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.
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.
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.
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 DingDon. 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...
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.
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.
In celebration of the 75th anniversary of that salty, crunchy goodness known as Fritos, we have been treated to a revival of none other than The Frito Kid.
I picked up this single-serve bag of chips at my local sandwich shop.
The Frito Kid was a bit before my time. (Now W.C. Fritos is another story, uh, for another day). Frito Kid represented Fritos from 1952 until 1967 when he was replaced by the infamous Frito Bandito.
I really love it when that often suppressed nostalgic side of companies slips out into public view. How cool it is to see classic advertising characters and packaging revived, even if just briefly!
Some other examples of this trend in recent years:
2006-2007, Quaker brought back the barefoot pirate, Jean LaFoote, in Cap'n Crunch ads.
2001, Hostess brought back Captain Cupcake for a Golden Cupcakes promotion.
Recent years, Burger King brought back the magical Burger King, though a bit creepy in a molded head.
Well, I sure hope this trend in advertising continues.
Back to the Frito Kid -- After some research on the web, I've found that there was (or still is?) a "CasadeFritos" restaurant at Disneyland. I've never been to Disneyland, but CasadeFritos sounds like my kind of restaurant, for sure!
While he became the official Fritos mascot in 1952, he had been featured in a cookbook in the late 1940s.
As the Frito Kid will likely be riding off into the sunset after the 75th anniversary celebration fades away, I'll leave you with a few pictures I found on the internet.
Happy 75th Anniversary, Fritos!
If you've got memories of The Frito Kid or even some information about CasadeFritos, please post a comment here. I will be enjoying a Frito Pie in the meantime.
Several years ago, I was thrilled to uncover some push puppet toys of these fun little sea creature characters. They are dated 1969 and marked "Sea Host". After scouring the web for information on Sea Host, I turned up virtually nothing.
Here's the first push puppet. His name is Ossie Oyster. He seemed like a happy enough little fellow, so I kept him. Then the quest began to find out more about Ossie and this "Sea Host" entity.
Since information regarding Sea Host is very sparse, I'll throw out what I know and hope that others can share information and piece together the mystery.
Here's what I know -- Sea Host was a seafood restaurant chain, locally owned and nationally franchised. It was a subsidiary of Proteus Foods & Industries.
The only dated materials I've located are the push puppets which are dated 1969. Was Sea Host around before 1969? How long after 1969 did it remain in business? Are there any Sea Host restaurants still around? I'm plagued with more questions than answers.
I'll add the fact that I've never seen a Sea Host restaurant, never dined in one and have no fond memories of it at all.
Now, on to the fun stuff! Sea Host's crowning achievement was not their lobster bisque, but rather their legacy of fun but obscure spokes-creatures. In fact a group of six characters represented the restaurant chain, led by a fish named Sylvester C. Host.
Sylvester C. Host -- a fish in a chef's hat and leader of the gang
Ossie Oyster -- a tiny oyster who wore a beret
Mr. Big The Shrimp -- an older shrimp with a large mustache
Turtle The Turtle -- a turtle with the least imaginative name
Smiley The Crab -- a blue crab who wore glasses
Clem The Clam -- a happy clam who wore a rain hat
A full set of six push puppets was created, and here they are.
The Smiley The Crab push puppet is quite spectacular, though I'm partial to Clem The Clam as my favorite Sea Host character.
The next and last find was this give-away comic book which is undated but probably from the late 1960s.
As the comic story goes, Ossie asks Sylvester to help find Clem who they think has been "clam-napped". It turns out to be a ruse to bring Sylvester to his surprise birthday party.
I'll have to wrap up the Sea Host story with that. I've not found any other memorabilia or information about the chain. I do know that Sea Host, Inc. was located at 477 Madison Avenue in New York City.
Blog Readers -- Let me know what you think about these characters and please contribute any information you have about the restaurant or other collectibles. Which of the six sea creatures do you like the best?
Gotta run! A few more pictures are on my Flickr site here.
[ Well, I'm back in the blogging business after a break, though I have been posting pictures on my Flickr site. Grab a plate of waffles and enjoy! ]
What better way to start the new year than a little post about that beloved, polka-dotted, cereal muncher known as The Crunchberry Beast.
The Crunchberry Beast represented Quaker Oats Crunch Berries cereal from approximately 1968-1985 as part of the Cap'n Crunch cereal family. His appropriately simple name reflected his all-consuming passion -- the eating of the Crunchberries.
Our unusual friend had yellow skin with big red spots, a long snout, buckteeth, corkscrew tail and a tuft of bright red hair.
By all accounts and recollections, "C.B." -- as he was often called by Cap'n Crunch -- was a rather energetic and hyperactive little guy, getting mostly enthused when there was some scrumptious cereal to be had.
He seemed to have a lot to say, but generally used very few words. His typical utterance was something like "boop boop boop boop boop!", spoken in a cereal-crazed frenzy.
As the story goes, C.B. was living a peaceful life on Crunchberry Island. One day Cap'n Crunch and friends arrived, discovered the Crunchberry Trees, and later C.B. himself. C.B. quickly joined the crew and set sail for further cereal adventures on the S.S. Guppy.
While Crunch Berries cereal was first on the market around 1967, the original cereal boxes featured only the Cap'n and a Crunchberry Tree, but no Beast. (Actually he wasn't even in the first Crunch Berries TV commercial.)
Starting in the early 1970s, C.B. took his rightful place on the box alongside the Cap'n.
Here's a box from the late '70s.
The Crunchberry Beast was another fantastic character from the minds of Jay Ward and Bill Scott. Jay Ward created the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon, among others, and such memorable advertising characters as Cap'n Crunch, Quisp, Quake and of course Wallace the Waffle Whiffer. Bill Scott provided the voices for many characters including Bullwinkle and our pal the Crunchberry Beast.
Here's a list of some cereal premiums featuring the Crunchberry Beast:
"Beast Inside" iron-on patch
"I'm Lost" bumper sticker
"State of Confusion" pennant sticker
unicycle glass sticker
padlock and key
farm animals stamp album
Book of Fun & Games
Crunch Money dollar
cardboard dominoes game
4 different posters
storyscope watch and story disks
glow-in-the-dark puzzle
a few smaller stickers
movie viewer strip
Unfortunately, C.B. did not make the cut for some of the cooler plastic premiums like the balloon racers, surfers or spaceships. Those would have been great. I think his only individual appearance in plastic was this super-cool padlock and key set.
I'll interject here to say that Crunch Berries cereal was quite delicious during my prime cereal-eating years of the late '70s! One of my all-time favorites, it was the standard Cap'n Crunch taste with just the right amount of strawberry-flavored bites mixed in. Quaker added some different colored berries in the post-Beast years, and I can't say that I really approved of the change.
Here's a commercial featuring the Crunchberry Beast foiling Jean LaFoote's plot. (This is embedded from YouTube, and should be playable here if you have Flash installed in your browser.)
Here are some pictures of premiums I've acquired over the years.
Well the Crunchberry Beast was retired around 1985, along with most other Cap'n Crunch characters, besides the Cap'n himself. Bill Scott passed away in 1985 and Jay Ward's contract with Quaker Oats was over, after a long and tremendous run.
The Crunchberry Beast was such an effective advertising character, at least for this author. I put away a lot of his cereal, and remember him fondly over 20 years later. And every now and then I get that sugar-charged excitement in finding a new collectible that I hadn't seen before, like the dominoes set I recently discovered!
C.B. lives on, of course, in the many vintage collectibles and classic commercials that have survived. I imagine he's off in animation land munching some crunchy cereal right about now, and telling tales about his many adventures on the S.S. Guppy.
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