I was stuck for an idea for the year's first Blast from the Past. And then I thought, new year. New and improved (we hope) year! Remember how all the products on TV in the seventies were constantly new & improved? We never really figured out what was so different, but they sure made a big deal of it. So, here are some of those old pop culture nuggets.
1. Tide detergent - Probably the most improved item in commercials was detergent. By now, you'd think they'd have it perfect! 3. Zest soap - Soap was always being improved too. And how many times did they go through the, "Wait a minute, it's not new." "No, it's new and improved!" bit? 3. Quake & Quisp cereal - How improved could they be? Did you ever even eat either of them in the first place? 4. Secret deodorant - Yeah, apparently, they couldn't get this one right the first time either. 5. Diet Pepsi - This one was novel for its time, inspiring countless spoofs, including a classic Saturday Night Live "General Dynamics" clip. 6. Pringles Potato Chips - Now, with RIDGES! 7. Hunts Tomato Ketchup - Roy Clark of Hee-Haw explains why Hunts is now better than Heinz. 8. Windex window cleaner - I'm betting your life just wasn't complete until they improved Windex with lemon.
That's it for this week. I'm sure there are many, many more. But the YouTube search engine doesn't make it easy! Happy Monday!
Yes, kids, it's a rerun this week. But it's from two and a half years ago, so it's time for a revisit anyway. It's personally topical, because I'm anxiously awaiting the release of the 2015 Jeep Renegade. While I think it's great looking, there is a contingent (mostly Jeep purists) who think it is ugly. Enjoy!
ORIGINAL POST:
I don't think the new Dodge Dart will land on many "ugly" lists. Image from MSNBC.
I got the idea for this week's Blast from the Past from the news story that Chrysler is bringing back the Dodge Dart. The new one is a much different critter from the old 60s and 70s Dart, which started kind of classic, and became desperately ugly by the mid-1970s. But so many did!
There is no doubt that Detroit made a lot of ugly iron in the 1970s. Whatever brand loyalty and reputation they may have earned in the previous 50 years was all but destroyed by those crappy cars. Some of them became classics anyway, whether ironically or not. But most of these beasties can only be loved with buckets full of nostalgia thrown on them.
1. Chrysler Cordoba - Only remembered for Ricardo Montalban's "rich Corinthian leather!" 2. Chevrolet Chevette (1976) - This ugly duckling debuted with fanfare it didn't deserve. It never, ever turned into a swan.
3. AMC Pacer - Ugly inside and out, even with a Chevy Nova inside. 4. AMC Gremlin - They took a reasonable looking Hornet, chopped off the trunk, then made it as ugly as possible.
5. Ford Pinto (1970) - Much like the Chevette, Ford tried to make this sound like something wonderful and exciting, and "care free." If you don't care about fires. . . 6. Dodge Dart Swinger - Ten kinds of ugly, swinger or not. (Cheating a little, this is a '69 commercial)
7. Plymouth Duster (1972) - This one actually looked uglier to me in its original time. Given how ugly so many other cars of the era look now, this one is growing on me. 8. Oldsmobile Omega Brougham (1976) - I picked this car because almost nobody remembers it. Unlike the others, it doesn't have a legend that goes with it. But it is a great example of how little thought went into making cars attractive in America in the 1970s. (The original ad is missing, I had to substitute an '80)
That will just about do it for me for the week. I know there are many unrepresented ugly 70s cars, so I tagged this as "Part 1."And we've got other decades to hit too! Happy Monday!
I'm in the tail-end phase of a home improvement project that just snowballed through the entire first quarter of the year, on into spring. We'll complete the effort over the next week or so, but in the meantime, things are in a bit of disarray. As such, there's a constant need for cleaning, and that got me to thinking of all the cleaning products that used to be advertised when I was growing up. Loads of them are still around today, of course, but the commercials aren't as classic.
1. Mr. Clean (1978) 2. Calgon (1970s) - I've used this before, but can't resist.
3. Palmolive (1981) - With Madge the manicurist 4. Dow Scrubbing Bubbles (1978)
5. Spic and Span (1970s) - With Minnie Pearl! 6. S.O.S Pads (1981)
7. Atlantic Bee Mop (1987) 8. Mop & Glo (1988)
9. Clorox 2 (1986) - The magic of Clorox 2! 10. Wisk (1971) - Ring around the collar!
And with that, I'll wish you a good (clean & fresh) week, and a happy Monday!
