Commercial Characters

In my last post I mentioned some characters that could very well be included in this one as well, but they won’t. This time I’ve got a fresh crop of childhood TV memories.

One of the staples of advertising is having a character that’s strongly identified with the product. Some examples of this are: Planters’ Mr. Peanut, the Pillsbury Doughboy, and Ronald McDonald.

Growing up I was exposed to many hours of commercials loaded with unique characters. Here are some obscure advertising characters that I remember seeing growing up. Let’s start where my last post left off…cereal. 

The Crew of the Guppy and Jean LeFoot : In 1963 when Cap’n Horatio Magellan Crunch (his “official” full name) was introduced to children everywhere he was skipper of a sailing vessel named “The Guppy.” The crew of this “good ship” consisted of four children, 3 boys and a girl, named Alfie, