[:::] Waffle Whiffer Zone

Fruit Of The Month - #20: Frosty Chewy Lemonhead & Friends

2011-12-24T01:28:00.001-06:00

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Here's the Fruit Of The Month winner for December 2011. Expanding from last month's winner, Orangehead, Ferrara Pan has assembled some of his friends on a delightful new Christmas themed box.

Chewy Lemonhead & Friends are now Frosty Chewy Lemonhead & Friends. Lemonhead, Cherryhead and Applehead are having a good time making snowballs in their Santa hats amidst a beautiful green backdrop.

Interestingly enough, the lemon candies inside are white instead of the usual yellow. Along with the green Appleheads and red Cherryheads, the now-white Lemonheads fit in nicely with the holiday colors.

Congratulations and thanks to the Ferrara Pan candy company for a wonderful new stocking stuffer!

Fruit Of The Month - #19: Orangehead

2011-11-30T21:33:00.001-06:00

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for November 2011. Just barely got this one in before December!

This month I'm celebrating a tangy treat from Ferrara Pan -- Orangehead candy!

Orangeheads were introduced in March of 1996 as an extension of their popular Lemonhead candy line. Small semi-hard candies with a softer, flaky candy shell, these are really tasty.

Quite unfortunately, I have to report that Orangehead was discontinued earlier this year. I've confirmed that fact with a Ferrara Pan company representative. :-(

Here's a box that I saved from 2008. The good old Orangehead mascot has looked the same on the box ever since the product's inception.

When the Chewy Lemonhead & Friends assorted pack was introduced, it included a chewy version of Orangheads along with the other flavors. Tastes just like the original Orangheads, but softer on the teeth.

Here's a box of those that I saved from 2008. You can see that they gave Orangehead a redesign here, but that redesign never made it to the regular Orangehead box, as far as I've seen at least. Applehead, Grapehead and Cherryhead, however, got their own new box designs earlier this year.

While regular Orangehead has been discontinued, fortunately the chewy version is still in the Chewy Lemonhead & Friends pack. Hopefully that will not change. Long live Orangehead!

Halloween Zingers 2004

2011-10-31T21:54:00.002-05:00

Happy Halloween everybody!

Today I'm sharing with you this ghoulishly good snack cake box from Dolly Madison. Perennial snacking favorite Zingers are here in a fun Halloween themed box from 2004.

Enjoy!

Don't put rocks in this guy's treat bag!

Fruit Of The Month - #18: Pumpkin-Face Gum

2011-10-30T00:37:00.000-05:00

Since we are closing in on Halloween, I picked an appropriate choice for Fruit Of The Month. For October 2011, I'm highlighting Pumpkin-Face Bubble Gum!

Pumpkin-Face Bubble Gum was a holiday creation from Fleer, makers of myriad cool and creative gum products over the years. The company was especially on a roll in the 1980s, which is when this package was made.

Pumpkin-Face gum was introduced to the market in 1982 (reference). By the 1990s, the package was re-designed to look like this.

The pumpkin, or jack-o-lantern here proclaims itself as "sweet 'n juicy", although pumpkin flavor gum does not sound all that appealing to me. I don't remember trying this product before, but it's a fun little collectible.

Happy Halloween!

Stretchy Boogers Gummy Candy

2011-10-19T01:45:00.000-05:00

My apologies in advance for stooping to this level, but here's a fun little product mascot that needed to be documented.

This gross looking guy is, well, a booger. Boogerman is his name, and he once represented Boogers and Stretchy Boogers gummy candy products in the 1980s and 1990s. If you can look past the "yuck" factor, it's a fun candy salesman who seems to be full of personality.

Stretchy Boogers candy was made in Argentina and imported into the US by Confex.

According to US trademark records, Boogerman was first used in commerce in August 1988 (see logo trademark submission here). Apparently there was first a plain "Boogers" candy in 1988 (see trademark submission here), followed by Stretchy Boogers in December 1989 (see trademark submission here.)

Here's an old candy wrapper I have, which is not dated, but would be from the very late 1980s or more likely the early 1990s. Boogerman is sampling the goods there atop the logo. Also of interesting note is the assortment of other flavors and shapes, including Goopy Grape, Lumpy Lemon, Clingy Cherry and Wobble Melon. I'd like to find those, too!

I found a small image of the original "Boogers" candy wrapper -- also with Boogerman on it -- in the November 1989 issue of Spy magazine. See that magazine on-line here and scroll down to page 9 and look at the bottom of that page.

Does anybody remember eating these? (No jokes, please. I mean the actual candy.)

On the back of the package we see a different image of Boogerman, imploring kids to send in their best booger jokes. Winners would be picked (sorry) to have their jokes printed on a wrapper. Pretty cool.

Surprisingly, I found these candy Boogers mentioned in a 1989 Time magazine article which underscored the product's popularity among kids. See the Time article here. Time also makes reference to the mascot's name along with costumed Boogerman promotional appearances. Oh, I'd love to see some of those photos!

That's all for now!

Fruit Of The Month - #17: Sour Punch Watermelon

2011-09-29T23:51:00.001-05:00

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for September 2011 -- Sour Patch Watermelon candy.

I picked up this tasty box of chewy candy in 2010. Why limit yourself to one product mascot when you can have a whole slew of little watermelon guys?

Fruit Of The Month - #16: Sour Punch Candy

2011-08-20T20:41:00.000-05:00

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for August 2011 -- Sour Punch Bits candy.

I noticed last year that American Licorice introduced a new box design for their Sour Punch Bits, so I thought I would show the before and after photos.

Here are the tangerine-lemonade boxes first from 2009 and then 2010 below. Fortunately, the little Sour Punch mascots made the leap onto the new boxes. The new design seems to stand out more, so I'd say it was a good move.

Fruit Of The Month - #15: Loud-Mouth Lime

2011-07-30T23:31:00.000-05:00

The Fruit Of The Month award for July 2011 goes to none other than Loud-Mouth Lime! LML was one of the original flavors of Pillsbury Funny Face drink mix in 1964, along with Goofy Grape, Rootin'-Tootin' Raspberry, Injun Orange, Freckle Face Strawberry and Chinese Cherry. Together they quenched a lot of thirsts in the groovy 1960s.

Here's an unopened, vintage pack from 1965-1966. This was a second series pack.

By 1967, the lime flavor was discontinued. Lefty Lemon became Lefty Lemon-Lime. Our friend Loud-Mouth Lime took on a new persona (and flavor) as Loud-Mouth Punch. Compare the two packs below. The Punch pack is from the early '70s, but it's still basically the same mascot, lime-shaped but now with a really snazzy hat.

Take a look at this vintage commercial on YouTube:

Several years ago, Funko put out an awesome set of Wacky Wobbler bobblehead figures, expertly designed in the likeness of six of our Funny Face friends. Loud-Mouth Lime somehow did not make the cut in that set. However, I'm happy to report that last month Funko released this wonderful new LML bobblehead!

Really cool.

Also in modern Funny Face news, there's still a cartoon series in the works, as I've posted previously on this blog. Take a look at a newly animated Loud-Mouth Lime in this cartoon short on Daily Motion.

Organic by funnyface

I'm looking forward to seeing more from this new venture!

I hope you've enjoyed this Fruit Of The Month segment celebrating our little lime friend.

Happy 7/11 Day!

2011-07-11T17:55:00.001-05:00

July 11th is 7/11 Day, a day in which we celebrate all things 7-Eleven related. The convenience store chain is gracious enough to offer free 7.11 ounce Slurpees at participating locations on this day only.

I enjoyed a Big Red flavored Slurpee and a bag of 7-Select pretzels today.

They seem to put out a new special edition free cup every year. This year's is really nice with a cupcake sporting 7 and 11 candles.

Happy 7/11 Day!

Cheetos Calendar - July 1987

2011-07-09T00:32:00.001-05:00

Cheetos Calendar - June 1987

2011-07-09T00:31:00.001-05:00

Fruit Of The Month - #14: Hunt's Snack Pack Peaches

2011-06-17T22:47:00.000-05:00

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for June 2011.

This is a flashback for us kids of the 1970s! Hunt's Snack Pack products, primarily pudding and fruit cups, made regular appearances in my lunchbox back then. This month I'm happy to show this great Snack Pack Diced Peaches box from 1974.

There's the Snack Pack kid, who was nameless as far as I know, smiling big and proudly showing us that the lids are now safe for kids. Let's not kid ourselves -- those lids were deadly and everybody knew it! Raise your hand if you ever got cut by one of those lids. (I'm raising my hand from 4th grade.)

I've got a few other Snack Pack collectibles and did a bit of research on the product line. The Diced Peaches were introduced in 1969.I'm fairly certain that this box is from 1974, having found evidence of the Snack Pack kid being used only between 1973 and 1974. Prior to that they had a horse named "Snack Pack", and then by 1975 they brought in a new mascot named "Snack Pack Jack".

The kid here also appeared on the pudding boxes during those years, but I do not have any of them.

Open wide and have a spoonful of peaches! I hope it puts a smile on your face. :-)

Fruit Of The Month - #13: Trix Funny Fruity Stickers

2011-05-25T22:43:00.000-05:00

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for May 2011.

Right now, on a cereal aisle near you, you can get Trix cereal with these Funny Fruity Stickers inside. There's a wacky assorted bunch of fruit characters to collect -- lemon, orange, watermelon, banana and more!

To me this is an old-school promotion. I love the totally generic premiums like we used to get back in the '70s. They're not promoting a movie or a TV show. It's just good goofy fun, the way it should be.

There are four different sticker sheets, each with three sections. Here's the first one I got, showing the three sections separately here.