We, as a country, are fat. Big and fat. I myself am finding myself 10 pounds heavier that what used to be my "fat weight." Ugh. How did this happen? Well, of course, the food manufacturers have been combining products (Taco Bell and Velveeta salad dressing?), creating multiple versions of products (3-D Doritos?), and just doing everything they can to make us want to eat their products. Some of them sound insanely good (Bischoff cookie spread?), and others just end up at Big Lots because they sound weird. But few of them will help you stay thin.
Still, it's not like Madison Avenue just thought up marketing. Since the 50s and 60s, food companies have been making all kinds of processed foods and food-like edible products. And by the 70s and 80s, they were firmly in the pop culture consciousness. So why weren't we all fat then? Something to ponder. And while you do, here are some of the items you might have had in your fridge, freezer or pantry back in the 70s and 80s. Most are still around today, but their image was molded (pressed and extruded) there!
1. Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Beefaroni/Beef-O-getti (1970) 2. Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (1986) - with William "Refrigerator" Perry
3. Swanson Hungry Man Dinners (1973) - with Jeff Conaway 4. Banquet Pre-cooked Fried Chicken (1976)
5. Franco-American Spaghetti-Os (1973) 6. Roast 'n Boast Oven Cooking Bag Seasoning Mix (1972) - with Eve Arden. This product was a little known cousin to #7.
7. Shake 'n Bake (early 1980s) - with Ann B. Davis of The Brady Bunch 8. Pillsbury "Fun-fetti" Cake Mix and Icing (early 80s) - with the Pillsbury Dough Boy
And now, I'm hungry. Oh well, have a great week everyone. Happy Monday!
Last week, I brought you gadgets of yesteryear. This week, I thought I'd go bigger. The kind of thing you got at an appliance store, something that used to be a lot more common before big-box stores became the norm. See how many you remember, and if you're too young, see how it used to be.
1. Amana Radarange microwave oven (1976) - With Barbara Hale of Perry Mason fame.
2. Maytag (1967) - This is the first of the "lonely repairman" spots, for all of Maytags appliances.
3. RCA ColorTrak TV (1979) - Sadly, not the one with Rula Lenska
4. Magnavox LaserDisc (1980s) - Not a commercial, but a demonstration, with Leonard Nimoy!
5. GE Dishwasher (1983)
6. Sears Appliances (1983) - Several appliances here, from a microwave to a VCR, a washer, a projection TV, and more.
7. Sharp Carousel microwave (1986)
8. Westinghouse Refrigerators (1968) - Here's a weird promo (longer than a commercial) for "Match Your Mood" customized fridges.
And we'll leave it there for this week, since this was a harder topic than I realized! It'll do for now though, and I'll see you back here next week. Meanwhile, have a great week. Happy Monday!
Today, I had a lapse in my diet. The Other Half and I were sniping at each other yesterday (home improvements can lead to that!), and I was feeling a little off. So, after I got him a battery for his watch (third store I tried) while he's away, I rationalized that I deserved some Raising Cane's chicken fingers! Don't ask me how that tracks, because I don't really know. Just go with it.
Consequently, I'm off the diet with both feet for the day. And it got me to thinking about snacks. Which does totally make sense. So, here's this week's topic. I'm sure it's a place I've visited before, maybe even recently. And I will return to it again. Probably the next time I'm feeling grouchy!
1. Pringle's New Fangled Potato Chips (1968) 2. Lay's Potato Chips (1960s) - with Buddy Hackett
3. Frito's Corn Chips (1970s) - "Muncha buncha Frito's go with lunch!" 4. Keebler Tato Skins (1980s) - "Baked potato appeal!"
5. Chex Cereal Party Mix (1992) - The Peanuts gang make the mix before it was pre-bagged. 6. Planters Cheez Balls (1980s) - The Cheez Curls were better, IMO.
7. Orville Reddenbacher's Pop Corn & "Buttery-flavored Oil" (1982) 8. Rice Krispies Treats (1980s) - Again, before they were pre-packaged.
