Did Aesop ever know that his stories would be routinely used for advertising purposes? Did any of the known and unknown authors of children’s literature know? I suspect not, otherwise they might come back to life to try to claim back royalties. Take a gander at the cartoons below, and watch how the beloved characters of your cherished youth became pitchmen for gasoline, tires, and syrup…
Richfield Ethyl
Daws Butler does the voices in this Playhouse Pictures production from 1956.
Volkswagen
From Murakami-Wolf Productions. Featuring the voice of Paul Frees.
Coca Cola
Another Walter Lantz Coca-Cola advert from 1953. Paul Smith directs.
Three Little Pigs PSA
You’ll hear Len Maxwell at the beginning and end.
Log Cabin – Three Bears
Produced by Playhouse Pictures in 1958. Allen Swift is doing all the voices.
US Royal – Cinderella
A two minute epic directed by Paul Fennell.
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:
Thanks for another great post! All well done,especially the Walt Lantz Coke spot!
Only Paul Fennell could add naugahyde upholstery growing on trees with such a straight face.
There was a Burger King spot in the mid 60s with the Tortoise and the Hare. During the race, the Tortoise stops in at Burger King for lunch and comes right out with his service, while the Hare is at a roadside café waiting for what seems like an eternity. When the waiter offers him a bowl of turtle soup, the Hare flips, forgetting he was in a race. Needless to say, the Tortoise won (“Br’er Rabbit, you forgot one thing…even you can’t beat the service at Burger King!”)
That Three Little Pigs PSA was gold! I think I mentioned that months ago, glad to see it represented here!
Here a similar ad from Brazil, made in 1976.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMU3pz4NgWs
Narragansett beer used the three bears, voiced by Nichols and May.
Think USRoyal became Uniroyal of Tiger Paw fame..and two mice in Cinderella but they weren’t Disney’s Gus-Gus and Jaq.
I like that they appear to be rather tired Mexican mice as well.
Perhaps incidental characters from a Speedy Gonzalez cartoon?
Nice Post, Mr. Kazaleh!
Hey Mike, your header drawing looks like a character layout for a DFE production that never got done. I always wondered how your version of the Pink Panther would look like. I’m sure it would be true to the original model of the character, considering your influences. Heck, I’ll bet you’ve even done layout for one of the more recent PP shows for TV, right? If so, and you still have any of that work laying around, please post it on your FA account. I’d love to see it!