Merry Christmas from Willy Wonka!

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?

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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!

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!