Here's the cereal box:

Cheetos Calendar - May 1987

2011-05-06T23:20:00.002-05:00

Fruit Of The Month - #12: Burger King Raisin Training

2011-04-19T21:45:00.000-05:00

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for April 2011.

Meet Morris, Doris, Norris, Cloris and Boris! Collectively these little raisins got together to teach us a fun magic trick. Follow the instructions here on the side of the box and put on a show to impress your friends and family with your Raisin Training skills!

I spotted this magical quintet on the side of a Burger King kids meal box -- a Magic Meal to be precise. It's a fun little box dating to 1981. There's the old Magical Burger King mascot on the box, too. He always had a few tricks up his sleeve.

Cheetos Calendar - April 1987

2011-04-14T21:28:00.002-05:00

Fruit Of The Month - #11: Gummy Black & Red Berries

2011-03-19T00:23:00.001-05:00

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for March 2011 -- Gummy Black & Red Berries candy.

As you can see, here we have some berry characters putting on a show for us. Conveniently they are black and red, just like the product name says. It looks like the gang is dancing under the spotlight to an audience full of adoring berry fans.

The Cinema Sweets brand comes from China, distributed here in the U.S. by Greenbrier International of Chesapeake, Virginia.

I found this at one of the dollar stores back in 2009.

Cheetos St. Pat Cat

2011-03-17T16:11:00.000-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's Chester Cheetah dressed up for the occasion on this Cheetos calendar from 1987.

2011 Hawaiian Punch Makeover

2011-02-23T22:38:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I stopped by the store to pick up a few things. As usual, I strayed from the shopping list and made a run through the snack aisles to see if there was anything new. Much to my surprise I discovered a new box design for Hawaiian Punch Fruit Snacks along with a totally modern new look for Punchy himself!

Packages change, sure -- but I did not expect such a radical change to the iconic, fist-packing little guy we've all come to know and love for over 40 years.

Overall, the new fruit snacks box is pretty sweet looking. I love the colors, the wave and especially the flying gummy bits right there on the box front. You know what you're getting right up front. But the newly designed Punchy just isn't working for me. Gone is the pasty-faced mascot who always packed a wallop, and in comes the computer generated, suntanned version.

The fun, but menacing fist was replaced with the (apparently) more kid-friendly "hang loose" sign. Hmmm...

Well let's dive into the details and read more below. Here's the new style box, again pretty dynamic looking.

Here's the outgoing box style with the more familiar version of Punchy with his surfboard. Notice the old box includes a Brach's logo. Farley & Sathers was licensed to distribute the fruit snacks and previously co-branded Hawaiian Punch and Brach's. They're still made by the same company, but they've moved away from the Brach's tie-in.

Taking a quick peek over at hawaiianpunch.com, we see that the site is currently closed as of this post, but with a teaser for "New Punchy! Same great taste!"

Apparently we're in for a full-scale makeover of all Hawaiian Punch products, including cans, bottles, drink mixes and fruit snacks.

Getting back to the fruit snacks, comparing the old (left) vs. new (right) boxes, we see that they have also changed the actual shapes of the two Punchy snacks themselves.

Next, here are the inner snack pouches (old on left, new on right). I prefer the new pouch for the full scene depicted compared to the simple, small, repeated logo on the old one.

So far I've not seen the H-P makeover on any other products, but I'll be watching out for them. Change is good, they say, and I must admit the new box design is beautiful... but the radical Punchy change is a disappointment.

I'll end with a plug. These are some of the best tasting fruit snacks ever! I've tried many different brands, and these are so flavorful!

"How about a nice Hawaiian Punch?" ... Sure, but give me back my old Punchy!

Fruit Of The Month - #10: Orange Plus

2011-02-22T21:15:00.002-06:00

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for February 2011 -- Orange Plus.

Orange Plus was a brand of orange juice that was made by Birdseye. This is a coupon form was used to mail away for their plush mascot. If the mascot has a name, it has escaped me. The form simply refers to it as "Orange Plush". Notice the "+" sign on its hat!

This offer came out either in 1969 or early 1970. The reverse side says it expired June 30, 1970.

I don't believe I've seen one of these actual plush toys. Does anyone out there have one?

Jell-O Pudding Pops - Valentine's 1989

2011-02-14T12:09:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm celebrating today with this delightful box of Jell-O Pudding Pops from my collection. It is from 1989, representing their special Chocolate Lovers variety -- milk chocolate, chocolate fudge and double chocolate swirl. Mmm!

Not only is this a tasty treat, but we were treated to four little chocolate mascots. The Pudding Cupid is just marvelous with his wings, bow and arrows!

The Pudding Pops commercials with Bill Cosby sure were memorable, making these a a must-have treat for many years. The thought of them now is making my very hungry as I'm typing this!

I hope it's a good day for everyone. :-)

Fruit Of The Month - #9: Wild Crazy Fruit Snacks

2011-01-21T00:05:00.002-06:00

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for January 2011 -- Wild Crazy Fruit Snacks!

From Global Brands, made in Indonesia and sold here in the U.S., this product features a trio of wild and crazy guys. There's Groovy Grape on a skateboard, Jammin' Strawberry on roller blades and Very Berry Cherry on a scooter.

I have a theory on why these guys look so kooky. They're not wearing helmets, knee pads or elbow pads, so they've probably had some wicked spills out on the pavement. Just a thought really.

The only other question I have is about Very Berry Cherry. Tell me, since when is a cherry considered a berry?

This box is from 2010 and has a really nice overall design.

Merry Christmas from Willy Wonka!

2010-12-26T12:59:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas yesterday!

I wanted to share these old candy boxes with you for the holiday. These jawbreakers from Willy Wonka are mini versions called Christmas Gobstoppers. They are from 1991.

When I found them, the boxes were still full, though I have no intent of eating 19 year old candy! The previous owner had used them back then to make Christmas ornaments. Here's a picture of one as I found them.

For sake of comparison, here's a more modern holiday-themed Gobstoppers box. I saved this box of Gobstopper Snowballs during Christmas of 2006.

They still make Gobstopper Snowballs. I found them in larger sized boxes this year. The packages have been redesigned and no longer feature the cool Gobstopper mascots. Hopefully the folks at Wonka will correct that next year.

Fruit Of The Month - #8: Orange Julius / Orange Owen?

2010-12-01T23:35:00.000-06:00

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for December 2010 -- a festive little fruit mascot from Orange Julius!

This electronic coupon arrived in my inbox today in advance of my birthday this month. I take any opportunity I get to enjoy an Orange Julius, though that means a trip to the dreaded shopping mall. Still, I'll be cashing in on this coupon in the near future.

You can sign up for OJ Quench Club and get one for yourself. You'll see the orange guy again here, where you can sign up.

Digging a little further on the Orange Julius website, I came across the "Fun Fingers" game. See the screenshot below which shows a different, animated orange character named Owen!

So maybe the birthday orange is Owen, too. Maybe not, but both oranges make for a fun little discovery this month.

Thanks to Julius Freed for inventing this delicious, frosty, fruit drink. I'll have one in my hands again in a few days.

Fruit Of The Month - #7: Mr. Sketch Markers

2010-11-16T00:02:00.001-06:00

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for November 2010 -- a whole host of fruit friends from Mr. Sketch water color markers!

Technically, this product is not a fruit, of course, though most of the markers are fruit scented. A few are non-fruits, as you'll see. The Sanford company made this Mr. Sketch box in 1998. Sanford was nice enough to give us a mascot for each scent, making this piece a real bonanza of advertising mascots!

Here's the box front:

Here's the box back:

Here are close-ups of the mascots from the box back:

The scents are Licorice, Cherry, Blueberry, Mint, Mango, Apple, Melon, Orange, Lemon, Grape, Cinnamon and Raspberry.

There are some other groovy, non-fruit, Mr. Sketch varieties shown on the box back. Big thumbs up for the great soap mascot!

I don't have much information on the history of these. I believe this box style goes back to the early 1990s. The Sanford company was absorbed by the Newell Company in 1992, which is now called Newell Rubbermaid.

This box design from 1998 is obsolete, though I don't know when it was re-designed. The current box has only one mascot - the watermelon guy, which you can see here.

Jack in the Box - Haunted House

2010-10-31T23:57:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween!

Here's a fun paper premium from Jack in the Box restaurants in 1971. It's a haunted house. You open the perforated doors and punch-out the character strips and put them behind so you can see the characters through the doors.

We can see early versions of their 1970s mascots on the character strips. There's Jack, of course, along with Small Fry, Hamburger Meister, the Onion Ring Thing, Secret Sauce and the Shakes (Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry).

Jack in the Box serves hauntingly good food supernaturally fast!

Fruit Of The Month - #6: Rascals Candy

2010-10-24T00:59:00.000-05:00

Here's my Fruit Of The Month feature for October 2010 -- four fruit friends collectively known as Rascals, as in Rascals candy.

I have this old candy bag from 1989. At the time, Rascals candies were made by Warner-Lambert. These fruit-shaped candy bits were likely intended to compete directly against Willy Wonka's Runts candy.

Here are close-ups of the four mascots -- a Native American styled apple (or is that a cherry?), a punching orange, a silly strawberry and a swimming watermelon.

I don't remember ever eating these, but I did enjoy Willy Wonka Runts, and still do.

Here's an old Rascals commercial at Retro Junk.

Rascals are now made by Concord Confections, and I found a current image this page. The mascots have been changed, but still look like a lot of fun.

If you know more about Rascals, please let me know. I haven't found much else. I'm guessing they were created in the 1980s. We'll have to wait for more information to surface.

Fruit Of The Month - #5: Top Crop Blueberries

2010-09-11T00:44:00.010-05:00

September is here and it's time for the Fruit Of The Month announcement.