I've done a lot of Blast from the Pastinstallments, on many subjects. And though I'm pretty sure I've included soap commercials, and maybe even one or two of the selections below, I've never hit the all-time NEW! IMPROVED!!! category itself: laundry detergent. For whatever reason, in the 70s especially, Wall Street was intent on selling us improved soap for our clothes. Some of these are still with us today, and they just keep improving them!
Often, this column expounds at length on the clips featured, but I'm not sure it's necessary with this one. I mean, what can you say about soap? I'll just let the commercials (mostly) speak for themselves!
1. Calgon - "Ancient Chinese secret, huh?"
2. Oxydol Plus
3. Tide
4. Wisk - "Ring around the collar!"
5. Cheer - With a Star Trek theme, from 1969!
6. Bold - With Laugh-In's JoAnne Worley!
7. Gain
8. Era
And that's a wash! We're done for the weekend, happy Monday, everybody!
Okay, this is an experiment that might just peter out before I can make a full-length post. I'm going to try to find some good ol' vintage Thanksgiving-themed commercials. The product is unimportant, and can range from Stovetop Stuffing to holiday specials or "very special episodes" of old TV shows. My goal is just to find 6-12 Thanksgivingy nostalgic nuggets for you to peruse. Let's see what happens!
1. Stovetop Stuffing (1980) - This one was obvious, and the first thing I thought of. It's an ongoing campaign running at least back to the 1970s: stuffing or potatoes? I don't think I've ever had a Thanksgiving without both! Still, this is a bit of a fail, because I couldn't find a vintage one specifically about Thanksgiving. Close, but no tom turkey. Moving on. . .
2. Butterball Turkey (1974) - This is better! Though Melissa Gilbert only mentions a "holiday," we're getting closer.
3. Cool Whip (1969) - Finally, we're spot-on for the Thanksgiving holiday, and surely this one sparks some nostalgic memories for people out there old enough to remember!
4. Durkee French-fried Onions (1993) - Another one that is specifically Thanksgiving, and since we're four-clips deep, this topic is at least half-way viable! And I love these things, straight out of the bag. Nom-nom-nom.
5. MetLife Insurance (1989) - Charlie Brown and the Peanuts characters had a holiday special), and they also were hucksters for MetLife for many years (maybe still?).
6. Quaker Oats (1980s) - Wilford Brimley brings his folksy charm to oats. . .which really have little to do with Thanksgiving (or diabetes), other than that this is a Thanksgiving-themed ad!
7. Alka-Seltzer (1970s) - This one is for after Thanksgiving! I can't believe I at the whole thing!
And that will have to do it, because though this search might turn up some more fun memories, YouTube's search feature is terrible at sorting this subject out for some reason. Anyway, here's to a short work week (unless you're unlucky enough to work for a greedy retailer), and a very happy Thanksgiving!
There is still such a thing as a commercial pitchman (or woman), and by that I mean a character created to sell a product or service, not merely a celebrity endorser. Back in the 60s, 70s and 80s, it seemed every big brand had it's own character. And in a world with basically three commercial channels on television, these characters were known to pretty much everybody.
1. Charmin Bathroom Tissue's "Mr. Whipple" - Why this grocery store clerk was so adamant that customers "please don't squeeze the Charmin," I have no idea. But he couldn't help doing it himself.
2. Palmolive Dish Washing Liquid's "Madge, the manicurist" - Madge was a bit snarky for her day, and seemed to get larger as the years went on. And she never got slapped for shoving a client's hand into a bowl of soap.
"Softens hands while you do the dishes!"
3. Folger's Coffee's "Mrs. Olson" - Wise and friendly, Mrs. Olson always made coffee that was "mountain grown." 4. Maxwell House's "Cora" - Buying coffee from the Wicked Witch of the West? Sure, if it's "good to the last drop!"
5. Chiffon Margarine's "Mother Nature," - There were lots of memorable margarine commercial, but only Chiffon's got a regular character. "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!" 6. Isuzu Motors' "Joe Isuzu" - Traipsing into the 80s, we find Joe Isuzu who was always lying. I'm not sure why that caught on.
