I’m listening to the Feb 5, 1946 radio episode of “Fibber McGee and Molly” and they made a joke a didn’t understand. Doc Gamble says something like: “I wouldn’t recommend strapping anything on your feet that doesn’t have a blue jay on the container.”
Does anyone have an idea what product this might be?
There’s a Bluejay cigar that came in a can with a bird on it.
Old ads for Blue Jay corn pads and other foot products. Nothing that can be “strapped on”, though.
Amazon-Blue Jay Leg Lifter
That’s got to be it, thanks. He just used the term “strapped on” because the original topic was ice skates. I.e., “your body is in such bad shape that you’re better off putting on a pair of corn plasters instead of ice skates”.
I just listened to the March 18, 1947 episode of “Fibber McGee and Molly” and they made another joke about Blue Jay corn plasters (specifically mentioning corn plasters this time). This time it was Wallace Wimple going to the drug store to birdwatch on a rainy day, looking at the blue jays in the corn plaster aisle.
Did these episodes include commercials? Sounds like that was one of their sponsors (old radio shows had no shame when it came to incorporating sponsor mentions into their scripts).
heh a lot of shows on early tv and radio were basically infomercials to the point of the sponsors would send the writers outlines with what products would be used/mentioned in the show and the writers would fill in the blanks …
Not really. Most radio shows had a single sponsor. An ad for that product would often be integrated into the story, but as an ad, with the announcer doing a spiel (“Let me have another cup of Maxwell House coffee, Gracie.” “Of course. It’s always good to the last drop.” “That’s because Maxwell House only uses the finest coffee beans.” )
TV added an alternate sponsor. The would be three commercial breaks; one sponsor would get two of them one week and one the next as the two sponsors alternated the number of slots.
It wasn’t until the late 50s that the networks switched to a “magazine” concept, where they sold individual ads during a show. More money for them. The didn’t allow ads during the show because that might conflict with the ads they sold.
The official name of the radio program is “The Johnson Wax Program, starring Fibber McGee and Molly”. There’s a Johnson Wax commercial (including Johnson’s Glo-Coat, Johnson’s Car-Nu, Johnson’s Cream Wax, etc.) at the beginning, middle and end of each episode. The commercial in the middle is weaved into the plot of the episode (and they usually make jokes about how awkwardly it’s weaved in, as well).
Do you think it’s any different now?
Look up ‘product placement’ in movies. Or just look at some movie plot points. ET and Reeses Peanut Butter, for example.
Guess I’m the only one who remembers this jingle:
♪♫ ♪♫ If you’ve got corns, callouses, bunions or sore feet
Corns, callouses, bunions or sore feet
Blue Jay brings you fast relief, fast relief, fast relief
From corns, callouses, bunions or sore feet! ♪♫ ♪♫
It aired on Nashville and Chattanooga TV stations through the mid - 80’s.
Can’t find an audio link.
Product placement in movies was rare in the 40s. It was strongly condemned by critics and by filmmakers, who both looked own on it and also had the studio to deal with finances.
In radio, any reference to a brand name (other than the sponsor) was something that came up in the writers’ room, without any payment or product placement.
For instance, with Molly’s (drunk) uncle Dennis, they made lots of jokes related to brands of alcohol.
-Uncle Dennis’s favourite colours? Black & White
–Uncle Dennis was a great supporter of higher education. He always had a fondness for Teachers.
-When Uncle Dennis went missing, they used a bird dog to track him down because he was full of Old Crow when he flew the coop.