Recently I enjoyed this delicious package of blueberries from Top Crop. With many choices of fruits to eat, you can bet that I'm going for the one with the cool mascot on the label! This little guy is an anthropomorphic blueberry wearing a top hat and holding a cane.

I contacted the fine folks at Top Crop to get more information about their mascot. While he does not have an official name, he's often referred to as "Toppy" or "TC". They were very kind to send me an awesome Top Crop t-shirt and a keychain!

Toppy / TC is also featured on the company's website: Top Crop

This mascot evokes memories of the beloved Fruit Pie The Magician from Hostess fame. He's "No Ordinary Berry" indeed. Well done, Top Crop!

Here are the front and back sides of the t-shirt:

Here is the keychain:

And I can't forget the envelope these arrived in:

Here's another in-store mascot photo courtesy of Donio / Top Crop.

Big thanks to Top Crop for the goodies and permission to use the in-store mascot photos!

It's National Waffle Day!

2010-08-24T16:46:00.000-05:00

Yes, that's correct -- today is National Waffle Day in the United States! This day marks the date of the first U.S. patent for a waffle iron. Cornelius Swarthout gets credit for that.

In celebration, I scanned in a few images from a 16mm commercial reel I have. It's a spot for Aunt Jemima frozen waffles from the late 1960s or early 1970s. Our old friends Wallace the Waffle Whiffer and Professor Goody are at it again!

Wallace smells waffles cooking and starts to react...

Entranced, Wallace flies right through the window at Professor Goody's house...

Professor Goody thinks about sharing his delicious waffles...

Oh the anticipation...

Professor Goody tries to set some ground rules...

I don't think Wallace was really paying attention...

Fruit Of The Month - #4: Chewy Extinguisher

2010-08-13T00:14:00.002-05:00

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for August 2010.

From the American Licorice Company in 2008 here's a box of Chewy Extinguisher candy, sour citrus variety. They treated us to four fun fruit mascots on this box -- Tangy Tangerine, Sour Lemon, Super Sour Lime and Berry Sweet Relief!

Along with the fun characters this was an easy grab for me because I really enjoy any kinds lime and tangerine candies. Apparently you're supposed to be so shocked by the sourness of the orange, yellow and green candies that you've got to down a blue one for some relief.

I assumed these would be outrageously sour, but they were actually rather mild. Still it was some very good candy and a delightful box!

See more of these guys at http://www.extinguishercandy.com/

Fruit Of The Month - #3: McDonald's Maine Blueberries

2010-07-11T19:11:00.001-05:00

Here's my Fruit Of The Month post for July 2010. (Sorry I missed June!)

The month we're going back to the late 1990s to enjoy these fine little Maine Wild Blueberry mascots from McDonald's. This is a promotional button worn by employees of McDonald's in Maine during blueberry season.

I'm told that they offered Maine blueberry pies and blueberry pancakes -- and possibly other items. This came to me from a lady who worked there at the time. Sounds delicious!

See you back here in August with the next Fruit Of The Month!

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T00:59:00.000-05:00

This Hostess baseball card album is from 1976. It seemed like a patriotic choice to post on Independence Day. Have a great 4th of July!

Fruit Of The Month - #2: Mr. Melon

2010-05-04T22:19:00.000-05:00

The Fruit Of The Month for May 2010 is none other than Mr. Melon!

Mr. Melon was a candy made by the Ferrara Pan candy company. Not surprisingly, it was watermelon flavored. Mr. Melon himself was a friendly little fellow, smiling and waving right on the box, inviting shoppers to pick up a box by the checkout stand.

This box is from 1985 and still full of vintage candy. I have no plans of eating it, of course, but wanted to photograph it for posterity.

I don't know much more about Mr. Melon. When was he first created? How long was he on the market? Questions to be answered. Please post a comment if you have information to share.

For now, we'll just enjoy these photos and soak in some watermelon goodness.

Stay tuned for next month's Fruit Of The Month post!

Allen Swift (1924-2010)

2010-04-25T00:55:00.001-05:00

The sad news broke recently that the amazing Allen Swift passed away last week at the age of 86.

He was born as Ira Stadlen, and later changed his name to Allen Swift for show business. His talents were as numerous as his credits. For me, it was his work as a voice actor in cartoons and myriad commercials that cemented his legacy.

Some of his work included Leonardo / Total Television productions, voicing many characters in the King Leonardo, Tooter Turtle and Underdog cartoons. Simon Bar Sinister set a high mark for cartoon villains in the 1960s.

Especially near to my heart was his voice work in the many Hostess commercials of the 1970s, as he audibly brought to life both Twinkie the Kid and Captain Cupcake. Those animated snack cakes, often performing heroic feats to provide treats to kids everywhere, still live on in the memories of so many kids of the 1970s and 1980s.

Listen to the voice of Simon Bar Sinister in this Underdog clip (posted on YouTube by ReturnofLatinPupE), and compare it to the voice of Captain Cupcake in the Hostess commercial below (posted by rubberducky7171).

Rest In Peace. (NY Times obituary)

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T15:50:00.000-05:00

I want to wish everyone a very Happy Easter today!

Here's a fun bag of Pixy Stix Green Grass from the folks at Wonka. Fresh off the shelf and ready to be consumed. The Oompa Loompas are dressed as rabbits and appear to be eating into the company's profits.

Fruit Of The Month - #1: Weight Watchers Fruit Snacks

2010-04-01T22:16:00.006-05:00

Today I'm starting a new segment on the blog called Fruit Of The Month. At or around the beginning of each month, I'll showcase a fruit related advertising mascot or item.

Please try to contain your excitement. :-)

For the inaugural Fruit Of The Month segment for April 2010 is this delightful ad from back in April 1977. These lovable apple, peach and strawberry mascots were used on packages of Weight Watchers Fruit Snacks. What a treat!

Someone missed out on saving 15 cents on their next purchase.

Stay tuned for the next exciting Fruit Of The Month feature in May!

blog make-over

2010-04-01T00:41:00.004-05:00

I'm enjoying the new "Blogger in draft" templates, which are highly customizable. I've re-designed the blog including a new header. There may be some more changes coming up, but this is what I like so far.

:-)

International Waffle Day 2010

2010-03-25T22:06:00.004-05:00

That's right! Today, March 25, is International Waffle Day.

The holiday originated in Sweden as Våffeldagen. For Christians it marks 9 months before Christmas and the day that Archangel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary that she was pregnant. It also generally marks the beginning of spring. Swedes celebrate by making waffles!

Here's a Roman Meal waffles ad from 1980:

I got an e-mail from Monica at Konnect Public Relations this week, and she shared with me an ingenious recipe for "Bacon 'N' Batter Blaster Waffles". I haven't had Batter Blaster before, but I will need to give this a try soon! Here's the recipe she gave me:

Bacon 'N' Batter Blaster Waffle

Ingredients:

-1 Can of Batter Blaster

-2 Strips of Bacon per waffle

-1 Waffle Iron

-1 Paper Towel

Directions:

Take two strips of bacon and lay them across each square of the heated waffle iron. Close the iron and let the bacon cook and sizzle until almost done. Once finished, take a paper towel and very lightly clean any excess grease from the iron (make sure to leave some inside). Spray Batter Blaster into the waffle iron and let it cook together with the bacon. Take out the finished product and cover with syrup or other desired toppings. Enjoy!

The Outcome:

A delicious bacon-infused waffle! The best of both worlds, the Bacon 'N' Batter Blaster Waffle fuses the taste and texture of a waffle with the added savory flavors of a crisp piece of bacon.

St. Patrick's Day at McDonald's

2010-03-17T11:31:00.003-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's an old coupon card from a Kansas McDonald's restaurant in 1976. You could punch out the shamrock to wear and cash in the coupon for some free McDonaldland Cookies.

The happy little leprechaun seems to be enjoying a Shamrock Shake, while ready to smoke that pipe in his other hand.

Funny Face Cartoon Update

2010-02-16T23:31:00.004-06:00

I wanted to take a few minutes to pass along some updates on the Funny Face cartoon series project. (A little background here if you're not familiar with it.)

While the project is still going strong, there are no specifics on when it might appear on TV. There are a number of interesting updates however:

1) McDonald's -- The team is working with McDonald's to get some air time on their in-restaurant televisions. Many newer McDonald's have screens inside which show a variety of content, typically aimed at kids. The exposure could be 30 restaurants or so, likely on the West Coast.

2) Plush Toys and T-Shirts -- It is expected to have a deal signed soon to produce plush toys and t-shirts of our favorite little Funny Face friends. I would imagine these being very popular among adults who loved Funny Face long ago and want to pass along the fun to their kids.

3) Food Marketing -- There have been discussions with an unnamed company to produce a healthy snack pack for kids which would use the Funny Face name. How cool would it be to see Goofy Grape and friends back on store shelves, even if not in drink mix format!

4) Daily Motion -- The team has an official site on Daily Motion, which is like YouTube, showing some of the cartoon shorts that they've produced. It's a good sampling of what to expect from the series. The shorts are just fantastic in every way! I encourage everyone to visit the site (click here), sign up on Daily Motion, post positive comments and help spread the word.

Here's an embedded Daily Motion jukebox with some samples (Flash plugin required).

As you can see, the project is very promising in many ways to revamp our beloved Funny Face characters!

For now I'll leave you with this vintage Choo Choo Cherry canister label from the mid 1970s. (Click through to see a larger version on Flickr.) Certainly these updates will leave everyone, uh, thirsting for more!

Olympic Fruit Pie Fever!

2010-02-13T01:15:00.002-06:00

With the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics beginning, I thought this would be a nice tribute to the games that we'll enjoy over the next few weeks.

