by
Billy Ingram
with video contributions
from Dan Wingate, Jeff Vilencia
and Wesley Hyatt
IN
THE BEGINNING...
In
the early days of television, a show couldn't get on the air if
there was no sponsor signed on. The advertiser (alone or in partnership
with the network) paid the cost of production in exchange for
commercials and product plugs throughout the program.
In
these clips, we'll look at a practice that ended in the seventies
- integrating the sponsor's message
into television shows using the actual cast members (usually in
character).
This
was a very popular and typical fifties' TV sitcom based on a long-running
radio program. The series only lost steam when Gracie Allen decided
to retire in 1958.
The
sponsor in 1955 was Carnation Evaporated Milk (Gracie: "How
did they milk all those Carnations?") and it's introduced
by George Burns.
TV
advertising was risky in the early days, but because George and
Gracie had been beloved radio and film stars for over a decade
by 1955, their endorsement was the best marketing campaign that
money could buy. For the first time, stars could be seen and heard
in a family's living room extolling the virtues of a product or
service. It was revolutionary.
In
this filmed ad, the new wife in the neighborhood is looking good
thanks to Carnation. The announcer tells us: "She has a brand
new husband and a brand new way to fix tuna." I'll bet she
does!
This
commercial is a glimpse back to the days when a woman could get
everything she needed to maintain a happy marriage down at the
supermarket. As
a bonus, you get to see what a typical grocery store looked like
in 1955 - very depressing!
Jim
Backus and Joan Davis starred in this wacky (but funny) 'I Love
Lucy' rip-off sponsored by GE appliances.
The
title character n this program was a total ditz (in the Gracie Allen mode). 'Joan' probably
set women's rights back forty years and made Lucy Ricardo look
like Einstein in comparison.
Naturally,
daffy Miss Joan wouldn't make a good pitchperson for major appliances,
she's the last person anyone would listen to. Instead, the actress
Joan Davis merely provides a testimonial at the end of the show,
after the sponsor message.
As
the fifties matured, so did television advertising and primetime
became prime advertising time for family breakfast foods. Aunt
Jemima Pancake Mix was a primary sponsor for one the longest-running
TV series of all time, the Ozzie and Harriet program, starring
the real-life Nelson family - playing themselves, more or less.
An
extra bonus for advertisers on this program was the endorsement
from real-live teen heartthrob Ricky Nelson who was heating up
the pop charts while keeping up his end of the familial sitcom
chores.
Wash your hands, brush your teeth and play that scene with
your Aunt Martha with a little more intensity!
Film
historian Jeff Vilencia tells us, "During the 50s and into the
mid-sixties, the third commercial in all of the major network
comedies were done by the cast and the ad agency would write the
spot around the show's script. When the last segment ended and
the last spot came up,
the cast would integrate product and plot together."
Another
custom, there was always a thirty-second spot for next week's sponsor
in the closing theme. (DID
YOU KNOW: Happy Hotpoint, seen in that clip, was played by
Mary Tyler Moore?)
The
movie business was in serious decline by the late-fifties. Dozens
of established stars were let go by the major studios in such
a short period of time that panic set in. Movie stars ran to television
like rats fleeing a burning warehouse.
Forties'
era film diva / pinup gal Betty Hutton tried her hand at a sitcom
in the character of 'Goldie', a manicurist who suddenly inherits
a mansion, butler, three teenage kids and a fortune. This
show failed miserably.
Here
Betty hawks Post Cereals by integrating the storyline of her lame
sitcom into the final advertisement. The
sponsor's message also takes
up quite a bit of the theme song, another common practice
in the early days of TV.
Article continues after this ad...
Kellogg's
Corn Flakes
1959
Cartoon
characters emerged as effective product pitchmen in the early days
- after all, animated characters can't get arrested for drugs or
beating their wives.
Cereal
companies often backed the initial production costs of cartoon
programs just as they did primetime shows, again to better integrate
their product message.
Here,
Yogi Bear (Kellogg's Corn Flakes' regular pitchman in 1961) gathers
with fellow Hanna-Barbera characters (all of which were selling
various Kellogg's cereals at the time) to do a takeoff on a popular
quiz show of the era, What's My Line?.
Using
established cartoon characters was considered less of a risk than
coming up with original characters that might not catch on. Although,
when you think of the many venerable characters created for cereal
campaigns in the sixties, that turned out not to be true in all
cases.
