Tidy-Bowl Man
:Shudder:
Yep, Tidy-Bowl Man
Alka-Seltzer.
No, I didn’t remember what it was for either, but you made me curious, so I went Googling, and after seeing enough sites to convince me that the phrase itself has passed into common knowledge, I came up with this Commercials of the 70’s that says it’s Alka-Seltzer.
Also, you reminded me of the Di-Gel ad campaign that may have been of roughly the same era:
“I like pizza [or onions or sauerkraut or whatever]
…but it doesn’t like me!”
Send your stomach some Di-Gel!
Mine are probably the Hostess ads that ran along with the Charlie Brown specials on CBS.
Mmmm…Zingers!
One of my odd behaviors back in my early childhood was memorizing and parroting life insurance ads…“You cannot be turned down…, etc.”
Who wears short shorts?
We wear short shorts!
If you dare wear short shorts,
Nair for short shorts.
As a young male, I heartily approved of that commercial.
I remember Winston sponsoring the Flintstones. Here’s one of its ads which I’ll think you’ll like.
And, of course, could I ever forget: “I want my Maypo!”
“It’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature!” (cue up lighting and thunder effects). I don’t recall what the product was, but my sister and I both remember this one, and it scared us every time it came on.
Anthony Edwards’ father wrote that commercial. IIRC, his name was Frank, but it’s many years since that Playboy: 20 questions.
A couple of mine
Sugar Smacks, with Sugar Bear (before he became Super Sugar Bear). My Dad said they sprayed 2 coats of sugar on the cereal to make it Super, we ate Shredded Wheat.
Captain Kangaroo and Kellogg’s Corn Flakes (I always wondered why the Captain never looked up before the ping-pong balls started dropping)
Butter.Parkay.
I remember a Baby Ruth commercial from the '60s – you bite open a Baby Ruth bar and find a whole soda shop, or candy shop, or something inside. Something with a counter, barstools, and a guy with a paper hat serving customers. I was so young that the next time I bit into a Baby Ruth bar I actually expected to see that scene and was disappointed I only saw, you know, caramel and peanuts.
Growing up in a suburb of Chicago, I was inundated by local commercials for Empire Carpets. I’ll never – as long as I live – forget their friggin’ telephone number. That “five eight eight, two three hundred, empiiiire” tagline carved out possibly the deepest groove in my brain.
Imagine my shock to now see commercials for Empire Carpet here in New England! It’s 20 years later, and the same guy (owner of the company, I think) was doing the exact same pitch, but looking much older. (And they’ve added hardwood flooring.) He was quickly removed and replaced with a small, Toy Story-esque animation of him.
And that damned phone number jingle is all but unchanged:
“eight hun-dred five eight eight, two three hundred, empiiiire”
Actually, it’s closer to 30.
Originally Posted by Ellis Dee
When I was in Navy "A"School at Great Lakes, Illinois, it seems that commercial was EVERYWHERE. I knew their phone # I soon as I read Empire Carpets. And I was only there for 3 months in '81.
I see their commercials all the time in the Tampa Bay area.
As to the OP, the earliest commercial I can remember has already been mentioned (the Oscar Meyer Bologna one with the kid fishing), so I’ll go with the Palmolive commercials with Madge the Manicurist.
AFN (Armed Forces Network) while living in germany. One ad featured a soldier getting into his snow covered vehicle but not before he brushed a tiny little porthole out the front so he could see. The commercial’s message was that soldier’s needed to get all the snow off their vehicle so they would have decent visibility.
The other AFN commercial I remember is a soldier out on manuevers finding a place to sleep. The message was to be aware of where you were sleeping lest you get run over by a tank.
Marc
Mid 50’s, Dinah Shore singing, “See the USA in your Chevrolet!”
They still air this ancient commercial for a local home improvement business. It was made when they still used words for phone prefixes. I’m tickled pink that they feature it on their website… And yes, I’ve been singing the jingle since I was a little girl.
On the subject of words for phone prefixes, I remember a commercial in Philly in the 70’s with a catchy jingle which went “Call for action! GReenwood 7-5312”. I never knew what this was but a quick goole has revealed all.
For those who want a trip down memory lane, many old commercials are available for download from archive.org.
I would like to second the claim that it was for Alka-Seltzer – they had a similar hit a year or two earlier with an equally annoying guy (Jack Aaron, IIRC) recounting how he’d overeaten the night before: numerous people had exhorted him to eat something by urging, “Try it, you’ll like it”.
BTW, the name of the husband (played by Milt Moss) in “the whole thing” commercial was Ralph, not Frank.
Another similarly themed Alka-Seltzer ad a few years later was, “Mama Mia, that’s a spicy meatball”. I saw that one a few years ago, and it holds up very well: you’re on the set of a commercial for Italian meatballs. After the umpteenth botched take, with the poor actor stuffed with spicy food, the director suggests, “OK, why don’t we break for lunch”.
I was born in 1959, and the earliest commercial I can remember might be one for some ice cream whose brand I don’t remember, ‘Brandname Double Chocolate’. It featured two high-pitched cartoon twins exhorting in echo fashion how much they loved the stuff. The punchline by a voiceover ordered, “Brandname Double Chocolate Ice Cream – get some right now!” I remember when it was on late, my mother would reply, “No problem – I’ll go smash the windows at the Acme”
Please don’t squeeze the Charmin!
That was a margaraine. It was so much like butter, even Mother Nature was fooled.
Aka Dena Dietrich, and the product was Chiffon margarine.