald, black children of unspecified gender shown wearing tutus emblazoned with the words "Gold" and "Dust". On product containers and in advertisements, they were often comically depicted, along with a huge stack of dishes in a washtub, with one twin cleaning, the other drying. The twins became icons following a 1903 national marketing campaign, with the slogan "Let the Twins Do Your Work". They became an easily recognizable trademark found in many, if not most, U.S. homes during the first half of the twentieth century. The Gold Dust Twins were drawn by E.W. Kemble, then a staff artist for the Chicago Daily Graphic. Ed Baker and his brother Taft Baker, African Americans, performed around Chicago Illinois and other areas in the 1900s for Barnes Careuthers, they were known as the Gold Dust twins.. The Twins were featured in print, billboard, specialty advertising and radio advertisements for over sixty years. "The Gold Dust Twins" was the name of a popular radio program which was first broadcast nationally in the US in 1929. Starring Harvey Hindemeyer and Earle Tuckerman as "Goldy" and "Dusty", respectively, the show was sponsored by Lever Brothers and Gold Dust Washing Powder. An early example of product tie-ins, the Gold Dust's advertising jingle became the show's theme song. The products were phased out by the mid-1950s, as national sensibilities began to change. The Twins appear in the 2004 release, ', an alternate-reality British documentary about American life after the Confederates had won the American Civil War. A recreation of a "Gold Dust Twins" commercial, featuring purposely outrageous racial stereotypes, is shown as part of the mockumentary''.'
Use as a nickname
Historically, the "Gold Dust Twins" nickname has been used to describe two individuals working closely together for a common goal, including:
Tim Moore, along with his stage-partners, Romeo Washburn and Cora Miskel, performed as part of the trio, "Cora and Her Gold Dust Twins," on the vaudeville circuit in the midwestern and the northeastern United States following the national popularization of the icons.
There is a set of ham radio equipment made by the Collins Radio Company in the 1950s that was nicknamed the "Gold Dust Twins". The 75A-4 receiver and KWS-1 transmitter, together, cost over $2500 when new. Collins products at the time were considered 'top of the line'. Ham radio enthusiasts call the pair "The Gold Dust Twins," as they had not been affordable to most amateur radio enthusiasts when first introduced. Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins is the title of a 1975 comedy road movie; the "Gold Dust Twins" of the title being a pair of female hitchhikers.
