There was never a real Aunt Jemima but there was an impersonator!

Chris Rutt came up with the pancake mix in the 1880s and was looking
for a gimmick to sell it. Rutt saw a minstrel show with a fellow
impersonating a black southern cook. The person was dancing to a
song called “Aunt Jemima”. He took the name and hired a woman named
Nancy Green to impersonate Aunt Jemima. Green played that roll until
her death at age 89 in 1923.

There was never a real Betty Crocker. Her name was created to
answer letters with baking questions that women sent to General
Mills (then called Washburn Crosby Co.). Later, her image was
created from different features of various women that worked in
the baking department.

There was a Betty Crocker voice on the radio during the 1930s and
during the war in the 1940s.

The interesting thing about the Betty Crocker image was that it
was constantly updated, and she got younger in each rendition.

There was a real Duncan Hines. He wrote a book in the 1930s about
restaurants on American Highways and the book was a big success.
Restaurants sought out the prized sign “Recommended by Ducan Hines.”

He was such a hit and so well respected that he teamed up with Roy
Park to form the Hines-Park Food, Inc. Because the Hines name was
so respected, their cake mix grabbed 48% of the market in only 3
weeks.