As I’m writing this, I’m waiting for some clothes to come out of the dryer so I can pack them. I’ll be out in Los Angeles for a few days for the Lightbox Expo, along with a bunch of CCS students. I’m excited to share experiences with my students.
Before the commercials, first some small Thunderbean news:
Since the big hard drive issue here, we’re working on rebuilding the things we have, and have now sent that drive off to see if it’s possible to recover the six cleanups we didn’t have another backup on. It’s put various special sets behind as well. We’re still working to get the next batch of special discs out the door and are making good progress. We’re also offering the past special discs this week, through Sunday. We’re hoping to offer them again if able, but if there’s something you’ve really wanted it’s a good time to get them. Here’s the webpage.
I personally can’t wait to share some really big news here soon that I’m sure everyone will love— we’re close to being able to do that now. It will be a big game changer here at Thunderbean.
And, now… some more commercials!
Here’s a few spots in pretty terrific quality. These are all from 35mm prints, and we’ve cleaned them up for the new Blu-ray set Mid Century Modern 3. One of them, Melvin and the Nabisco Seal, was aired during the first broadcast of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966). There’s another copy of this spot on Youtube, uploaded by Crispin Broadhurst, whose father boarded and designed while working for McCann Erickson. Here’s the link to this copy. I’m pretty sure Murakami-Wolf animated this spot— but I could be wrong. I’m sure there’s someone here that knows who produced it if I’ve got it wrong.
Speaking of Fred Wolf, for many years the famous ’Tootsie Roll’ commercial has been up in the longer version, here. I love that cow!
There’s also a groovy Ford Commercial here as well as a Sominex commercial, pretty clearly made in Los Angeles. One of the things I’ve loved about doing a set like Mid Century Modern 3 is that it can feature lots of little things like these, that deserve to have good quality versions available.
I hope you enjoy them, and have a good week all!
Steve Stanchfield is an animator, educator and film archivist. He runs Thunderbean Animation, an animation studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has compiled over a dozen archival animation DVD collections devoted to such subjects at Private Snafu, The Little King and the infamous Cubby Bear. Steve is also a professor at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.
This is very promising! I look forward to the mid century modern collection, the third one! I also look forward to any other special discs that you’ve got completed and ready to be sent! I’m sure I’ve ordered a lot of them! Always great finding new animation. I should say it’s always great finding new old animation!
The Ford commercial was a little before my time, but I remember the others. It’s fitting that the Nabisco commercial accompanied the premiere of the Grinch special, as the story is told in charming Seussian anapaestic couplets — although Dr. Seuss would surely have given the main character a catchy alliterative name like, say, “Corky McCookie”, rather than the prosaic “William A. Thompson.” Who’s Melvin?
The Sominex commercial used to air during “Flipper”. Maybe people who liked animal shows had trouble falling asleep.
“Contains three medical ingredients….” I wonder if you can buy any of them over the counter nowadays.
Ford’s “Summer Swapping Bee” promotion would have taken place in 1959; those look like 1959 model Fairlanes, Galaxies and T-Birds, and I think there might even be an Edsel in there. The U.S. was just coming out of a recession, so what better way to celebrate than by trading in your old clunker for a new Ford?
MISTER Cow???
I’ve been thinking about the “game changer” news about Thunderbean. Could it be that soon you’ll be be getting your own scanner? With it you’ll be able to more cheaply and efficiently scan your own collection and loaned prints in house without expensive trips or having to communicate with (perhaps) uncaring technicians. It would also help if re-dos were necessary. Yeah. I think that must be it!
There used to be a Nabisco plant in a town mere blocks from where I currently live decades ago. It wasn’t as big as you might imagine it, though. Just a modest-sized warehouse located on a dead end street. It shut down sometime in the mid-90’s and was soon afterwards repurposed for a brief time as the town’s EMS station. Thanks for sharing this early gems with us, Steve! I would bet that was Fred Wolf who directed the commercial, during the time that Bob Kurtz was still working at the studio, as some of Kurtz’s signature designs are evident. Also, just a guess here, but I would bet George Nicholas was the animator behind the Sominex ad, judging from the style alone.
By the time that Nabisco ad finished, the Grinch was halfway through his robbery spree (“…One, Mr. Grinch”).
So who’s the narrator of the Nabisco one? George Carlin?
The narrator of the Nabisco spot sounds like radio comedian Henry Morgan. He did many TV game shows in the 1950s and 1960s.
A Nabisco ad on the first “Grinch” broadcast? I distinctly remember that the sole sponsor that year was Full Service Banks and no one else.
I used to love NUTTER BUTTER PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES and CHIPS AHOY COOKIES when I was a kid. They used to have a decent manufacturing plant in Chicago, now that I think of it. Not too many years ago, I indulged myself and bought a box of both cookies and I thought that not only had I lost my mind, but my senses of smell and taste – the cookies weren’t horrible, but they tasted very DIFFERENT from what I remembered. The CHIPS AHOY cookies of my youth pretty much tasted like home made chocolate chip cookies and boy, the NUTTER BUTTER cookies didn’t taste the same either. I remember the hard cookie part tasting like a peanut butter cookie. This tasted like a vanilla cookie with a tinge of peanut butter mxed in it. Did they change the formula, or do I have a faulty memory?
The taste of many mass-produced snack foods has indeed changed over time. Usually this is the result of cost-cutting measures, like replacing certain ingredients with less costly alternatives (e.g., corn oil with cheaper cottonseed oil). Many of us remember when the taste of Hostess Twinkies changed abruptly circa 1970, so our memories aren’t at fault here. These changes, as you noted, are invariably for the worse.
By the way, the Nabisco factory in Chicago — the world’s largest bakery — is still in operation, though its output is only a fraction of what it was in its heyday.