7. Bartles & Jaymes Wine Coolers- No, these guys weren't the proprietors, they were just actors playing a part, but they still "thank you for your support." 8. Bounty Paper Towels' Rosie the Waitress - Nancy Walker was probably more known for touting "the quicker picker upper" than she was for her acting gigs on Rhoda and McMillan & Wife.
And that's it for this week's trip down memory lane. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Happy Monday!
Being trapped in another Atkins Diet loop (attempt number six? seven?), I'm longing for snacks. Different kinds of snacks at different moments, of course. Right now, it's crackers. I have an oddly specific urge for Keebler Club Crackers. Mmmm, buttery. So, I shall now inflict my urge for crackers onto you, dear reader! Enjoy.
1. Nabisco Ritz Crackers, 1977, Andy Griffith
2. Sunshine Hi-Ho Crackers, 70s, Gary Burghoff (Radar from "Mash")
3. Keebler Town House Crackers, 80s
4. Nabisco Wheat Thins, 1991, Sandy Duncan
And that will have to do it. Because, my cravings don't always line up with what is out there on the YouTubes! For instance, I would have used a much older Goldfish commercial. I couldn't find classic ones for Club crackers (which started this whole thing), Chicken in a Biskit, Cheez-It and others. Plus, it's weird that Sunshine Biscuits was bought by Keebler which was then bought by Kellogg. Nabisco, in turn has been owned by Phillip Morris, Kraft, and most recently a mega-conglomerate called Mondelez. Who knew?
Anyway, my craving is gone, and there's sort of a sour feeling left about the very small number of companies that own everything. And that takes us back into politics! Happy Monday, and don't fortet, it's Veteran's Day.
Another weekend gone, and between the Emmy Awards, chores, work, dealing with a mystery ailment, and adjusting to a "bland food" diet, I'm a little too spent to come up with a brand new Blast from the Past this week. But since I'm thinking of yummy, delicious foods, here's a rerun from the earlier days of the blog. I double-checked, and the videos are still good. I even embiggened them for you! Enjoy.
ORIGINAL POST:
Image found at Democratic Underground
I've wanted a weekly feature on the blog for a long time. I've got several regular themes here, Right Wing World, Science is Cool, Lest We Forget. . ., What Happens in Vegas, America the Stupid and others. But they come and go with no regularity. Well, I'm going to try to change that now.
Practically since I started the blog, I've run several Blast from the Past posts, each centering on a particular batch of videos that have something in common. I've created a couple of new ones over successive Sundays, and realized that Sunday is the perfect day for it. It's a slow news day unless the Sunday morning political shows break something shocking (usually a politician putting his or her foot in their mouth). So, from now on, Blast from the Past has a home on Sunday evenings (or Monday mornings, depending upon what time zone you're in).
This week? Well, I loved the old Pringles ad from when the dehydrated snack chip first came out, so why not snack foods of the 70s? Sounds yummy, let's go!
1. Peter Paul Almond Joy & Mounds Candy Bars - This one will noodle around in your head for a while. 2. Lay's Potato Chips - Okay, so we've got Bert Lahr, the Cowardly Lion dressed as Satan, and he apparently can eat just one? I'm confused. . . 3. Doritos - I'd forgotten about the fat Dorito's guy until I found this clip. See if you remember him. 4. Jiffy Pop Popcorn - I'm pretty sure that's Ruth Buzzi. 5. Nestle $100,000 Bar - I think they call this the One Hundred Grand bar now. 6. Keebler Fudge Cookies - Somehow elves making cookies in a tree doesn't sound all that hygienic to me. 7. York Peppermint Patties - This is from a whole series of commercials that were never funny. 8. Hostess Snack Cakes - Okay, so Twinkies are fresh and wholesome? Hostess and kids, they go together. Well, duh.
NOTE: This one is really a blast from the past, a rerun from April, while I get my brains back in my head after a really tough weekend/week/month!
I was stuck for a topic for this week's Blast from the Past, so I went out to the fridge to get a yogurt, and it reminded me of something. There was a Dannon Yogurt commercial with old Soviets, giving the impression that if you ate their yogurt, you'd live past 100. And if you believe that. . .
