The Good Humor Man was an employee of the Good Humor company. His job was to drive their ice-cream trucks
around and sell their ice cream.
The Good Humor company was one of the first to use ice cream trucks- they first did so in the early 1920s. The
franchise's success was partly due to having a truck parked at film studios and radio stations. The distinctive
vehicles therefore appeared in many movies and were often name-checked on air. The IMDB lists a movie made in 1950
called The Good Humor Man about an ice cream guy who gets embroiled in a web of intrigue. Or something.
The Good Humor Man was known for his pressed white uniform, white cap and bow tie. The company insisted on
extreme courtliness and their employees were required to tip their hats to women and salute men. He appeared on the
cover of a 1947 The New Yorker magazine, after a spate of good deeds in communities across the USA, perhaps
inspired by a stipulation in the company's sales manual to be concerned with customers' safety.
In 1976, the sales fleet was disbanded and many of the distinctive Good Humor trucks were sold to private
individuals and independent ice cream firms.