This Hostess Fruit Pie wrapper is from 1983, promoting a contest for a trip to the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. Our pal Fruit Pie The Magician is in his rightful spot, waving his wand to make that contest logo appear out of thin air, covering up the customary blueberries. Poof!

Looking at the runner-up prizes on the back, I'm certainly curious about the 5,000 4th place prizes -- coupons for free Fruit Pies! Though I'll probably will never find one, I like to imagine it was something spectacular looking with the Magician on it. Ah, maybe one will turn up some day...

If you come across any other fruit pie wrappers, drop me an e-mail. I'd love to see them and know what's out there.

King Ding Dong shirts at Target!

2010-02-11T23:55:00.005-06:00

I enjoy all of the retro t-shirts that have been on the market in recent years, especially those featuring advertising characters. Last week I was shopping at Target and popped over to the men's department to see if they had any new shirts.

And oh boy, it was my lucky day!

"Zoinks!" I said as I discovered these new Hostess Ding Dongs t-shirts featuring the honorable King Ding Dong. Fortunately the department was void of customers and my outburst did not cause a scene. In my own way, I had just won the lottery.

It's such a joy to find things like this. It's been 40 years since King Ding Dong was introduced as spokes-cake for Ding Dongs, well over 25 years since he was last on product boxes and a few years removed from the Hostess Cakes website. This is officially licensed by Hostess and dated 2010.

Naturally, I bought one to wear and will get another to save as-is. I sure hope this trend continues and that we'll see more shirts featuring the old mascots we used to know and love so much.

Hail to The King, from this loyal, sweet-toothed subject!

Merry Christmas from Chips Ahoy!

2009-12-25T19:35:00.003-06:00

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Recently I picked up this package of Chips Ahoy! cookies. I really love the Cookie Guy mascot and this special edition Christmas packaging. These are available at Wal-Mart in promotion of the Merry Madagascar DVD release.

Ho ho ho!

Remember Garfield cereal?

2009-12-03T00:45:00.004-06:00

Amongst my collection of cereal premiums was the Garfield sticker sheet below. It was still sealed in the package along with this interesting coupon.

I do not remember a Garfield cereal from Quaker Oats, but this indicates that it was on the market at least in 1985. The coupon expired in May 1985.

We can see that the cereal came in both raspberry and blueberry flavors. There must have been two different styles of cereal boxes, likely very colorful and similar to the illustration on the coupon.

Instinctively, I wonder how the taste of blueberry Garfield compared to monster cereal staple Boo Berry, but alas, I will never know.

This one is still a mystery to me. Perhaps it was a test market, was otherwise short-lived or it was ubiquitous and I just missed it. Does anyone remember a Garfield cereal from Quaker Oats?

Hostess Cakes Logos and News

2009-11-24T21:09:00.005-06:00

It was announced on November 2, 2009 that Interstate Bakeries Corporation was changing its name to Hostess Brands! As a long-time Hostess cakes fan, I thought this was pretty substantial news.

Interstate Bakeries Corporation has also been known at different times as Interstate Brands Corporation, Interstate Brands Companies, IBC Holdings Company and Interstate Baking Company. IBC has a long history before acquiring Hostess in 1995, including Dolly Madison cakes and Drake's cakes among other brands.

I thought I would post a little history of the Hostess brand name and the companies responsible for making such tasty treats as Hostess Twinkies, Hostess Ding Dongs and Hostess Fruit Pies. After doing some extensive research, I found a fair amount of inaccurate information out there on the internet. Here's a summary I put together which should be reliable enough:

1919 - Continental Baking Company creates their "CupCakes", though not branded as Hostess yet.
1925 - Hostess brand name started as part of Continental Baking Company (CBC) when CBC bought Taggart Bakery, makers of Wonder Bread.
1930 - James Dewar invents the Twinkie for CBC in Indianapolis.
March 1967 - Hostess Ding Dongs are created.
April 1967 - Hostess Ho Hos are created in San Francisco.
September 13, 1968 - ITT Corporation (International Telephone and Telegraph) bought CBC, making it a wholly owned subsidiary, forming ITT Continental Baking Company (ITT Continental) with headquarters in Rye, NY.
1970-1971 - Hostess mascots such as Twinkie the Kid, Captain CupCake, King Ding Dong and others are created by artist Don Duga to represent products in animated commercials.
October 9, 1984 - ITT sold CBC to Ralston-Purina (RP). RP retained the CBC name as a subsidiary, headquartered in St. Louis, MO.
1984-1995 - As far as I've been able to tell, the Ralston-Purina (RP) name and "checkerboard" logo were never used on Hostess packaging. Products still maintained the Hostess and Continental Baking Company names.
July 24, 1995 - Interstate Brands Corporation completed purchasing CBC from RP.
1995 - The Continental Baking Company name was no longer used at this point.
1995 - Interstate Brands Company changes its name to Interstate Bakeries Corporation and the headquarters was in Kansas City, MO.
2009 - IBC corporate headquarters moved to Irving, TX (near Dallas) after emerging from bankruptcy.
November 2, 2009 - Interstate Bakeries Corporation changes company name to Hostess Brands.

Despite all of the changes over the years, the Hostess brand name has remained steady and strong for nearly 85 years!

Here are some Hostess logos over the years.

Late '60s to early '70s bird logo (courtesy of Jason)

1970

1977

1978

1991

2001

2008

2000 IBC

2008 IBC

1978 Freshness Pledge

1991 Freshness Pledge

2000 Quality Pledge

Sorry for the boring post, but as a fan and collector of Hostess items, I think it is important to know some of the history.

For those who stuck it out to the end of this post, you are hereby rewarded with this YouTube commercial posted by FuzzyMemoriesTV and featuring Twinkie the Kid and Fruit Pie the Magician.

Happy Halloween 2009!

2009-10-31T23:05:00.004-05:00

I hope everyone is having a nice Halloween. I've sure had my fill of candy and treats today.

Here are a few holiday themed items I thought I'd share today.

First is a special edition of Chips Ahoy! cookies from Nabisco. Cookie Guy, their mascot, is dressed up as a vampire bat! Orange morsels are mixed in with the chocolate to make an extra special treat.

Next is a fun Halloween sign from a Hostess outlet store. This is from a few years ago and features Fruit Pie The Magician and Twinkie the Kid showing off the holiday goodies. Thanks to my buddy Gregg for this!

Lastly, here's a surprise find at Dunkin' Donuts this year. It's a pretty groovy Halloween box. Best of all it was filled with those delicious Munchkins!

Sugar Crisp Cereal - 1960s

2009-09-04T21:20:00.005-05:00

One of my all-time favorite product mascots is none other than Sugar Bear, the wise-cracking, super-cool, anthropomorphic bear from Post Cereal fame.

Though the cereal has changed names over the years from Sugar Crisp to Super Sugar Crisp to Super Golden Crisp to finally just Golden Crisp, Sugar Bear has been keeping it cool on the breakfast table since 1963.

Here's an unused wrapper that would have gone on a single-serving cereal box between 1966 and 1968.

"Can't get enough of that Sugar Crisp!"

National Waffle Day 2009!

2009-08-24T19:04:00.004-05:00

Today, August 24, is National Waffle Day in the United States! This celebrates the day in 1869 that Cornelius Swarthout patented the first U.S. waffle iron -- 140 years ago!

Be sure to enjoy some waffles today in celebration of Mr. Swarthout's contribution to the American breakfast table! Here are a couple of items I pulled out to share today.

First is this vintage Eggo Nutri-Grain waffles box from 1985:

And here's an Eggo Cereal box from Kellogg's earlier this year, 2009:

Lastly, here's an old Eggo Waffles commercial which appears to be from the late 1970s or early 1980s. It was posted to YouTube by Thessair.

Blackberry meets Blackberry

2009-08-15T11:54:00.001-05:00

I was having a little fun here with my smartphone. Now I can take a bit of vintage Fruit Pie magic with me everywhere. After all, you never know when a giant sea monster will appear demanding snack cakes. Now where's my cape...?

Jungle Fred and the Toast'em Animals

2009-08-02T14:34:00.010-05:00

(not Fred)

Did you ever have wild animals pop out of your toaster? If you were a kid in the late 1960s, that may have happened in a kitchen near you!

Popping off supermarket shelves and onto breakfast tables everywhere in the mid 1960s were new toaster pastries. There were Pop-Tarts by Kellogg's, Toastettes by Nabisco and Toast'ems by General Foods.

It seems that around 1967 Toast'ems launched another product specifically geared for kids called Toast'em Animals. These goodies came in colorful boxes, brilliantly designed with fun animals. The first flavors were Sugar Spice Lions, Chocolate Elephants and Berry Bears. (Oh my!) Sugar Spice Lions were also called Cinnamon Lions, though I'm not sure when the name changed.

My friend Dan has one of the original boxes on his blog: click here

And my friend PopTartsBox has an original supermarket display photo on Flickr: click here

According to the commercial and some loyal Toast'em fans, these pastries were bursting with flavor! Here's an image of the one-and-only Jungle Fred, a seasoned wild game hunter with a keen awareness of Toast'em Animals.

(Jungle Fred)

As the commercial goes, Jungle Fred reviews his super-secret supermarket map to stalk his crumbly prey. A priceless bit of animation and advertising history, here's the commercial which was uploaded to YouTube by retrotvluver.

What a treat! Jungle Fred looks like he may have been a cousin of the great Cap'n Crunch.

Some time after the original three flavors hit the market, General Foods continued the line with three more -- Peanut Butter Buffalo, Munch-A-Berry Monkey and Tutti-Frutti Owl. I have this lovely fold-over coupon in my collection which shows the three new fun-to-eat varieties. It's undated but I'd guess it's from 1968.