Anyway, I thought I'd revisit the subject of classic commercials. There are a number of 70s and 80s commercials particularly that really stand out in pop culture history. Here are a few of them.
1. The afore mentioned Dannon Yogurt ad.
2. Calgon water softener: "Ancient Chinese secret, huh?"
3. Oscar Mayer balogna: "My baloney has a first name. . .
4. Life Cereal: "Let's get Mikey!"
I was stuck for a topic for this week's Blast from the Past, so I went out to the fridge to get a yogurt, and it reminded me of something. There was a Dannon Yogurt commercial with old Soviets, giving the impression that if you ate their yogurt, you'd live past 100. And if you believe that. . .
Anyway, I thought I'd revisit the subject of classic commercials. There are a number of 70s and 80s commercials particularly that really stand out in pop culture history. Here are a few of them.
1. The afore mentioned Dannon Yogurt ad.
2. Calgon water softener: "Ancient Chinese secret, huh?"
3. Oscar Mayer balogna: "My baloney has a first name. . .
4. Life Cereal: "Let's get Mikey!"
This week's edition of Blast from the Past is surely not original, but it is entertaining! Over the years, the Super Bowl has become more than just a football game. I--for example--have less interest in football than I have in obscure Scandinavian poetry. But I find myself at a Super Bowl party almost every year, and sometimes host them. I'm there for the snacks, the revelry, occasionally the game, and mostly, the commercials. But this is not a recent phenomenon. It's been going on for a while now.
And, since the Blogger software tried to eat this post as I wrote it, I'm going to call this one finished! Hope your team won, or at least you were relieved that it wasn't a blowout. Happy Monday, everybody.
Sorry kids, this weekend was kind of busy, and I'm going to have to rely on a rerun for Blast from the Past. Hopefully, you haven't seen these yet!
Original post:
When I decided years ago to make Blast from the Past a regular weekly feature, what I didn't think about was the level of difficulty. Not only can the research be a chore, but so is the process of putting them into a post. Blogger--the software I use to build the blog--is notoriously bad at handling repeated cutting and pasting. It just eats the videos, or sometimes repeats them. It's frustrating.
By now though, I've got quite a backlog of this feature. So this week I decided to go with a rerun. Which is okay, because on any given day I've got a different audience anyway! And this one is chock full of nostalgia. Just go with it, I'm tired.
1. Calgon - Ancient Chinese secret, huh? 2. Pringles "New Fangled" Potato Chips - Did you forget they came in a paper sleeve? Now, they just let them crumble in the package. 3. Slinky - Every kid had one. Every kid got tired of them in about 10 minutes. Every kid eventually tangled them up. 4. Gnip Gnop - Somebody was stoned when they came up with the name. 5. Count Chocula and Frankenberry Cereal - Gayest. Cartoon characters. Ever. Ok, yeah, there was Snagglepuss. 6. Coca-Cola -"I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony. . ." Dirty hippies! 7. Burger King - I couldn't find the "Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce. . ." one, but this'll do nicely. 8. Ultra Brite - The late, lovely Farrah Fawcett in one of her earliest TV spots.
When I decided years ago to make Blast from the Past a regular weekly feature, what I didn't think about was the level of difficulty. Not only can the research be a chore, but so is the process of putting them into a post. Blogger--the software I use to build the blog--is notoriously bad at handling repeated cutting and pasting. It just eats the videos, or sometimes repeats them. It's frustrating.
By now though, I've got quite a backlog of this feature. So this week I decided to go with a rerun. Which is okay, because on any given day I've got a different audience anyway! And this one is chock full of nostalgia. Just go with it, I'm tired.
1. Calgon - Ancient Chinese secret, huh? 2. Pringles "New Fangled" Potato Chips - Did you forget they came in a paper sleeve? Now, they just let them crumble in the package. 3. Slinky - Every kid had one. Every kid got tired of them in about 10 minutes. Every kid eventually tangled them up. 4. Gnip Gnop - Somebody was stoned when they came up with the name. 5. Count Chocula and Frankenberry Cereal - Gayest. Cartoon characters. Ever. Ok, yeah, there was Snagglepuss. 6. Coca-Cola -"I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony. . ." Dirty hippies! 7. Burger King - I couldn't find the "Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce. . ." one, but this'll do nicely. 8. Ultra Brite - The late, lovely Farrah Fawcett in one of her earliest TV spots.
