On the one hand, Eugene O’Neill was both a playwright and a Nobel laureate in literature. He won the Pulitzer prize for drama four times in his life, three in one decade alone. He wrote 30 full length plays including such classics as The Iceman Cometh, Lazarus Laughed, and All God’s Chillun Got Wings. He even has an award named after him.
On the other hand, The Noid was a mascot/spokesperson/villian for Dominos Pizza advertisements in the mid 1980s. He wore many hats. Say “Avoid the Noid” to anyone and they’ll give you a knowing nod. For you, my friend, are culturally literate. Did Eugene O’Neill get his face on a t-shirt? Did Eugene O’Neill have not one, but two video games centered around him?
So what say you?
[sub]and in case anyone’s curious this was an actual argument between my wife and I last night.[/sub]
Eugene O’Neill was on the definitive $1 U.S. postage stamp for years. So lots of people who can’t name any of his works at least know he existed. Now if you had asked whether O’Neill or Tom Monaghan had more impact on the average American’s life, I’d have to go with the latter.
O’Neill has had more influence on the culture at large, no doubt about it. But I’m betting more Americans could tell you who the Noid is than they could O’Neill.
I’d say O’Neill, but only because of the many parodies and usages of the name “The Iceman Cometh”. From Bioshock to Letterman to “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
I think this is wrong, and every day that passes will see fewer and fewer people percentage-wise who know who the Noid is.
If you were a kid while the Noid was current marketing (I’m 30 and remember it/him clearly from TV ads), then you know who the Noid is. If you were a grown-up who watched a lot of TV, or ate at Domino’s a lot, you might remember who the Noid is, but maybe not. If you were born after '86 or so you would have had no experience of the Noid, and really no reason to know what it is.
I wonder why they don’t resurrect his ass (The 'Noid’s not Eugene O’Neill’s). Kinda like how Little Caesers still has their little mascot in their parlors, but when was the last time you heard him say “pizza! pizza!” in a commercial, or any LC commercial for that matter?
I spent approximately eighteen million hours reading or discussing Long Day’s Journey Into Night in AP English Lit in 12th grade. In honor of Mr. Hogue, I had to vote for Eugene O’Neill.
Eugene O’Neill. How many times have you seen the Noid in the past two decades?
Trivia: The Noid was animated in Claymation by Will Vinton, and the film Festival of Claymation featured many of the Noid commercials. But the video release lacks all of these, along with many other things (like Fogerty’s music video Vantz Can’t Dance) that they apparently couldn’t clear the rights for. The only place you can see The Noid now is on YouTube:
I agree for the exact same reason. Although if the next Domino’s Pizza commercial features The Noid with the tagline, “The Noidman Cometh”, then I might have to re-evaluate.
As a side-note, I think the OP’s question is sublime and I have every intention of stealing it for all of the upcoming holiday discussions.
I was around in the '80s and I remember Domino Pizza but I don’t remember The Noid at all. I like Eugene O’Neill, and I distinctly remember Jack Nicholson playing him in Warren Beatty’s “Reds”.
I think a better question would be would we even have the Noid If Eugene O’Neil didn’t pave the way ahead of time. Just as you can’t discuss Spuds McKenzie without mentioning the obvious influence of Tennessee Williams, we can’t speak of the Noid or Oneil without acknowledging that the two are inextricably intertwined. Sure, Oneil’s work may have come before the Noid’s, but would we have the same understanding of O’Neill without looking through the cut-glass window on our cultural heritage that the Noid gave us?