We see here that there were other Toast'em brands including Fancy Frosted and Pop-Ups. As for premiums, I know of some Toast'em Animals iron-ons. There may have been other items, though I'm not an expert on this product line.

As for Jungle Fred, I can only hope that he had many more adventures and lived a long life full of pastries and stories to tell. If you have memories or more information about Toast'em Animals, click the comments link below and post a comment. Of course I'd love to find one of the original boxes if you've got one lost in the back of your pantry. :-)

(Jungle Fred and his super-secret supermarket map)

Happy 7-Eleven Day 2009!

2009-07-11T23:08:00.003-05:00

Today is 7-Eleven Day -- July 11th! Stores were giving away free 7.11 ounce Slurpees today in celebration.

Slurpees have been one of my great obsessions since childhood. The perfect mix of ice, syrup, colors, cool straws and cups. Of course back in the old days we were treated to all sorts of collectible plastic cups featuring super heroes, baseball players and cartoon characters. Fortunately I've never outgrown my love for Slurpees. I grab one whenever I can, and rather frequently in this crazy summer heat!

Here's a vintage matchbook cover from 7-Eleven in the 1960s. They used this bespectacled fellow in some of their ads back then. I'd like to know if he had a name. Also we see the older style store logo here. I'm more familiar with the logo atop this blog post from the 1970s to today.

And while we're at it, let's enjoy some salty snacks with our Big Gulp or Slurpee. Nothing better than Frito-Lay products to tackle that job! Here's a cross-promotional pog from the early 1990s in Hawaii featuring Chester Cheetah. "It isn't easy being cheesy," though it's much easier with an ice cold Slurpee on hand.

Golden Crisp / Night At The Museum Promotion

2009-07-04T10:14:00.003-05:00

Post Cereal had a nice promotion this year in conjunction with the Night At The Museum movie. Some really cool cereal boxes were produced, like this one from Golden Crisp. I saved one from Honey-Comb and Fruity Pebbles, too.

They didn't do anything special on the box backs. They've used this same back in recent years.

Saturday Commercial Break #18: Hostess Fruit Pies

2009-06-27T22:30:00.005-05:00

This week's commercial break features our good friend Fruit Pie The Magician bringing some snacks to the kids at the Franklin School. Good wholesome fun with Hostess Cakes.

This commercial was uploaded to YouTube by divishion, and should date to the early 1980s.

I sure miss the old Hostess gang! Let's hope that Fruit Pie The Magician returns to his rightful place on the pie wrappers soon.

Saturday Commercial Break #17: Exploding Jack In The Box

2009-06-13T10:08:00.003-05:00

I haven't been posting as regularly as I would like on my blog. I'm going to try to start posting twice a week. We'll see how that goes...

I thought that I would revive the Saturday Commercial Break segment. I had stopped it for a while because it seemed that YouTube was removing old commercials from their site. Apparently that was due to copyright issues or something. I'm still seeing a lot of new commercials being posted there, so I'll try it again for a while.

Here's Saturday Commercial Break #17 from Jack In The Box restaurants. I don't recall the year, but I do remember when this commercial came out. What a sight to see that clown exploding! Maybe they decided to stop clowning around and concentrate on good food -- like their *new* Hot Ham and Cheese (as shown here)! This was uploaded to YouTube by commercialclassic.

Invisible Ink Monster Pens

2009-05-31T00:10:00.003-05:00

If you were rolling your shopping cart down the cereal aisle in June of 1978, you may have spotted this Super Sugar Crisp box and had some fun with an Invisible Ink Monster Pen.

Blueberry Eggo Waffles

2009-04-29T16:39:00.003-05:00

Popping out of the magic toaster this week is a delicious Blueberry Eggo Waffles box from 1979! I love the colors on this box and of course the graphics on back. The family is enjoying a nice breakfast together, the way it should be. Mmmm!

I am the Waffle Whiffer and I approve these waffles.

Happy Hoppy Easter!

2009-04-12T14:36:00.004-05:00

Happy Easter everyone!

Here's an old grocery store sign from the '70s which is advertising a special for Dolly Madison. I don't remember eating a Confetti Angel Food Ring, but it sure sounds good.

1972 Burger King Valentines

2009-02-14T20:50:00.004-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's a groovy set of postcards from Burger King in 1972. The King is doing his best interpretation of The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love".

The (Burger) King and I

2009-01-16T23:44:00.005-06:00

Have you seen this man? Last spotted putting extra cash in pockets.

That's what it says on the Burger King take-out bag shown below. Certainly my attention was captured -- enough so that I had to learn more about this curious new promotion. Thus I entered the local Burger King with both hunger and optimism, equally lured in by the whiff of flame-broiled Whoppers and the promise of a cash give-away.

The King and I have faced off before. Sometimes I leave victoriously, and other times the King gets the best of me. This would be our first showdown in 2009.

A burger was had during my visit. It was broiled up just right, fulfilling my usual expectations. But would The King grant me the extra cash, or would I leave empty-handed? Leaving empty-stomached, at least, was not an option.

Despite the blurb on the bag, I can undoubtedly confirm that NO EXTRA CASH was added to my pockets on this occasion. In reality, my nemesis The King absconded with six bucks from my wallet in exchange for a Double Whopper meal. Sure there was cheese and bacon for an extra fee, and the requisite french fries and Dr. Pepper stood by in a supporting role. But let's not kid ourselves -- the cash, MY cash, was gone!

Minutes later, as the smoke cleared from the broiler, The King smirked with folded arms from behind the counter. In the aftermath I felt more like the shards of my own cast-off lettuce than the victor in a great battle. Full but defeated, I crumpled my burger wrapper in preparation for a deposit in the nearby trash can. Today's victory, including my six dollars, would go to The King. Or so it seemed.

Perhaps the joke was on him, as he was left holding the onions. Yes, I'll cling to that until next time.

Watch out King! I will return.

Saturday Commercial Break #16: Waffle Whiffer

2009-01-10T22:00:00.005-06:00

Oh the joys of YouTube! I recently discovered this commercial for Aunt Jemima's frozen waffles starring Wallace the Waffle Whiffer! I had not seen this particular one before, so it was such a treat to find. A number of commercials were made, but only a few have surfaced so far.

I referenced this in one of my Jay Ward books. The commercial is titled "Hammock" and was produced in 1971.

Enjoy this special Saturday Commercial Break which was posted to YouTube by thesixtiesguy.

Why not enjoy a delicious plate of Aunt Jemima frozen waffles from your grocer's freezer?

Happy New Year from Sugar Bear!

2009-01-01T00:42:00.005-06:00

I want to convey Happy New Year wishes to everyone for a great 2009!

- May your terrariums grow in new and glorious ways.

- May your cereal stay crunchy in milk, despite forces intent on making life soggy.

- May you always save 10 cents before the offer expires. It's a "limited time only", so make the most of it!

This box of Post Super Sugar Crisp is from early in 1975 and features the classic Terrariums offer. Kids from the '70s may have fond memories of these very curious cereal prizes which were given away on four different occasions during the decade.

Follow the simple instructions and watch them grow!

Saturday Commercial Break #15: Alpha Bits Cereal

2008-12-27T14:31:00.003-06:00

It's the last Saturday in 2008. As we clean up the aftermath of Christmas and begin looking forward to 2009, let's take a look back about 30 years ago. This week's Commercial Break celebrates the imagination of kids, with a gentle assist from Post Alpha Bits cereal. This was uploaded to YouTube by michend2003.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-26T18:22:00.003-06:00

Well, it may be a day late, but I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas! I know that I did.

Santa left this neat box of Frosty Nerds in my stocking, plus an assortment of candies which will surely rot my teeth. The Nerds are looking festive here, delivering a sleigh full of goodies to all the good Nerd girls and boys.

Saturday Commercial Break #14: McDonald's 1970s

2008-12-06T19:55:00.003-06:00

I hadn't posted any of my Saturday Commercial Breaks in a while. I sort of stopped it after noticing that YouTube was removing a lot of television commercials from their site for some reason. Apparently that's not the content they want, although it's really the only thing I care about on YouTube. Anyway, I'll start it up again "while supplies last", as they say.

I got a big smile watching this 1970s McDonald's commercial, featuring a fun song and dance number by some hard working fast food employees. "You Deserve A Break Today" remains one of the most memorable McDonald's jingles for me. (Uploaded to YouTube by JMReid1220)

Update: Funny Face Cartoon wins award

2008-11-28T22:39:00.008-06:00

Loudmouth Lime cannot keep his mouth shut about his much-anticipated Funny Face cartoon series, though he must share the spotlight with his other fruity friends. We wanted to take this opportunity to pass along a very exciting and promising update!

The Funny Face team was invited to participate in the MIPCOM Junior licensing challenge in October. MIPCOM Junior describes itself as "the world’s largest kids’ programming screening event and the leading international conference venue for kids and youth programming" and takes place in Cannes, France each year.

84 different projects had submitted applications for the event. Of those, only six were selected to present their pitch at the event.

Drumroll..........

I'm happy to inform you that the Funny Face team won the challenge as the "most promising property"!

They've put together a brilliant idea for a good, clean cartoon for kids with a splash of nostalgia for us big kids, too. If you have not seen it already, be sure to check out the original Funny Face trailer.

Jolly Olly Orange almost lost his hat while rolling in to remind me of another media highlight. The project was featured in a licensing magazine article which can be seen here.

Help spread the word and keep your fingers crossed that these happy fruits find their way to a television set near you in 2009!

