Forgotten Advertising Characters of the Era

[Zombie_61]

...The Fisk Tire Boy:
View attachment 96171

Looking at this ad made me yawn. Twice.

 

[BlueTrain]

I thought he appeared in ads for Kelly Springfield tires. "When it's time to retire."

 

[LizzieMaine]

Nope, Kelly was "Miss Lotta Miles." The Fisk Boy was still getting occasional use into the 60s, but Fisk was absorbed into Uniroyal, and they finally put him to bed.

 

[Fading Fast]

A cross post from the historic train thread. NYC ran a line of historic subway cars today and there was vintage advertising on them as well. Knowing Lizzie's a fan of Uneeda biscuits, I took this pic for her (there are a bunch more subway pics from today over in the historic train thread):

 

[LizzieMaine]

Spectacular! And we could say that "car cards" of the type that fit into those runners at the top of the car are another vintage thing that has disappeared in our lifetime.

 

[Fading Fast]

Spectacular! And we could say that "car cards" of the type that fit into those runners at the top of the car are another vintage thing that has disappeared in our lifetime.

Took it just for you.

Check out the other pics over in the train thread - I think you'll like them.

Also, oddly, NYC still has those car cards and runners, but I could see them loosing out to digital screens in the future. Today, even with screen prices plummeting, it is probably still cheaper to do cards than the large number of screens they'd need in each car.

Lizzie, any idea how I can post the 44 MB video I took of the train (it's 22 seconds long) as the limit is 19.6, but it looks like people have much longer videos posted?

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think if you posted it to You Tube and then linked to it from there it ought to work.

It's been a while since i rode the NYC subway, but the cars I've ridden lately in Boston don't use those kind of cards anymore. They do have frames on the wall for postery things, but that's not the same as a real car card. I once had the idea of putting up tracks on my office ceiling and running cards around it, but never got around to doing it...

 

[Fading Fast]

I think if you posted it to You Tube and then linked to it from there it ought to work.

It's been a while since i rode the NYC subway, but the cars I've ridden lately in Boston don't use those kind of cards anymore. They do have frames on the wall for postery things, but that's not the same as a real car card. I once had the idea of putting up tracks on my office ceiling and running cards around it, but never got around to doing it...

Thanks re YouTube. That's a cool idea for your office - I assume, like everything, the cards are "collectables" today and probably not cheap?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yeah, that's what caused me to abandon the idea -- I do have a few that I've found as backers for old picture frames, which seemed to be a pretty common fate for old advertising posters during the Depression.

 

[FountainPenGirl]

I just scanned through this thread and I didn't notice anyone mention one of my favorite characters, The Hamm's Bear. Here in the Midwest Hamm's is still available and regaining a foot hold on it's popularity. I drink a large quantity of the stuff along with my other favorite, Grain Belt also quite popular again.

 

[3fingers]

I just scanned through this thread and I didn't notice anyone mention one of my favorite characters, The Hamm's Bear. Here in the Midwest Hamm's is still available and regaining a foot hold on it's popularity. I drink a large quantity of the stuff along with my other favorite, Grain Belt also quite popular again.

I loved the Hamms bear. The old TV commercials were great.

 

[Haversack]

Hamm's used to be popular out here in Northern California too. The Hamm's brewery Bryant Street in San Francisco had an iconic animated sign that overlooked the freeway and Seals Stadium. A gigantic goblet that filled and overflowed again and again.

 

[Fading Fast]

While the image is still with us, it was too cool of an old ad not to post:

And credit to whomever for coming up with a clunky to eat bar that works despite itself - you can't really get it to break where you want it to and it's awkward to bite into, but darn it, it's still a fine candy bar. My favorite version is this one:



But I won't say "no" to any of them. And, yes, in desperation (or just a weak-willed moment), I have overpaid for one from a hotel's minibar (I'm not proud of myself).

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

I loved the Hamms bear. The old TV commercials were great.

Without clicking on the link, I can recite "From the land of sky blue waters" (with the back ground response "waters"). Growing up I thought the Hamm's Bear was a celebrity spokes-creature on loan from his own cartoon show, but couldn't find it on tv.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Animated characters advertising beer had a major vogue in the late fifties and early sixties, just the precise point in time to impress them indelibly on the boomer consciousness. Northeasters got to enjoy the delightful Bert and Harry Piel -- whose TV and radio commercials were voiced by none other than Bob Elliot and Ray Goulding. The Brooklyn-based PIel Bros. Brewing Company made long use of Bert and Harry, even reviving them for one last call in the early '70s before the company vanished into the maw of Pabst.

Not to be outdone, the Narragansett Brewing Co, producers of New England's most popular beer, signed up the Broadway comedy team of Mike Nichols and Elaine May to try to give a beer associated with clambakes, lawnmowers, and the Red Sox a more urbane image --

 

[KY Gentleman]

My Grandfather owned an old country store in Southeast Kentucky and this sign hung on the front of the place for as long as I remember.

 

[Fading Fast]

I loved the Hamms bear. The old TV commercials were great.

So cool. Definitely from the "pound your message into their heads" school of advertising.

Animated characters advertising beer had a major vogue in the late fifties and early sixties, just the precise point in time to impress them indelibly on the boomer consciousness. Northeasters got to enjoy the delightful Bert and Harry Piel -- whose TV and radio commercials were voiced by none other than Bob Elliot and Ray Goulding. The Brooklyn-based PIel Bros. Brewing Company made long use of Bert and Harry, even reviving them for one last call in the early '70s before the company vanished into the maw of Pabst.

Not to be outdone, the Narragansett Brewing Co, producers of New England's most popular beer, signed up the Broadway comedy team of Mike Nichols and Elaine May to try to give a beer associated with clambakes, lawnmowers, and the Red Sox a more urbane image --

These two are gems - the second one is outright entertaining - great animation / movement.

And I love the "scientific" proof used in the first one.

 

[KY Gentleman]

Remember “Reddy Kilowatt?”
I can recall seeing his likeness to promote rural electric co-ops, but he was initially designed to promote the use of electric appliances in the home.

 

[3fingers]

Remember “Reddy Kilowatt?”
I can recall seeing his likeness to promote rural electric co-ops, but he was initially designed to promote the use of electric appliances in the home.

I wish I had kept the Reddy Kilowatt stuff they gave away at the county fair. It's nuts what people will pay for it.

 

[Fading Fast]

I don't know anything about this Royal Crown guy, but I like the ad: