Another Big “G” cereal post from Cartoon Research! Also please forgive us for using the word “Post” when speaking of General Mills. Today we present to you a series of animated odds and ends from GM. Not very new, but hopefully they have not gone beyond their sell-by dates…
Kix – Clyde
One of series of Kix spots directed by Len Glasser. Featuring the voice of Len Maxwell!
Twinkles
Produced by Lars Calonius. There is another version of this same spot with George S. Irving providing the voice of Twinkles.
Short Twinkles “cartoons” appeared on the King Leonardo show. They were produced at TV Spots on a considerably smaller budget.
Frosty O’s – Bear
The ubiquitous Larry Storch does the voices here. At one point the bear describes the cereal as being “cookie crisp!”
Frosty O’s – Tooter Turtle
Directed by Gerry Ray. Beloved kid’s show host Sandy Becker is Mr. Wizard. Tooter Turtle has one short line in this spot (voiced by Allen Swift) and I wonder if they lifted it from another cartoon to save money.
Frosty O’s – Tennessee Tuxedo
How do you convince children to eat your cereal morning, noon, and night? By having a penguin tell them not to, of course. Animation by Gamma Productions. Don Adams normally provides the voice of Tennessee Tuxedo, but it sounds more like Chuck McCann in this commercial. Bradley Bolke and Mort Marshall are Chumley and Baldy.
Cocoa Puffs – Sonny
Chuck McCann is both Sonny and Gramps. Animated by Martin B. Taras.
Bullwinkle – Football
We couldn’t do a general Mills post without Bullwinkle. Here he is with the eternally irritating Cheerios Kid. Animation is by Phil Duncan, except for the shot of him eating the cereal which is by Ben Washam. That scene was redrawn with Bullwinkle in different outfits for several different spots. From Jay Ward Productions.
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:
Delighted to see these spots again! Chuck McCann does a super job as Sonny and Gramps,and I’m also a Larry Storch fan. I know It’s been said numeorus times before,but they just don’t make commercials this good anymore!
Those were certainly the good old days!
but i had no clue that Larry Storch was the voice, i assume, of Tennessee’s “Mr. Whoopie” Yes??
Yes indeed. Storch is Mr. Whoopie.
Recall reading the Larry Storch did a radio series with Frank Morgan (the Wizard of Oz) and did a good enough impression to occasionally cover for him. This seems to be a variation of that voice.
I have complete audio of a Captain Penny show off WEWS-TV 5 Cleveland. Dated May 24, 1963, it includes a complete King and Odie episode with The Hunter and Twinkles, including the Big G. commercials. The same show also had the Mr. Magoo Cartoon “Safety Magoo”
Boy, do those take me back to third grade in Escondido, California (1964-65). I’d seen some of these on KOGO out of San Diego (now KGTV).Great stuff.
@ Tim Lones: Wow, where can I get a copy of that? I’d love to see any show that ran “KING LEONARDO’S SHORT SUBJECTS” regularly. And, yes, no one makes commercials like this anymore. If Shout! Factory (or some other company) decided to reissue ROCKY & HIS FRIENDS, I would hope that they work something out with General Mills, so we can get so many more of those terrific Jay Ward commercials as special feature. The Classic Media sets were good, but, surprisingly, the special features weren’t as numerous as I had hoped. I was hoping for instances of animation that was never used, but filmed, or some of those classic Jay Ward ads.
“The ubiquitous Larry Storch does the voices here. At one point the bear describes the cereal as being “cookie crisp!”
A sign of things to come, though another company put out that cereal first!
Hey Mike,
Thanks for the animated trip down memory lane. I truly enjoyed it.