Burger Chef and Count Fangburger

2008-10-31T00:21:00.020-05:00

Happy Halloween to all of my trick-or-treating friends! As you sift through heaping bags of candy treats, prioritizing your snacking agenda for the next week, I invite you to take a spooky fast food trip back to the 1970s.

The birthplace of the fast food kid's meal concept was at the once-mighty Burger Chef restaurant chain in 1972. They created and marketed the idea of including a child-sized portion with fun packaging and a toy -- five years before McDonald's test-marketed their trademark Happy Meal.

To help usher in the era of the kid's meal, or the "Fun Meal" and the "Fun Burger" as Burger Chef called them, they created a wild bunch of cartoon characters. The first mascots were chefs named Burger Chef and Jeff, and fortunately they were joined by a group of fun-loving monsters and assorted friends.

Count Fangburger was the Vampire-in-Chief at Burger Chef. Certainly he provided a little scare to the crew at Burger Chef, as one might expect from a guy with fangs, Transylvanian accent and the customary vampire cape. Here he is with his pet bat on a sticker from the mid to late 1970s.

[ Curiously enough, he hit the advertising scene around the same time as that cereal munching vampire named Count Chocula. Hmmm... ]

To best appreciate Fangburger, you need to see and hear him in action. Take a look at this original animated commercial on Google Videos, then come right back: Fangburger Commercial

More than your typical monster, Count Fangburger was also a family man -- husband to Mrs. Fangburger and father to "Fangburger's Son" and "Fangburger's Daughter" as they were called. Here's the whole happy family posing on this child's bib from 1974.

Clearly our vampire friend had a softer side, too, along with a penchant for those tasty burgers. A few more collectibles below picture the little blood-suckers looking a bit disgruntled. Perhaps Dad forgot to pick up hamburgers on his way home from the office?

The whole Burger Chef cast appeared in numerous toy prizes and colorful Fun Meal boxes back in the day. And what a run it was! Stickers, comics, coins, glasses, puppets and much more...

Yes, old Fangburger had a good run for at least eight years (1972-1980) and probably a few more. But by 1982 the Hardee's hamburger chain bought out Burger Chef, converting many into Hardee's and closing others. Fangburger retreated to his coffin, never to be seen again.

Here are a few more goodies -- a Fun Meal token coin, a punch-out figure for a mobile (1974) and a Zoomer Fly frisbee (1974).

I hope you enjoyed this little trip back to Burger Chef. Maybe it stirred up some memories or introduced you to something you missed out on thirty years ago. I welcome any comments and Burger Chef memories you wish to post (click the link below).

I don't know if I hit this one out of the park or not, but I'll wrap up with a baseball theme regardless. These baseball cards from 1976 show the Count about to throw some high heat and poor Mrs. Fangburger getting bonked on the noggin. Stranger things have happened in the land of Burger Chef.

Until next time...

Jean LaFoote's Pirate Kit

2008-09-19T22:50:00.003-05:00

Yarrr!! Today be ye official "Talk Like A Pirate Day". Visit ye official website if ye dare:

Talk Like A Pirate Day

Here's my favorite pirate, Jean LaFoote, from Cap'n Crunch cereal fame. This pirate kit was from the 1970s. You, too, could dress up like a pirate with a fake mustache and golden earring! Good luck swiping cereal from Cap'n Crunch. It never worked for LaFoote.

Happy looting, everybody!

R.I.P Irvine Robbins

2008-09-11T22:28:00.007-05:00

I heard recently of the passing of Irvine Robbins, and wanted to share the news here. He died on May 7, 2008 at the age of 90.

Mr. Robbins opened his first ice cream store in Glendale, California in 1945. In 1948 he joined forces with his brother-in-law, Burton Baskin, to form the Baskin-Robbins ice cream store chain. Mr. Baskin's name came first because he won the coin flip.

Together they came up with that magic number - 31. Customers could always count on Baskin-Robbins to have 31 flavors to choose from. One might call that sweet deal, or otherwise a frozen dilemma.

Personally, I must walk down the whole counter and peruse all 31 choices. Anything less would be un-American. -- Chocolate, mint chocolate chip, strawberry... mmm...! Whatever the choice was, I knew there were 30 more to try next time.

The rest, as they say, is history. Rest in peace, Mr. Robbins.

You can see a picture of him and read his obituary here: Irvine Robbins

I wanted to share a few Baskin-Robbins collectibles that I have. Here's a Pinky the Spoon bendy toy from 1991, and below that is a chocolate mint ice cream pinback button which is probably from the 1980s.

I've always been a fan of their chocolate chip ice cream. As a kid, I also remember enjoying a peppermint flavor with little crunchy bits of peppermint. I think there's an ice cream cone waiting for me now, and I can thank Mr. Robbins for that.

Funny Face Cartoon Trailer

2008-07-25T14:13:00.006-05:00

If you've pondered the age-old question "How do you make a banana split?", you are not alone. Being a Goofy Grape of sorts myself, I may just have the answer for you today!

Blog readers may have encountered my previous post about the planned Funny Face Cartoon Series, based on the characters used to promote the old powdered drink mix.

While eagerly awaiting more information on the series, I got a little scoop from someone behind-the-scenes. The project is going well and many short cartoon segments have been created. They are hopeful for early 2009 to get picked up for television.

Until then, the original cartoon short, by Renegade Animation, has made its way to YouTube, posted by mickilas. Here's a great preview of the antics of Goofy Grape and friends, including new characters named Top Banana and Bad Apple.

And now you know how to make a banana split!

Happy 7-Eleven Day 2008

2008-07-11T13:50:00.008-05:00

Today is July 11th, or 7/11, which means a day to celebrate my favorite convenience store 7-Eleven!

Every 7-Eleven Day you should make your way to a nearby store for a delicious Slurpee, Big Gulp or other tasty snack. I'll be heading out for a Slurpee later today. Yum!

An oasis in the hot summer sun, I have fond memories as a kid of many trips to get Slurpees and candy there. It often required pestering my parents to drive me, or permission to ride my bike there with friends. It's really something I've never outgrown to this day.

Since the '70s, 7-Elevens have had great periodic promotions with collectible plastic cups featuring cartoon characters, sports stars and super heroes. I had so many of those cups, most of which faded, cracked and found their way into the trash can over the years.

In the '80s and '90s I remember when the Slurpee cups would have a secret compartment underneath where you would get a cool prize like a flicker coin of a baseball or football player. I still have many of those to commemorate the Slurpees of yesteryear.

To help with the celebration, here are a couple of pogs from the early 1990s.

I've started a new group on Flickr called 7-Eleven : Oh Thank Heaven! Feel free to join in the fun and share your 7-Eleven memories. If you're not on Flickr, you can get a free basic account right away and start uploading photos and joining groups.

Have a happy 7-Eleven Day! Oh thank Heaven for 7-Eleven!

Cheetos Cheesy Rider T-Shirt

2008-07-04T11:47:00.004-05:00

Here's a brief follow-up to my article on the Cheetos Mouse.

Blog reader Rosanne saw the article and sent me this great photo of her vintage Chee-tos "Cheesy Rider" t-shirt. What a great image of our cheesy friend -- out on the open road with an ample supply of Chee-tos brand crunchy snacks!

Thanks, Rosanne for send me this great photo and allowing me to post it here on the blog!

I would love if someone printed up some new t-shirts with this image. :-)

Saturday Commercial Break #13: Burger Chef

2008-05-31T22:19:00.002-05:00

"Whatcha gonna get at Burger Chef?" was a slogan used by the defunct Burger Chef restaurant chain. Burger Chef was a fun place with a large cast of advertising characters, including Burger Chef and Jeff in this commercial from 1974.

Burger Chef was an early pioneer in the concept of kids' meals, offering their Fun Burgers and Fun Meals aimed at kids with a smaller appetite. The meals included a fun toy, sticker or comic book to enjoy. Burger Chef was doing this in the early 1970s. By comparison, McDonald's was just starting their test market of Happy Meals in 1977.

Burger Chef was bought by Hardee's hamburger chain and eventually all Burger Chefs either converted to Hardee's or were closed down in the 1980s.

Well here's the commercial of the week, uploaded to YouTube by WookieCookie.

For more fun, check out the Burger Chef group on Flickr.

Saturday Commercial Break #12: Cookie Crisp Cereal

2008-05-17T22:40:00.002-05:00

Sorry that I took a few weeks off from Saturday Commercial Breaks. Now I'm back.

Here's a fun animated commercial from the early 1980s. It's Cookie Jarvis, the wizard, and the Cookie Crook promoting Ralston-Purina's Cookie Crisp cereal. Ah, cookies for breakfast...!

Feel free to post a comment and share your memories of Cookie Crisp cereal. I ate this a few times, but cookie cereal just wasn't right for me. But I did enjoy old Cookie Jarvis.

Saturday Commercial Break #11: McDonald's

2008-04-26T22:32:00.003-05:00

This week's commercial pick is a Wild West themed trip for the McDonaldLand friends. Ronald McDonald, Mayor McCheese, Captain Crook and the Hamburglar star in this one from 1976.

This was uploaded to YouTube by Namzso1.

I've always been a big fan of 1970s McDonaldLand. Feel free to post a comment with your memories from this era.

Saturday Commercial Break #10: Funny Face with Goofy Grape

2008-04-19T21:50:00.003-05:00

In keeping with the Funny Face theme this week, here's a 1970s commercial featuring an animated Goofy Grape preparing to quench some thirsts at a basketball game.

Be sure to check out my other Funny Face posts from this week.

Funny Face Coupon

2008-04-18T17:32:00.008-05:00

I was sifting through a pile of vintage coupons recently, and was thrilled to discover this cool offer for Funny Face drink mix. It is not dated, but would be from between 1965 and 1967.