I don't think the new Dodge Dart will land on many "ugly" lists. Image from MSNBC.
I got the idea for this week's Blast from the Past from the news story that Chrysler is bringing back the Dodge Dart. The new one is a much different critter from the old 60s and 70s Dart, which started kind of classic, and became desperately ugly by the mid-1970s. But so many did!
There is no doubt that Detroit made a lot of ugly iron in the 1970s. Whatever brand loyalty and reputation they may have earned in the previous 50 years was all but destroyed by those crappy cars. Some of them became classics anyway, whether ironically or not. But most of these beasties can only be loved with buckets full of nostalgia thrown on them.
1. Chrysler Cordoba - Only remembered for Ricardo Montalban's "rich Corinthian leather!" 2. Chevrolet Chevette (1976) - This ugly duckling debuted with fanfare it didn't deserve. It never, ever turned into a swan.
3. AMC Pacer - Ugly inside and out, even with a Chevy Nova inside. 4. AMC Gremlin - They took a reasonable looking Hornet, chopped off the trunk, then made it as ugly as possible.
5. Ford Pinto (1970) - Much like the Chevette, Ford tried to make this sound like something wonderful and exciting, and "care free." If you don't care about fires. . . 6. Dodge Dart Swinger - Ten kinds of ugly, swinger or not.
7. Plymouth Duster (1972) - This one actually looked uglier to me in its original time. Given how ugly so many other cars of the era look now, this one is growing on me. 8. Oldsmobile Omega Broughm (1976) - I picked this car because almost nobody remembers it. Unlike the others, it doesn't have a legend that goes with it. But it is a great example of how little thought went into making cars attractive in America in the 1970s.
That will just about do it for me for the week. I know there are many unrepresented ugly 70s cars, so I tagged this as "Part 1."And we've got other decades to hit too! Happy Monday!
Okay, so we just had friends over for some cards and some libations, and. . .well. . .I'm not really up for a whole bunch of exposition here. That doesn't mean you can't have fun with some of these videos, though. There's a whole lot of nostalgia here. You might have forgotten, but you'll go right back to the time these first aired. For example, what's the food cats ask for by name?
I'm still trying to stick to the Atkins Diet, but I find myself weak on weekends. I'm pretty good about it throughout the week, then we have some sort of get together, and I throw caution to the wind. I'm still hoping that those Carb Intercept capsules are a little more than a placebo (but if they are a placebo, don't tell me!). One thing that I haven't had much of for a long time are snack cakes. I love them, particularly Little Debbie BIG oatmeal pies. As a kid, I was fortunate to a) have a hyper metabolism and b) have a step dad who worked part time at a grocery store. Dad would bring home truckloads of expiring store-brand snack cakes, mostly of the Hostess-similar varieties. We'd throw them into the big chest freezer, and have an almost endless supply of these goodies. It was rare to get the real Hostess versions, but the commercials made me want 'em!
1. Hostess Cupcakes - This was the catch-all ad for all of Hostess' delicious (but surely bad for you) concoctions. The goodies in this commercial--if uneaten--are probably still as edible as they were in the seventies.
2. Hostess Twinkies - I don't care what anybody said, if you Hostess whittled down their products to ONE brand, it would be Twinkies. And who can forget Twinkie the Kid?
3. Little Debbie Snack Cakes - I never understood the appeal of Rich Little. But Little Debbie has a special place in my heart (and stomach).
4. Dolly Madison Zingers - These things were fantastic. I loved the raspberry coconut ones. (Drooool)
5. Dunkin Donuts Munchkins - You had to go to the donut shop for these, but I loved them. But couldn't they come up with a better spokesperson than apple-headed Mason Reese? Scary.
6. Rice Krispies Treats - These were snack cakes with some assembly required. Well, until they started selling them in the store, because of lazy and/or sarcastic mothers like the one in the commercial.
Okay, go out and get some snack cakes, and get that sugar rush going. It's a brand new week. Happy Monday!
