A friend and I were recently laughing over this YouTube video, a circa-1950s television commercial in which James Mason endorses Thunderbird, the preferred wine of down-and-out bums and panhandlers.
My friend mentioned something I’ve heard a few times: that drinking Thunderbird will make your mouth and tongue turn black. Is this true? I don’t understand how any wine, cheap or otherwise, could do that. This strikes me as one of those cautionary urban legends.
I should add that I’ve never actually tried Thunderbird; in fact, I can’t even recall seeing a bottle in a store. Lucky me.
I also wonder if it leaves grape peels between your teeth like the Talking Thunderbird Blues song said. (No, that post wasn’t loaded with my usual arch-sarcasm. I really wonder if it did/does.)
Sure, but no more than drinking a similar amount of red wine. Similarly, it will turn the product of a stool session black, as does the high class stuff. You must drink quite a bit of the wine to get any of these effects, which is no hardship, since it’s delicious.
Good commercial with James Mason…kind of.
ETA: there’s no grape peels, or possibly grape, in Thunderbird.
What’s the word?
Thunderbird.
What’s the price?
Thirty twice.
Jingle from the 1950s; it actually sold for $0.60 when it first hit the shelves (IIRC). When I was a teenager, my buddies and I drank a lot of this stuff.