This thread will never die because there’s an unlimited number of long-forgotten TV commercials waiting to surface within my head.
I remember a third Alka-Seltzer commercial from that era. Family is home to grandma’s for the holidays and grandma likes to cook LOTSA food. Grandchild: Daddy, I’m not hungry. Dad: You’re hungry, you’re hungry! ::people start sitting down:: Grandma: Gerald, would you bring out the first turkey?
(“Would you bring out the first turkey” was a wry phrase muchly utilized in my family, which had many such grandmas and aunties)
AND… since someone mentioned Smokey the Bear?:
Smokey the Bear, Smokey the Bear
<something> and-a <something> and-a sniffin’ the air
He can smell a fire before it starts to flame
Dunno why they call him Smokey but I’m sure he deserves the name
AND, in a similar vein, from the YMCA long before Village People:
If you like the water
Then you really ‘otter’
Learn how to swim at the YMCA
Learn how to swim at the Y
AND, memorable mostly because they ran this PSA for an extended period in Valdosta GA, causing my Dad to ask just what they meant in November by “this summer”:
Kids, kids, kids want work this summer
Something something something something
Let them do the unwanted! Let them do the unneeded!
Mister employer! Mister employer! It all depends on you!
AND another PSA, this one on the evils of drug abuse:
I knew a man named Joh—hhhn, He let his deal go dow—wwwn,
He ended up laying in bed, oldied and dead, try living with it instead
Cause dope can’t get it together, you gotta get it together your sel—lllf,
Dope can’t get it together, gotta get it together yourself.
If memory serves (and it’s been decades!), it’s “prowlin’ and a-growlin’”:
Smokey the Bear, Smokey the Bear
A-prowlin’ and a-growlin’ and a-sniffin’ at the air
He can find a fire before it starts to flame
That’s why they call him Smokey, that’s how he got his name.
Move me with Smyth, the smoother movers.
Smyth (“smeyeth”), not Smith, the smoother movers.
Put me in a padded van and I’ll be a happy man.
Always a winner, never a loser.
Move me with Smyth, the smoother movers.
Smyth, not Smith, the smoother movers.
No matter where they move me, they’ll handle me so smoothly.
So move me with Smyth, the smoother movers.
The girl inside the dancing cigarette box was almost certainly Mary Tyler Moore. It was one of her first gigs and probably got her the role of “‘Legs’, the switchboard operator” on the Richard Diamond detective series.
Edie Adams not only sang the Muriel cigars jingle, she did a little dance in sexy garb.
Sung to the tune of “Sweet Charity”:
*
The minute you walked in the joint, I could see you were a man of distinction, a real big spender.
Good lookin’, so refined! I figured that you’re the Muriel cigar smokin’ kind!
So lemme get right to the point: You’re right in style when you’re in Muriel’s company.
Hey, big spender! (Hey, big spender!) Spend a little dime with me!*
The earliest commercials I remember are probably
“Treflan, from ELANCO! (Dadadadada! Dadadadada!),”
“The BARDAHL Cop,”
Roy Rogers and Dale Evans plugging Hershey’s syrup on their Saturday morning TV show,
George and Marian Kirby plugging cigarettes on Topper.
Since this tread is active again and I wasn’t around when it started: I was really into cars when I was a kid, so I totally remember Ford’s “Taurus for Us” jingle. I would assume the new '86 Taurus was in Ford dealerships by late 1985, so they probably ran this ad in 1985, meaning I was five years old when it first aired.
“Tauuuuuurus for us!”
The young people today don’t realize how futuristic that car looked back then.
*“Double your pleasure, double your fun,
with Doublemint, Doublemint, Doublemint gum!”
“You’ll wonder where the yellow went
when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent”
“Brylcreem, a little dab’ll do ya.
Brylcreem, you’ll look so debonair!
Brylcreem, the gals will all pursue ya.
They’ll love to run their fingers through your hair!”
“Floating heads, floating heads, floating all the way!
Norelco is the perfect gift to give on Christmas day!”*
The 1959/1960 Dutch Masters commercial with the Dutch Masters sitting around the table. I can’t remember the jingle, but I do remember as a four/five-year-old being thoroughly creeped out by those old-timey dudes with the beards and the big hats.
I remember Wonder Bread commercials on the Howdy Doody Show circa early 50’s. “Wonder Bread helps build strong bodies eight ways”. Sometime in the later fifties, they upped it to twelve ways. Google Howdy Doody Wonder Bread.
When I lived in Boston about the same time, Adams and Swett ran the following commercial about their rug-cleaning business:
“How many cookies did Andrew eat? Andrew ate eight thousand. How do you keep your carpets neat, call ANdrew 8-8000”. They now list their phone number as 617-268-8000
I did a double-take to see if I had posted this back in 2005, because I had the exact same experience. I went to high school back in the 1980s in a Chicago suburb, and later moved to New England. I’ve now been listening to that jingle for over 35 years.
The Saturday morning cartoons on one of the major networks used to have bumps before the commercial breaks saying “After these messages, we’ll be right back.”
I don’t actually remember this, but my parents tell me I used to call the commercial breaks in any TV show “Afterthesemessages time”.
I clearly remember the Weebles commercials, but an even earlier one for me is the classic 1971 Coca-Cola commercial (“I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke”).
I was born in 1971, and can’t recall the first commercial I can recall; too many opportunities. I remember both the Weebles (they wobble, and don’t fall down!) and Coke (cool music), but also “this is Agrinews,” which, strictly speaking, wasn’t a commercial but an announcement that southwest Ontario agricultural news would next be presented. Note that I lived in a Southeast Michigan town and wasn’t particularly interested in agricultural news from any state or provence.
Maybe a runner up is the crying Indian. And maybe the black dude throwing a bottle of Coke at some kid. Or was it a towel, 'cos the kid gave the black football dude a Coke?
Or more likely, it was a commercial urging me to watch Hong Kong Fuey or some other tripe.
God, it’s hard to reconcile my awesome childhood with my sucky childhood! Help me not judge my daughter’s poor taste!
