Jelly Roll No. 2, "Timely Tips for Bakers"

"Baltimore's rapid industrial progress is being reflected in growth of population... Allowing this city an annual increase of 16,500 the 800,000 mark will be passed during 1924. Apparently the 1,000,000 mark will be reached at the time of the next census in 1930." — George C. Smith, director of the Baltimore Board of Trade's Industrial Bureau, to the Evening Sun in May 1923

At first glance, “Timely Tips for Bakers” looks like any other corporate cookbook aimed at housewives. On the front of the tall thin brochure-sized booklet, a uniformed man holds up a perfect layer cake. The first page features a photograph of the headquarters of “The International Company,” producers of ingredients like “Velvet Egg” and “Eggrowhite” powdered egg products, Sunrise Baking Powder, and “Mex-Val-Ol” vanilla flavoring. Recipes, of course, can be found within.

On closer inspection the recipes call for two and three pounds of flour at a time for cakes and cookies. When I baked the recipe for this post, for “Jelly Roll No. 2,” I had to get out a calculator.

The ample text in the cookbook, most of which extols the benefits of the International Company’s product offerings, also contains some information about the School of Commercial Cake Baking, an experimental bakery where professional bakers from around the country were encouraged to visit to receive instruction in the latest technology and best techniques of cake baking. Presumably, the bakers were encouraged to familiarize themselves with the company’s product line.

In other words, “Timely Tips for Bakers” is meant literally. This is not a book full of tempting cakes for church suppers.

The International Company Headquarters at Lombard and Commerce Streets

The origins of “The International Company” lie with the Pitt Brothers company, started by Pembroke W. & Clarence M. Pitt in the 19th century. The brothers were grain merchants. Business went on quietly for a few decades. On November 4th, 1911, the Sun announced “GRAIN FIRM FAILS.” Failure is a rather generous way of stating it. The story went on to say that Pembroke W. Pitt had forged bills of lading in order to defraud local banks of over $500,000. Adjusted for inflation, that is almost fifteen million dollars.

Pembroke Pitt proceeded to leave the city, leaving Clarence confused (or feigning confusion). Debtors attempted to collect money or wheat that they were owed, and the police began a search. The press began ramping up the coverage. As the inquiry continued, a very guilty-seeming Pitt was reported seen in Philadelphia with his mustache shaved off, purchasing a ticket to head south. On the 5th, his wife Nettie was allegedly missing from their Roland Park home. Friends expressed shock that the seemingly frugal and free-of-vice Pembroke Pitt had dug himself such a hole. The search continued.

A few days later, police detective Thomas M. Hogan was sent on Pembroke’s trail. At home, Clarence was expelled from the Chamber of Commerce. The papers salivated at the idea that Pitt could commit suicide if he were cornered by police. They covered the little details they had of Detective Hogan’s “mysterious mission” to track down Pembroke Pitt. By the 12th, the Baltimore Sun reported that “police are still at sea about much-wanted grain man.” The police failure was becoming the story. Hogan returned to Baltimore, claiming to have been on vacation.

On December 5th, Mrs. Pitt returned to Baltimore. Despite having disappeared the prior month around the same time as her husband, Mrs. Pitt now claimed to have no knowledge of his whereabouts or his crimes. She stayed with friends in order to avoid the press frenzy waiting at her home.

On the 10th, rumors circulated that the lights had come on in the Pitt home. A figure was seen moving about in the house – a figure suspected to be Pembroke in women’s clothing. Apparently, Pitt had been involved in theater in his younger days and “made quite a success as a female impersonator,” ie what we would now call a drag queen.

The holidays arrived and the Sun headline read “WHERE IS MR. PITT?” reporting on the growing cost of the police search for him. By the end of the year, some of the defrauded banks offered $100 for information leading to his capture. The estimated amount of funds he had stolen was also significantly reduced to $200,000.

In April 1912, Pitt’s home at 411 Forest Road was reportedly sold.

In May, he was located in Greece. The Sun printed a map of his pursuit, which took police through the Caribbean, across the Atlantic Ocean, and through the strait of Gibraltar. Pitt was arrested in Italy on May 8th.

