The secret history of Swedish milk cartons

My Swedish girlfriend’s mother found out that Swedes were not the master race in all things! Then later that night, I dined with a country girl from near Jönköping, who dreamed of singing on Broadway.

by Richard L. Thornton, Architect-City Planner

The morning after graduating from Georgia Tech, I embarked on a 24 hour journey to start a job at the Landskrona City Architect’s Office. I didn’t apply for that fascinating job, but also had covert responsibilities, which I couldn’t tell anyone about for 20 years.

The Swedish Royal Navy was concerned that I might be compromised by a Soviet KGB spy, pretending to be a wholesome Swedish flicka. Britt introduced herself as my official Swedish girlfriend, while I was eating lunch on the rim of the fountain in the photo at left. She was President of the College Division of the Center Political Party, Pro-NATO and very smart.

For the first few weeks, Britt viewed herself only as my tour guide and dating service. She later confessed it was because she thought that she would not like any American man. However, her mother had never met an American. Britt and I were invited to have dinner at her mother’s apartment in Malmo, before heading to the Midsommarsfesten Dance at Lund University.

You have to understand that during that era, American tourists were very rare in Sweden. I eventually traveled the whole length of the country, but only saw a few Americans in Stockholm. I am not sure why. In that era, the cost of living in Scandinavia was a little less than in the USA, even though the standard of living was higher in Sweden.

At any rate, her mother, like many Swedes of that era, thought Swedish people were the master race and that everything was more modern in Sweden than elsewhere. Most Swedes, however, then thought that everyone in the USA were like the characters in the movie, “Deliverance” or else, cowboys or Mafia gangsters. Britt didn’t think that, but thought that the US military should get out of Vietnam and concentrate on pulling the fangs from the Soviet Union.

At the dinner table, her mother was bragging about all the technological marvels of Swedish civilization, when she happened to spot a milk carton. She said that until recently, Sweden was the only country in the world that sold milk in cartons, rather than in breakable glass bottles. Now Swedish milk cartons were being sold in Norway, Denmark and Finland!

I picked up the carton and examined it. Dang, if it just didn’t look like the milk cartons back home. Underneath the folded top, opposite the pouring spout were the words . . .

Manufactured by Pure-Pak Corp, Inc. – Atlanta, Georgia USA

The Midsommarsfesten Dance featured a band from Stockholm that I had seen on Swedish TV. They featured music first recorded by the American rock band, Chicago, but also sang Swedish folk songs to a rock beat. Britt was in charge of organizing the dance, but took time out to introduce me to classmates of hers, so I could have fun dancing, too.

Afterward, she invited the band to join us for Midnight Sun dinner at a restaurant on the waterfront in Malmo. The band first went back to their hotel rooms to change into casual clothing then joined us on the waterfront.

Both of the gals were outstanding singers. The brunette came back from the hotel with her hair let down. The blond girl came back wearing pigtails!

The brunette was from Norway and began drinking one glass of booze after another. The blond asked if we could sit at a separate table, so she could practice her English. She wanted to move to the United States and sing on Broadway.

I soon realized why she wore pigtails. I was sitting across from the enchanting flicka, who had worn pigtails, while playing Mary Magdalene in the Swedish version of “Jesus Christ Superstar.” I had fallen in love with Mary Magdalene, without dreaming that I would ever meet her.

This flicka was not quite what I expected her to be. She was not a sophisticated city girl from Stockholm, but was a country girl, who had grown up on a farm near Jönköping (Pronounced “Yon – shopping.”) She quit school at age 16, so she could sing professionally. She had cut some rock records, but most of her income came from singing at dances around Scandinavia.

She had a beautiful voice and a very sweet disposition, but could only talk about music. She had no clue where either the State of Georgia or Atlanta were, but assumed that I lived near New York, since I wasn’t a hick. Nevertheless, she was a very pleasant person to be around.

We saw each other a couple of more times, before it became time for her band to move on to another part of Sweden. I wonder what ever happened to her?

Recognize this young lady . . . three years before she became famous?

Agnetha Fältskog in 1972, singing a song from “Jesus Christ Superstar.”