Nothing goes together like eating and watching television! Except maybe eating and showering. Some of you older folks might remember what a big deal it was to make a tray of snacks before your favorite show came on. It was such a thrill to make myself a sandwich with some Fritos and a glass of milk when the re-runs of Yogi Bear were airing at lunchtime. And weren’t those frozen TV dinners made for eating in front of the TV set? Warm-up those old vacuum tubes while you warm-up your supper! So what if the peach cobbler tasted like aluminum?
Here then is a taste-tempting selection of the finest animated food and beverage spots, selected by experts and prepared with the greatest of care…
Cap’n Crunch
A very early Cap’n Crunch spot produced by Jay Ward and animated by Bill Littlejohn. Daws Butler is the Captain. Narrated by Bill Conrad. Spirited dog effects by Bill Scott.
Sugus Candy
From Pintoff Productions. Animated by Vinnie Bell with vocals by Allen Swift.
Hunt’s Ketchup
Herb Vigran and Paul Frees play a pair of tomatoes in this spot. I wonder if anybody ever got the idea of doing an entire TV series about talking limbless fruit and veg?
Kelly’s Foods
If you have a hankering for some authentic Irish spaghetti and tamales, look no further.
GB Beer
GB Beer is the “Krausened” beer, whatever that means. Animation by Don Towsley and Mike Lah.
W. C. Fritos
Mr. Fritos comes to you through the courtesy of Buzzco Productions.
Maxwell House Coffee
Here’s another mini-epic from the studios of Paul Fennell. Music by Clarence Wheeler.
Mike Kazaleh is a cartoonist and animator whose work can be seen in comic books like Bongo’s The Simpsons, Futurama and Papercutz’ Gumby – and on screen in Warner Bros. Tiny Toon Adventures, Ralph Bakshi’s Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures and Cool World.
Mike:
As usual,another great post! The Kelly’s spot was especially charming! And the Herb and Paul spot for Hunt’s was delightful,not to mention the Cap’n Crunch spot! Makes me want to warm up the tube and grab some Fritos! Thanks for sharing!
“I wonder if anybody ever got the idea of doing an entire TV series of about talking limbless fruit and veg?”
MK-
Aren’t you referring to VeggieTales?
Or “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes”!
Despite not hearing it for over half a century, I vividly recall every note on the track of that “Kelly’s” commercial. Didn’t occur to me as a young person that the Irish tenor was obviously either sped or pitched up, though. Who animated that one?
Nice to see the Mad Hatter found work.
The Sugus candy: I know this may be juvenile, I’m I’m amazed they let a TV character back then say “Suck it” and get away with it, ad or not, considering the stupid reasons they’ve censored OTHER things!
As I recall, W.C Fritos was a response to the crowd that regarded the Frito Bandito as offensive. Then the licensing owner of W.C. Fields wanted more cash, and they came up with the Muncha Bunch.
Correct me if I’m wrong.
Speaking of armless and legless fruit and vegetable characters, what about the Funny Face drinks gang, with voices by Paul Frees?
I think Mike is referring to THE ANNOYING ORANGE, an Internet series, a Cartoon Network series and a series of AO graphic novels. Mike and I did a lot of work on the latter two…and had a surprisingly fun time doing it!
From what I’ve seen of Mike’s work on that comic, he did a fine job on something I didn’t really care about (not being part of that net generation that latched onto it like it was precious gold).
I can remember Hunt’s Ketchup doing that schtick with the whole tomato going FWOOMP down the neck of the bottle with either object animation or some kind of optical in their live-action commercials back then too. Interesting to see how well designed and appealing Cap’n Crunch and the other cereal mascots were back in the 60’s and 70’s; those same characters now look like wild, bulgy-eyed crack addicts. (Where did the designs go wrong?
To Chris Smigliano: Not only did that candy recommend you “suck it,” but the jingle in that G-B Beer ad sang the full name of that product, which was “Griesedieck Brothers,” pronounced “Greasy Dick”… (After being out of business since 1957, following the death of the last of the original brothers, a new generation of the Griesedieck family revived the brewery in 2002.) It was/is a regional beer around St. Louis, Missouri. .
Forgot to mention…re Kelly’s authentic Irish-style spaghetti and tamales…in my area you can find in supermarkets a shamrock-spangled package labeled “Flanagan’s Authentic German-Style Sauerkraut”!