Pitt was sentenced to five years in prison but was pardoned by Governor Phillips Lee Goldsborough two years later, because Pitt’s family made restitution.

Clarence continued in the business, forming a baking supply company called “C.M. Pitt and Sons,” with his son Clarence B. (1892-1946).

*The Cabell Company endorses an accounting machine in a Baltimore Sun advertisement, 1917*

It’s hard to pick through these companies’ histories, but there was some type of merger with “The Cabell Company”, which had been founded by Frederick Mortimer Cabell (1883-1957). Cabell’s father had been a grain merchant. He is listed in the 1910 census as the manager of a “baking supply” company and in 1930 the manager of a “food products” company. He and his wife Bessie lived at 2834 Maryland Avenue in the Charles Village neighborhood.

A 1918 industry paper referencing the International Company notes that it was “formerly the Cabell Company.” In 1924, the Cabell Company – still named as such- was acquired by the “Joe Lowe Co.,” of New York – then the largest importers of dried egg. Another trade document lists C. M. Pitt & Sons as a subsidiary of the Cabell Company.

A 1916 trade document mentioned many representatives who’d attended a baking convention. Representing the Cabell Co: F. M. Cabell, R. T. Hicks… and the presumably-rehabilitated P. W. Pitt.

I researched many of the different names that came up in relation to these corporations. R.T. Hicks wrote impassioned letters to the Sun defending the baking industry and the high cost of bread.

Chemist William S. Arnold (1897-1965) was also a big player in the Pitt/Cabell/International Company. He worked for the Pitt Company for 40 years, eventually becoming its vice president in 1951.

The gist of the International Company’s contribution to food history is that someone figured out it was cheaper to import dried eggs from China than to purchase fresh eggs domestically. “Timely Tips for Bakers” calls for many of their flavorings and products, but the Velvet Egg seems to really be the driving force.

*International Company ads in industry publications, 1919 and 1925*

In 1920, C. M. Pitt was accused by the government of adulterating one of their products, Eggrowhite. The company countersued for defamation but lost. In 1927 the company’s warehouse at the corner of Exchange Pl and Commerce was conveyed to real-estate broker Walter Pugh.

I assume that was the end of the International Company.

C. M. Pitt & Sons kept right on through the 1960s, producing ice cream products. They were embroiled in a few more government cases involving adulteration in the 1930s. It seems they finally went under in the early 70s, unable to keep up with the big national brands.

In 1925, the year after acquiring the Cabell Company, the New-York-based Joe Lowe Company acquired the Popsicles brand from its inventor, who had been sued by Good Humor for his invention and was broke and dejected. Joe Lowe Company grew the Popsicle brand, and eventually they were acquired by the Good Humor Company in 1989. The Good Humor Company was acquired by Unilever, who also acquired Breyers in 1993 and merged the brands (and, sadly, ruined all the Breyers products – someone should investigate THEM for adulteration.)

This all makes me wonder if the influence of chemist William S. Arnold, working for the Pitt/Cabell/International Company, isn’t still with us in a way. Maybe that “Eggrowhite” grew into a supply used to make toaster strudels or something. Perhaps “Mex-Val-Ol” is behind the taste of a vanilla wafer. I may never know, and the recipe didn’t get me any closer to knowing.

*“Timely Tips for Bakers,” Sixth Edition*

Although I can’t procure “Velvet Egg” or “Velvet Milk,” I used powdered milk. I attempted to find dried egg, but it turns out that dehydrated egg is kind of expensive. I had to get out my calculator once again. The resulting jelly roll was, unsurprisingly, a failure. I did my best to redeem it by turning it into more of a jelly layered cake.

Pembroke’s journey around the world, and the newspaper’s enthralled coverage of it is only tangential to the International Company, but I had too much fun reading about it to not write about it. It’s a reminder that behind the rise and fall of Baltimore’s industrial age, there were people with stories. People whose financial ambitions changed the way we eat. Some may have had epic falls from grace. Most just retired quietly and left their eponymous companies to be merged into a Unilever oblivion.