When I was a kid in suburban Cleveland, this line (sung) was repeated quite often on TV and Radio. Noexplanation as to what it was, or anything. just “GARFIELD 1-2 3 2 3, GARFIELD 1-2 3 2 3!” Does ANYONE out there know what this is/was?
It was a telephone number. The exchange was represented by the first two letters of the word, remember the song “Pennsylvania-6-5000”. You can find a list of the old exchange numbers at The Telephone EXchange Name Project. It’s pretty interesting in an obsolete retro kind of way.
Well, yeah, I kind of knew that… but for what? That stupid number has been stuck in my head since I was five (pretty good advertising, I must admit).
GArfield 1-2323 was the same as 421-2323. Whatever it was, and effective as the ad might have been, the company doesn’t appear to still be in business. I did a reverse phone number search on 216-421-2323 and 440-421-2323. I think it was something like plumbing or aluminum siding installation. I’ve also searched Yahoo’s yellow pages under plumbers, electrical contractors, dry cleaners, etc., to no avail.
I think there really was other stuff in the commercial - the singing telephone number was just the end of each ad. Lawoot’s memory may be pardoned, however, since he left the Cleveland area at age 8. His first phone number was ERieview 1-4027, and his next one was CHestnut 7-5927. Alas, all of his subsequent phone numbers were just cold strings of digits.
Here’s the Cleveland ad which sticks with me:
Roll on, Big O!
Get that juice back to Lawson’s in 40 hours!
Now one mand sleeps
while the other one drives
On the Big O Lawson’s run
And that cold, cold juice
in the tank truck caboose
stays as fresh as the Florida sun.
ROOLLLLLLL ONNNNNNN, BIG O
Get that juice back to Lawson’s in 40 hours!
Shit - I need a hobby.
Well, I just did something proactive.
I actually called both of the numbers listed above by tpayne.
Calling 216-421-2323 got this answering machine message:
The other number (440 area code) is not active.
On a similar note, in TV shows like The Simpsons and The Critic, you could often see phone numbers listed as KL5-####, or KLondike 5-####. This, of course, is 555.
And if you haven’t guessed yet… tpayne and I are related… that’s my big brother…
Nice work, Ob. I had considered calling the number myself, but if the number had been reassigned to a residence I didn’t want to wake them up.
Aren’t you awake during the day?
ummm… yes, but at 700AM on a Saturday, if I AM sleeping and my phone rings, I’m ready to rip the caller’s lungs out. This may be unfathomable, but I actually had better things to do most of the rest of day than follow up on this item.
God forbid there be any common courtesy left in this world.
I also recall this commercial and it was driving me crazy as to what they were advertising. At the moment, all I can recall from the commercial is the “Hurry up, andale, get on your horse and sleigh.” Then the “Garfield 1-2323…and in East Liverpool…(another number)”
You’re right, though, some great advertising when people can remember the commercial after 40 years!
I, too, recall this growing up in the Cleveland area. At the time it was aluminum siding. Vinyl siding wouldn’t come until later. Here’s one of the ads.
Wow is that annoying. No wonder it stuck in your head.
Baltimore dairy commercial, ca. 1964: (I could sing this for ya)
Milk and butter and eggs and cheese
Fresh from the farm to you
So, if you don’t own a cow
Call Cloverland now
It’s NOrth 9-2222
(Sorry, I can’t provide a link; brand new computer, not broken in)
Another obsolete numbering scheme:
Remember Elvis’ “Return To Sender” about a woman rejecting a man by refusing to accept his letter (another obsolete communication).
“…No such number,
No such zone…”
What the Hell was a “zone” - The Post Office’s way of divving up cities before the Zip Code scheme.
I was born circa 1950 - I still remember “Dayton 5 Ohio” (and, obviously, the street, but that’s none of your business). Also the CR7- phone number.
Mother drilled that into my skull very, very well - kids were expected to be able, sholud they become lost, to find a cop and recite name, addr, phone.
Pre- “helicopter parent”
This has to be a zombie record.
Here’s another ad that mentions the longevity of the jingle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3ydglEMJ7k
Found a link to Cloverland commercial. Knocked me for a loop–an actually-done-by-Jim-Henson muppet-ish cow singing the jingle.
I know this is a zombie, but I have to say that this Lawson’s song still goes through my head once in awhile, and it must be ~40 years since I last heard it. Was refrigerated orange juice straight from Florida really a big deal in the early '70s?
What I remember about the Florida orange juice commercials of the 70’s is that Anita Bryant was a spokesperson until she got into trouble for gay-bashing.
I also seem to remember that most of the commercials did make a big deal out of the Florida connection. Now that I think of it, being on the west coast, you’d think we’d have heard more about California orange juice.