Editing Acme Corporation (section)

==Origin==
The word Acme comes from the [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|ἀκμή}} ({{Transliteration|grc|akmē}}) meaning {{gloss|summit}}, {{gloss|highest point}}, {{gloss|extremity}}, or {{gloss|peak}}.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=Acme |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acme |access-date=28 July 2017 |website=Merriam-Webster, Inc.}}</ref> It has been claimed to be an acronym, either for "A Company Making Everything", "American Companies Make Everything", or "American Company that Manufactures Everything".<ref>[https://acme.com/what_is_acme/ Acme.com: "What is ACME"?]</ref><ref>[http://mentalfloss.com/article/32268/where-did-looney-tunes-%E2%80%9Cacme-corporation%E2%80%9D-come Mental Floss: "Where did ACME corporation come from?"]</ref> During the 1920s, the word was commonly used in the names of businesses in order to be listed toward the beginning of [[alphabetical order|alphabetized]] telephone directories like the [[Yellow pages|Yellow Pages]], and implied being the best. It is used in an [[irony|ironic]] sense in cartoons, because the products are often failure-prone or explosive.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/03/the-origin-of-the-looney-tunes-acme-name/|title = The Origin of the Looney Tune's "ACME" Corporation Name|date = 25 March 2013}}</ref>

The name Acme began being depicted in film starting in the silent era, such as the 1920 ''[[Neighbors (1920 film)|Neighbors]]'' with [[Buster Keaton]] and the 1922 ''[[Grandma's Boy (1922 film)|Grandma's Boy]]'' with [[Harold Lloyd]], continuing with [[Television show#Seasons/series|TV series]], such as in early episodes of ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' and ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]'', [[comic strip]]s and [[cartoon]]s, especially those made by [[Warner Bros. Cartoons#1933–1944: Leon Schlesinger Productions|Warner Bros.]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.i-foo.com/~eocostello/wbcc/eowbcc-a.html|title=ACME|work=The Warner Brothers Cartoon Companion|author=E.O. Costello|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110712234115/http://www.i-foo.com/~eocostello/wbcc/eowbcc-a.html|archive-date=2011-07-12}}</ref> and [[Television advertisement|commercials]]. It briefly appeared in the [[Walt Disney]] Donald Duck episodes ''[[Cured Duck]]'' released in 1945 and ''[[Three for Breakfast]]'' released in 1948. It also appears as the ACME Mining company owned by the villain Rod Lacy in the 1952 [[Western (genre)|Western]] ''[[The Duel at Silver Creek]]'' and in a 1938 short ''[[Violent Is the Word for Curly]]'' where [[The Three Stooges]] appear as gas station attendants at an ''Acme'' Service Station. It was also used in ''[[The Pink Panther Show]]'', where the name Acme was used on several episodes of the show's first installment in 1969, one of them being "Pink Pest Control".

Warner Brothers animator [[Chuck Jones]] described the reason 'Acme' was used in cartoons at the time:

{{Blockquote|style=font-size:100%|Since we had to search out our own entertainment, we devised our own fairy stories. If you wanted a bow and arrow you got a stick. If you wanted to conduct an orchestra you got a stick. If you wanted a duel you used a stick. You couldn't go and buy one; that's where the terms Acme came from. Whenever we played a game where we had a grocery store or something we called it the ACME corporation. Why? Because in the yellow pages if you looked, say, under drugstores, you'd find the first one would be Acme Drugs. Why? Because "AC" was about as high as you could go; it means the best; the superlative.<ref>{{Cite AV media|url=http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/218723%7c0/Chuck-Jones-Memories-of-Childhood.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116044332/http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/218723%7C0/Chuck-Jones-Memories-of-Childhood.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 16, 2013|title=Chuck Jones: Memories of Childhood|people=Peggy Stern and John Canemaker (filmmakers)|medium=Documentary|publisher=Turner Classic Movies and Warner Bros.|date=March 24, 2009|access-date=April 29, 2009|time=12 min.}}</ref>}}

===Whistles and traffic lights===
[[File:Acme anvil.gif|thumb|A real-world advertisement for ACME anvils]]
A whistle named 'Acme City', made from mid-1870s onwards by [[J Hudson & Co]], followed by the "Acme Thunderer", and "[[Acme siren]]" in 1895, were the early brand names bearing the names with the word 'Acme'. At the time the Acme Traffic Signal Company produced the [[traffic light]]s in Los Angeles, the city where [[Warner Bros.]] was making its cartoons. Instead of today's amber/yellow traffic light, bells rang as the small red and green lights with "Stop" and "Go" semaphore arms changed — a process that took five seconds.<ref>[http://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/citydig-should-i-stop-or-should-i-go-early-traffic-signals-in-los-angeles/ CityDig: Should I Stop or Should I Go? Early Traffic Signals in Los Angeles]. ''Los Angeles Magazine''. Retrieved 2015-01-01.</ref>