Mad Men is an excellent TV show. And while it focuses on a much larger picture of life in the 1960s, my favorite part is the behind-the-scenes look at the advertising agency work. The real men and women who worked in those agencies came up with catchy jingles and memorable ad campaigns.
Cases in point...
The other night, Laurie mentioned that she had picked up a new can of coffee and it was Chock Full o Nuts. With that, both of us started singing,
"Chock Full o Nuts is that heavenly coffee, heavenly coffee, heavenly coffee. Chock Full o Nuts is that heavenly coffee. Better coffee a millionaire's money can't buy." (You can sing along at
http://www.chockfullonuts.com/questions.aspx# ) I don't know just how far back that jingle actually goes, but I'm sure I first heard it in a TV commercial more than half a century ago.
And remember it all these years later.
Chuck and Rebecca visited recently and Laurie mentioned that a candy bar she had was similar to a Chunky. For those who, like my son and daughter-in-law, are unfamiliar with it, a Chunky is a small block of chocolate with raisins and peanuts in it. Unlike other chocolate candies -- like Hershey's and Nestle's bars -- which were flat, a Chunky was like a chocolate ingot. Their slogan was "Open wide for Chunky," something else that Laurie and I both recalled these many years since we've actually had a Chunky.
In a similar vein, we were at the railroad station last week and when the train pulled in, Laurie made a comment about shaking a box of Good & Plenty. Choo-Choo Charlie was the cartoon character "spokesman" for Good & Plenty and his song is another jingle I can still recall... and sing. (You can check out the original commercial on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExSlyoVTX3I )
Finally, there's the Chevrolet song that was revived in a commercial starring the cast of Glee last year. This is one for which I don't know many of the words beyond, "See the U-S-A in your Chevrolet... lala lala lala lala lalaaa...!" But, hey, I remember the most important part and, as far as the Mad Men were concerned, that's what counts!
I don't know about you, but I'd just LOVE to see a reference in Mad Men to the OTHER ad agency from the 60s, McMann (or was it McMahon?) and Tate. And their top man, Darrin Stevens.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember whether we were watching Jeopardy! or Cash Cab, or playing Buzztime Trivia at the local Houlihan's... but not long ago there was a question about Virginia Slims cigarettes, and I sang the whole jingle ("You've come a long way, baby..."). My wife, who's the real trivia maven in the family, stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed. She was astonished that I still remembered a jingle that hasn't been heard in about 40 years.
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