Fruit Of The Month - #2: Mr. Melon

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)

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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!