And Now, Many Words From Our Animated Sponsors

For today's posting, we pay tribute to the classic commercials of yesteryear, beginning with Jim Henson's hilarious Wilkins Coffee ads.





The "I Want My Maypo" commercials by John Hubley's studio no doubt sold tons of cereal.



We at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog have a sneaking suspicion that, from his extremely hyper, overenthusiastic and frequently unhinged behavior, Sonny the Cocoa Puffs bird was actually cuckoo for COCA PUFFS.



Mr. Magoo was cuckoo for STAG BEER!



Those of us in a certain age group don't remember friends, lovers, places we lived and six month sections of our own lives but have perfect recall of the Choo Choo Charlie theme from Good & Plenty commercials.



What could be considered the worst, most noxious ear-worm EVER, even more than 1960's bubblegum teenybopper records by the Ohio Express and The 1910 Fruitgum Company? That would be the equally uber-catchy (and equally uber-annoying) ditty from the Oscar Meyer commercials.



Never could come close to falling in love with Oscar Meyer Wieners or Oscar Mayer Bologna ("my bologna has a first name"), but certainly tried.

UPA produced a series of very cool "cartoon modern" spots for Oldsmobile.



And, speaking of very cool ads, here's one for American Oil animated by the one, the only Rod Scribner. Thanks for posting, Mike Kazaleh!



Among the ubiquitous characters in animated ads from the early years of television were the Ajax Elves, produced by Shamus Culhane's studio.






Another sponsor with animated ads (IIRC, also created by Shamus Culhane Productions) was HALO SHAMPOO! If you, dear reader, are among the classic comedy geeks who have binge-watched episodes of the The Colgate Comedy Hour starring Martin & Lewis (and hope a kinescope of the February 22, 1953 Colgate Comedy Hour starring The Ritz Brothers turns up), you've seen lots of Halo Shampoo commercials!



It would be an understatement to suggest that classic cartoon characters pitched products, especially cereals, all the time.



Yogi Bear not only starred in his own commercials, but had his own cereal. I remember OKS and they weren't half bad!



Since Quaker Oats had to compete with Kellogg's, Cap'n Crunch, which stays crunchy, even in milk, was invented.



Quaker Oats execs were golf pals with Jay Ward, so the studio that made Rocky & His Friends, Hoppity Hooper and George Of The Jungle went on to produce numerous Cap'n Crunch commercials, prominently featuring such ace voice artists as June Foray and Daws Butler.



After the success of Cap'n Crunch, Quaker Oats tried out LOTS of cereals. Two were Quisp & Quake. The question remains, how could Quisp cereal not sell, with Daws Butler enthusiastically claiming "it's from outer space!"







Another short-lived cereal: Quangaroos



Who could forget King Vitaman! Actually, I did, but the commercials are great.



The ultimate in cartoon commercials would be the Linus The Lionhearted TV show by Ed Graham Jr. Productions. The stars were characters from Post cereal boxes (Alpha-Bits, Sugar Crisp, Rice Krinkles, Crispy Critters).





Linus The Lionhearted was a clever and enjoyable series with an original and distinctive sense of humor.



Film historian, Joe Penner fan and ace animator Mark Kausler wrote a Cartoon Research article about Linus The Lionhearted that is an excellent read.



The show had its charms and featured voice characterizations by Sheldon Leonard, Carl Reiner, Ruth Buzzi, Jesse White, Paul Frees and more.



Closing today's post, chock full of outstanding voice actors, is the fabulous news that Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, 1930-70 Vol. 1, the epic and much-awaited book about the greats of voice acting by Keith Scott, character actor-voice artist-impressionist, film and radio historian and author of The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose, is at the printers, can be pre-ordered and will be available on September 20.