Fortunately no one cashed in on this sweet "Save 7 Cents" deal, which equals more fun for me some 40 years later. :-)

Characters from left to right are:

Loud-Mouth Lime
Freckle Face Strawberry
Lefty Lemon
Rootin' Tootin' Raspberry
Jolly Olly Orange
Choo Choo Cherry
Goofy Grape

(click to see larger version)

Funny Face Cartoon Series?

2008-04-16T10:38:00.006-05:00

Funny Face cartoon series, you say? Yes, I did. And no, you are not dreaming!

My friend Dan at a sampler of things alerted me to the news that Renegade Animation has obtained the rights to make a pilot for a cartoon series based on the old Funny Face characters.

Funny Face was a powdered drink mix, like Kool-Aid, made by Pillsbury in the 1960s and 1970s. Each flavor featured a funny, anthropomorphic fruit character. Many kids from that era have such fond memories of Funny Face, and this will most certainly stir up more nostalgia in anticipation of the cartoon.

You can read more information about the project at Cartoon Brew who recently broke the news.

The characters featured in the picture above are:

Rootin' Tootin' Raspberry
Loud-Mouth Lime
Goofy Grape
Jolly Olly Orange
Freckle-Face Strawberry
Captain Black Cherry
Lefty Lemon
Choo Choo Cherry

There were several other Funny Face drink characters over the years, but this represents the nucleus of the gang.

I expect great things from this production. Renegade Animation does tremendous work, producing many wonderful shows such as the revival of Mr. Men which airs on Cartoon Network.

As the plans are currently to make a pilot, there's no guarantee that the series will be picked up for a run on TV. Along with the enthusiasm there's uncertainty. Because of that, I urge everyone to help spread the news! Notify your friends, post a note on your blogs, websites and social networks. We can help by creating a buzz about the show in advance.

If you're helping to spread the word, please post a comment in reply here. Include a link to your blog post, website, etc. where you're helping to spread the word. Thanks in advance!

Can you tell how excited I am? :-)

Saturday Commercial Break #9: Trix Cereal

2008-04-12T23:31:00.002-05:00

Here's a fun commercial for Trix cereal by General Mills in 1978. The Silly Rabbit is scheming, once again to get a bowl of that fruity goodness!

They were giving away great Marvel Super Hero stickers in this promotion.

This commercial was uploaded to YouTube by Antifrodis.

Saturday Commercial Break #8: Orange Hawaiian Punch

2008-04-05T14:29:00.003-05:00

This week's commercial is for orange-flavored Hawaiian Punch -- for breakfast!

The little man with the funny hat, of course, is "Punchy" and he's always been a favorite of mine. If you recall watching these commercials over the years, you know they usually end the same way, with Oaf taking a beating from Punchy!

This was uploaded to YouTube by daftmahatma.

I never get tired of watching these. You can read more about Punchy here in a previous article I wrote.

Saturday Commercial Break #7: Keebler Elves

2008-03-29T15:26:00.004-05:00

Today's installment in the Saturday Commercial Break series is from Keebler cookies in 1985. Ernie and the rest of the Keebler Elves are up in the tree-house baking up some of their new Soft Batch cookies. Mmmm!

This was uploaded to YouTube by sheaguevara.

Feel free to post a comment and share your memories of the Keebler Elves. See you again next week.

Saturday Commercial Break #6: Hardee's

2008-03-22T17:01:00.003-05:00

This week's Saturday Commercial Break is from Hardee's restaurants in 1972. The man behind the counter is enthusiastically telling customers about the Hardee's Huskee Jr. burger.

This was uploaded to YouTube by alecwally23.

I'd love to find some '70s Hardee's commercials with the old characters named Gilbert Giddyup and Speedy McGreedy. If anyone knows of any, please let me know.

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2008

2008-03-17T18:32:00.004-05:00

On behalf of my pal Uncle O'Grimacey and myself, we'd like to wish you all a very Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's a vintage plastic cup from the 1970s. These were given away in McDonald's around St. Patrick's Day when they were serving up Shamrock Shakes.

The beloved Uncle O'Grimacey, pictured here, was the Irish uncle of Grimace, and he would usher in the Shamrock Shakes season with all the pomp and circumstance that one would expect around McDonaldLand.

If you can still get Shamrock Shakes in your area, or if you've spotted Uncle O'Grimacey, let me know!

Saturday Commercial Break #5: Frosted Flakes

2008-03-15T22:42:00.003-05:00

For today's commercial break, let's enjoy an oldie from Kelloggs Frosted Flakes cereal, starring Tony the Tiger. Tony was voiced by Thurl Ravenscroft, who gave us one of the most recognizable commercial slogans -- They'rrrre Grrrrreat!

This commercial appears to be from the 1960s and was uploaded to YouTube by Freenbean.

Saturday Commercial Break #4: Charlie Tuna

2008-03-08T21:45:00.004-06:00

This week's Saturday Commercial Break is from Starkist Tuna, featuring everyone's favorite sea-dwelling hipster -- Charlie Tuna.

In this 1970s spot, uploaded to YouTube by daftmahatma, Charlie is planning a vacation and a new way to impress the folks at Starkist.

Stay classy, Charlie!

Saturday Commercial Break #3: Cheetos

2008-03-01T01:00:00.001-06:00

For this week's installment in the Saturday Commercial Break series, I've selected a great animated Chee-tos spot from the mid 1970s. It features one of my favorite advertising characters -- the sophisticated Chee-tos Mouse. In this adventure, he's taken his sailboat out to sea and, of course, brought along some delicious snacks.

You might enjoy my previous blog post regarding the Chee-tos Mouse here.

If you're wondering, yes, they used to spell Chee-tos with a dash, but they don't do that anymore. Here's a link to the official Cheetos website.

This commercial was uploaded to YouTube by TVNETWORKS.

Please post a comment and share your memories of the Cheetos Mouse.

Saturday Commercial Break #2: Nestle Quik and Atari

2008-02-23T01:33:00.004-06:00

Continuing in my new weekly series, this Saturday's commercial features the Nestle Quik bunny and friends playing some Atari video games. This was uploaded to YouTube by retroist.

I think this would be from the early 1980s or maybe late 1970s. Mix up a tall glass of Nestle Quik and have a great Saturday!

As always, I'd love to hear your comments about this commercial and memories of Nestle Quik or Atari. See you again next Saturday.

Saturday Commercial Break #1: Cocoa Krispies

2008-02-16T17:07:00.009-06:00

Hey blogfriends! I'm starting a new weekly series today called Saturday Commercial Break.

Each Saturday I will highlight a classic TV commercial, transporting us all back to Saturday mornings filled with bowls of Super Sugar Crisp cereal, Hong Kong Phooey cartoons and Incredible Hulk pajamas. [ Insert your own cereal, cartoon and pajama type for the full effect! ]

As always, I welcome your comments and memories you wish to share.

[ These commercials will all be embedded from YouTube and should display if you've got Flash installed in your browser. Click the play button and ZING, off you go! ]

On with the show... this is it!

Saturday Commercial Break #1: Cocoa Krispies

Here's a commercial from the late 1970s featuring Tusk Tusk the elephant, trumpeting the wholesome goodness of Kellogg's Cocoa Krispies cereal. This was uploaded to YouTube by lloydbentman.

Enjoy the commercial break, and please post a comment with your Cocoa Krispies memories or your opinion of this commercial. Stay tuned for next week!

McDonald's Valentines

2008-02-14T00:01:00.002-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

To celebrate the day, I thought I'd share some old Valentines. McDonald's used to give these away over several years in the 1970s. Here are four Valentines from 1974 (or maybe 1973), making this the earliest set that I've found.

Here we have:

Ronald McDonald
Captain Crook
Officer Big Mac
Evil Grimace

In the early days of McDonaldLand, Captain Crook had green hair, as shown on this card. Shortly afterwards the green hair was cut to make him look more like an average pirate that you'd see on the street back then.

Also of note is the Evil Grimace. Our furry friend Grimace used to have four arms and was originally a bad guy called the "Evil Grimace". This is one of the last promotions that I've found with the four-armed version. After this, they dropped the "Evil" from his name, dropped two of the arms and made him into the more friendly-looking Grimace that most of us know.

Here are the cards. Enjoy!

The Whitman Kid

2007-12-16T00:44:00.000-06:00

Kids from the '70s and '80s especially should recognize this logo from Whitman Publishing Company. Without knowing if this guy had a proper name, I'm just going to call him the Whitman Kid.

The Whitman Kid ruled over the kingdom of children's books, box puzzles, frame-tray puzzles and comic books produced by Whitman Publishing Company. He appeared prominently on those products from 1968 until approximately 1990. Their "Tell-A-Tale" book series was one of my personal favorites.

The Whitman Kid is a friendly looking kid, always with a big smile and that trademark W atop his head. What I enjoy about the design, besides the beauty of its simplicity, is the fact that the colors often changed. The Whitman Kid was a chameleon of sorts with the logo colors changing to match other colors in the book or puzzle cover.

Here's a custom logo that I put together for fun. I scanned in the logo from an old book and then cleaned up and colored it in Paintshop Pro.

Some historical information:

Hammerung-Whitman Publishing Company, as it was originally named, began in Chicago and was bought in 1915 by Western Publishing Company. "Whitman Publishing Company" then became a subsidiary of Western Publishing Company, which later also acquired the popular Little Golden Books line. The Whitman Publishing name was basically gone in the early 1990s in favor of the Golden Books brand name. More on the wacky company history can be found here: Western Publishing Company.

Now back to the good stuff!

Prior to the Whitman Kid's arrival circa 1968 (or possibly late 1967), Whitman puzzles, books and such had this simple logo.

The Whitman Kid is one of those cool character logos that probably many people find familiar, though placing him in context might not be easy for the average person. I think he's just one of those logos that we've all seen on products we enjoyed as kids. I'm just hoping in this blog post to give him a little more visibility and credit for being there for us kids in the '70s and '80s.

I don't know if he was used extensively in other promotions or premiums, but I was thrilled to come across this "Happy Helper" metal tab button in a box of assorted vintage toy "parts" I acquired last year.

YES! I want to be a Happy Helper, too!

As I mentioned, in my research I've found the Whitman Kid on products from 1968 through 1990. So far, I'd say he disappeared along with the Whitman name in the early 1990s. He had a good 20+ year run!

Well that's about it. This is my homage to the Whitman Kid. Please contact me if you have more information about him, including pictures, alternate logos and especially other premiums.

PS -- There is still a Whitman Publishing Company which focuses on Coin Collecting. It was indeed part of Western Publishing company too. Another group bought the coin division from Western and then assumed the Whitman name since the children's division was going with the Golden Books brand name. Confusing, eh?

Until next time, I'll leave you with a few more of my custom creations of our good friend. Let's all be Happy Helpers out there!

Commercials of Sir Grapefellow and Baron Von Redberry

2007-11-28T10:26:00.000-06:00

I just love old commercials. There are so many "lost" commercials that I've been looking for for many years. Two such commercials have just come to light, courtesy of OldTimeSportsNet2 on YouTube.

Here are the first commercials of Sir Grapefellow and Baron Von Redberry cereals that I've seen in over 30 years!

Updated Waffle Whiffer

2007-11-25T00:47:00.000-06:00

I just made a few design updates to the blog, most noticeably a new picture of Wallace the Waffle Whiffer.

The old picture was a screengrab from a commercial on a VHS tape. I enlarged it, then painted over it using PaintShop Pro, giving the Waffle Whiffer a fresh new look.

Here are the old and new pictures.

I also am displaying less previous blog posts on the main page to make it load faster. But you can always see previous posts in my blog archive.

You can read more about Wallace the Waffle Whiffer here in my blog archive.

Honeycomb Creeping Monsters

2007-09-30T00:02:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone. Sorry I haven't posted anything new to the blog in a while. I've got plenty of ideas that I'm working on, and hope to have some more detailed posts again soon.

For now, here's a super cool Honeycomb cereal box with the Creeping Monsters promotion from late 1976 (expires August 1977). I have one of the two monsters, shown below.

Kellogg's Bike Stickers 1977

2007-07-28T12:00:00.000-05:00

Here's a Sugar Smacks cereal box from 1977, featuring Dig'em the frog on the front and the Cartoon Bike Sticker premiums on back.

And here are half of the premiums from this set.

H.R. Pufnstuf Cereal Promo

2007-07-15T00:35:00.001-05:00

Here's a Froot Loops cereal box back and side panel from 1970. It features Krofft's H.R. Pufnstuf and the free fun rings that came inside. The side panel has the mail-away offer for a Freddy the Flute instrument.

Too bad it's not a complete box, but I'm not really complaining...

Trix Cereal Bicentennial

2007-07-04T18:51:00.000-05:00

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Today we'll celebrate our Independence Day with a look back at our bicentennial year of 1976.

This is a Trix cereal box from General Mills from 1976 with that Silly Rabbit on front. In line with the celebration we were treated to the Revolutionary Hero Badge stickers. Collect all 4!

And here are two of the four stickers from the set.

Let's all be thankful today (and always) for the freedoms we have in this great country. God bless the U.S.A.

Honeycomb Hideout - 1976

2007-06-29T23:58:00.000-05:00

Kids from the 1970s will remember this box front with the smiling Honeycomb kid. This box of Post Honeycomb cereal was from late in 1976 with an expiration date of June 1977.

The featured premium is for Super Lite-Up Stickers, which most of us promptly stuck to our wall or door, only to upset our parents.

On the back side of the box we get a rare glimpse of the kids-only Honeycomb Hideout.

[ click to see larger pictures ]

Mission Orange Sun

2007-05-29T00:14:00.000-05:00

I found this advertisement for Mission Beverages in a magazine from 1952. Their orange drink gives you that "California Sunshine Flavor". Sounds pretty good, eh?

I like the little Sun character, smiling while enjoying a tasty orange beverage. It should be memorable enough with that expressive face and wreath of oranges adorning its head.

The ad was well before my time. I did some web searches and cannot determine if Mission Beverages or their product line are still around. It appears that they are not.

In my searching, I did turn up some more ads from the same era with the same Sun character, assuring me that it was no one-trick-pony.

While I've not found the name for this Sun character, if it even had one, I thought it deserved a home page of sorts on the internet. So from now on, Mission Orange Sun -- this page is just for you! Hopefully some friends of this allegedly fine beverage will be able to share more information about you and your beverage of choice.

This next ad gives us a chance to win the California Jackpot -- like your own California orange grove, sports car and pony! All you have to do is complete the last line for their new jingle:

Mission Orange tastes just right!
Drink it morning, noon or night.
This sunny California treat
(insert your line)
----------------------------------

I'm certainly eager to know how the contest went and what the winning jingle was. If you know, or have a good final line of your own, let us all know!

Well hopefully more information will turn up about the Mission Orange Sun, but until then this page shines bright in its memory.

King Ding Dong (& 40th anniversary!)

2007-05-20T21:08:00.002-05:00

This year we celebrate the 40th anniversary of one of America's favorite snack cakes -- Hostess Ding Dongs!

Originally launched on March 18, 1967, this delicious treat is basically a hockey puck-shaped chocolate cake, with creamy filling and a chocolate-coated shell. In the old days they were individually wrapped in foil, but they switched to plastic years ago. The Ding Dongs name came from the sound of a ringing bell, which was featured on the original boxes and TV commercials.

By 1970, from the creative mind of animator Don Duga, Hostess gave us a character to represent these cakes. A snack cake himself -- complete with mustache, crown and scepter -- the honorable King Ding Dong arrived with the customary pomp and circumstance to rule over Ding Dong Kingdom.

[ Jeff Pidgeon did this great redraw of my iron-on patch. Thanks, Jeff! ]

Let's take a quick break here to watch this vintage Ding Dongs commercial.

For a brief time in the '70s there was an orange-flavored Ding Dongs variety, featuring an orange King on the box. I don't remember the orange variety, but I'm sure they were tasty. I bought this repro magnet on eBay to show as an example.

As for the standard chocolate variety, here's a box I have from 1978 showing the good King doing his thing.

In my years of collecting and devouring snack cakes, I've not come across many premiums or promotional items of the King. Besides the actual cake boxes, some items I've seen include:

cut-out finger puppet (1970s)
plastic cup? (1970s)
iron-on (1981)
t-shirt (1980s)
2 different pogs (1994)
lip balm (2005)

Some cool plastic character cups were made of other Hostess characters, probably in the late '70s. I've not seen one with King Ding Dong, but would guess they were made, too.

While I've seen many promotional signs featuring other Hostess characters, it seems that the King just wasn't used as much in advertising. If you know about other items, please let me know.

You may be reading this thinking about a similar cake by a different name. Hostess had three different names for the same cake at different times and in different regions. In the West and Mid-West they were called Ding Dongs. In the East, to avoid confusion with a competing product, they were called King Dons and had the same King but named "King Don". In other regions the cakes were called Big Wheels and had a different character named Chief Big Wheels.

While the product naming is confusing, Hostess eventually ditched the others and consolidated under the original Ding Dongs name.

Here's a pog from 1994. Notice here he's named King Ding Don. This may have been a printing error; otherwise that's the third name they've used for him.

King Ding Dong is no longer used in Hostess advertising, which is a royal shame! I believe he was exiled from product boxes by the late 1980s. He previously had a nice page at the Hostess Cakes website, but even that disappeared around 2004. It's safe to say that the good King is now retired.

Before I get out some foil and wrap up this snack cake memory, I'll leave you with one more Ding Dongs commercial.

Wouldn't it be great if the good folks at Funko made a Wacky Wobbler of King Ding Dong? Certainly that would be a crowning achievement, to say the least! Hopefully someday...

"A chocolate-flavored world in every bite!"

Happy Earth Day from Sugar Bear!

2007-04-22T12:43:00.000-05:00

Happy Earth Day!

Today we celebrate Earth Day and remind everyone to do their part to recycle, conserve energy and help preserve our environment.

Sugar Bear and Super Sugar Crisp cereal did their part in 1971, offering kids the Sugar Bear Ecology Club kit. Here are some pictures from my collection.

Ecology Flag sticker:

On the back of the membership card, Sugar Bear reminds us:

Clean up your world
Litter hurts everyone
Each member must do his share
Animals are our friends
Nature belongs to all of us

Here are two scenes from the Fun Book. Sugar Bear stops Blob and his big pollution machine.

Happy Earth Day!

Raiders of The Lost Snacks

2007-04-07T22:04:00.000-05:00

I've started a new photo group on Flickr, dedicated to snack food characters. It's called Raiders of The Lost Snacks.

I'm finding there are plenty of cool folks out there who love this kind of stuff too. Please join and contribute if you can.

If you don't know about Flickr, it's a Yahoo photo sharing site. You can get a free basic account which allows you to post up to 200 pictures, join groups and comment on other people's photos.

[ My other favorite group on Flickr is the Sugar Frosted Cereal Museum. ]

Snack away, cyber friends!

Note -- You may not be able to see all of the photos unless you've logged in to Flickr.

[ King Don, also known as King Ding Dong from Hostess Ding Dongs ]