For
example, more people today know the Cheerios
Kid, Cap'n Crunch and the Trix Rabbit than know Pixie,
Dixie and Jinx (who were selling
Raisin Bran in 1961). The
Cheerios Kid not only had Go-Power,
he had staying power - lasting from the 1950s into the 1990s!
Jackie
Cooper and Roscoe Carnes starred in this fondly remembered Naval
comedy and they appeared in the ad at the end of the show for
Kent cigarettes with the Micronite filter.
While
most of the commercials that featured sitcom characters also included
canned laughter, this one didn't. Hennesy was one of the
rare sitcoms that didn't use a laugh track.
Post
(along with Sanka) also sponsored The Andy Griffith Show,
naturally scenes were filmed showing Andy, Opie, Barney and Aunt
Bee enjoying breakfast together.
Here
is a Post Grape Nuts spot
with Andy and Barney - featuring an end tag with the theme music
from the early years, with the sponsor's product seen along side
the credits.
The
ending credits had to be re-done without the product illustration
in the corner for syndication and reruns.
The
practice of using sitcom characters as salespeople disappeared
almost entirely with the advent of the seventies. Television stars
were now big enough to command their own endorsement deals and
didn't want to be saddled with network commitments into which they
had no input.
One
of the last examples would be Kellogg's sponsorship of The
Partridge Family in 1970. The first commercial shows the whole
family waking up to the sound of Kellogg's Rice Krispies.
Notice
in that spot that there was no close-up for Laurie Partridge, played
by Susan Dey. That's because she had a separate deal, as the groovy
spokesperson for Misty
hair dryers.
In
another commercial break for Rice Krispies, only Shirley
Jones and David Cassidy (the Harriet and Ricky Nelson of the seventies)
are seen.
The catchy jingle is sung by The Partridge Family (the recording
group that included Jones and Cassidy).
SPONSORED
SPECIALS
Advertisers
were also anxious to bankroll high profile network specials with
big name stars. A unique example of this would be The Carol
Channing Special from 1966.
This
musical hour was sponsored by General Foods and the commercials
featured Carol dropping in on the CBS sitcoms that GF was sponsoring
that year. Cast members, in their familiar settings, were called
into service to sing the praises for GF's fine products.
Surprisingly,
every one of these shows is still popular today in reruns!
Well,
Andy sure is glad to see Carol drop by. He's apparently hanging
around the office kind of late at night...
Uh,
by the way Andy, where's your girlfriend Helen Crump?!? You think
she'd mind that a Broadway star dressed like a ski bunny Jezebel
is dropping in on her small town man for a late-night drink? And
Helen was worried about the Fun
Girls...
'Course
it's all innocent 'cause
Andy just loves talkin' 'bout Sanka Coffee, a fine product of
General Foods. (Say, wasn't he the General that burned all the
crops during the war between the states? Or was that General Mills?)
Andy
then happily tells us he even used a hidden camera to record the
reactions of some Yankees from up north enjoyin' Sanka Coffee.
Who knew Mayberry was so high-tech? Or that they cared what Yankees
thought about anything...
Next,
birdlike Carol Channing is flitting off to see former Mayberry
resident Gomer Pyle as he enters his third year as a private in
the Marine Corps.
As
usual, he's doing KP duty - but it's no bother to feed the troops
at all thanks to new Post Corn Flakes & Strawberries cereal.
Despite
the oversized dark glasses, Gomer seems to recognize the New York
actress right away, calling her 'Miss Carol' - wasn't that Gomer's
nickname for Carol Burnett also? What'd he call EVERYONE Miss
Carol?!?
Corn
Flakes & Strawberries cereal was a fine product, but after
you poured on the milk, you had a very small window of enjoyment
between the time the freeze-dried strawberries softened up and
the corn flakes got soggy.
It's
morning in Hooterville and Oliver and Lisa hear a knock at the
door - guess who it is?
It's
Carol and she's just in time for breakfast with a glass of Awake
Orange Drink powder product stuff.
Oliver
wants only fresh squeezed orange juice, but it turns out he can't
tell the difference anyway, so what the hell?
In fact, no one can tell which glass has the fresh squeezed
juice or which has the powdered drink. Must be some farm...
Then
it's back in time and half way around the world as the spasmatic
Miss Channing pops in on Colonel Hogan and his zany gang of Nazi
prison camp survivors.
When
Carol arrives, Corporal LeBeau has just served up a gourmet meal
with some JELLO for desert - topped with Dream Whip, the rich
topping that has more than just the flavor of whipped cream. Exactly
WHAT more, they never say - but I've had it and it's very tasty.
When
Col. Klink and Sgt. Shultz join their American prisoners for dessert,
fun is had by all. Of course, Col. Klink wasn't too thrilled about
his spiked helmet being used as the Jello mold...
A
sign that times have changed: I bet you'll never again see a JELLO
commercial set in a Nazi prison camp or with Nazi memorabilia
featured prominently in the product shot.
Hogan's Heroes on DVD!
"Loved
those commercials with Carol Channing and the rest of the General
Foods family (I told my friends to check out the HOGAN'S HEROES
spot). But the Gomer Pyle one is something I would have loved to
see being filmed.
"I
read something about how at that time Carol also made a sitcom
pilot for GF which included a spot for Corn Flakes & Strawberries,
done by her and her on-screen son (played by Jimmy Garrett, after
Lucille Ball dumped him into military school and forgot he and
his sister even existed). Anyhow, the point is that Carol is allergic
to strawberries, and the story described how for take after take,
she would spoon some cereal into her mouth...then when the director
yelled "CUT", spit it out before she could have a reaction."
- Paul Duca
Dear Billy,
A
friend sent me the address to your webpage about "when stars did
the commercials." There is a note by Mr. Paul Duca tagged at the
end of the article. There are a couple of errors in Mr. Duca's
note I thought I could set straight for you.
"
First, while Carol Channing did do a pilot for General Foods ("The
Carol Channing Show"), she did not have a son in the pilot and
in fact played a single woman. I did a very cute scene where Miss
Channing, who was broke and hungry, tried to steal an unnamed
boy's candy while sitting on a park bench.
"The
most interesting thing about the pilot was that it was produced
and directed by Desi Arnaz on the same stage that was being used
for "The Lucy Show" while it was on hiatus. Secondly, I am not
aware of any cereal commercials being shot during the pilot. Usually
commercials were not made by sitcom stars until the pilot sold.
But, if a commercial was shot, I did not appear in it. Mr. Duca
also might find it interesting that I did a few more episodes
of "The Lucy Show" after I was "dumped" into military school.
"Hope
this helps."
Best,
Jimmy Garrett
( aka Jerry Carmichael of "The Lucy Show")
The
Superman series was entirely funded by Kelloggs and the cast
was naturally recruited for a commercial each episode - usually
featuring Clark Kent, rather than Supes himself.
In
this one, Perry White is freaking out because he needs his Sugar
Smacks to start the day. Jimmy Olsen's out making the deal for
the Smacks, but he's late getting back.
Notice
the announcer says: "...meet Clark Kent, star of Superman."
George Reeves was the star of Superman, Clark was a character!
But by blurring the lines and having Superman's alter ego do
the sales pitch, it becomes more of a 'personal' endorsement.
Ovaltine
sponsored this long running radio program, then brought it to
TV for a two year run starting in 1954.
To
create an interactive experience, viewers could send off for
a Captain Midnight Secret Decoder that could help them decipher
scrambled messages at the end of the show.
When
the series was syndicated (without the Ovaltine sponsorship)
the show was retitled (and crudely redubbed) Jet Jackson.
Pinky
Lee discovered an unreceptive TV climate after he collapsed
live on camera in front of a studio audience full of kids on
his hit show in 1955. He had suffered a major sinus attack but
most people assumed the frenetic host actually had a heart attack
on the air.
When
Pinky Lee attempted to return to the tube in 1957, he took over
the hosting duties for NBC's 'The Gumby Show' on Saturday mornings
for a short time when the original host (Bobby Nicholson) left.
Sharing
the show with a puppet frog and rabbit in a tree stump was a
comedown from the days of having his own network show - but
it was the only offer Pinky Lee had.
"My
heart is crying" he told a reporter in 1957. "I have no pride.
I just want to do the thing I love the best - entertain children."
And
sell the heck out of those Tootsie Rolls!
Moe
and Larry were still alive in the sixties and made a few guest
appearances on television, along with "Curly" Joe DeRita (the
original 'Curly' was dead).
Here
the boys are selling Simonize car polish. Would you buy a product
because Moe told you to? Of course you would, you knucklehead!
Nyuk, Nyuk!
An
early TV sports star soft drink endorsement - featuring the
most famous San Francisco Giant slugger of all time in an 'intimate'
portrait that takes
you back to the locker room to talk privately with the 'Say Hey
Kid'.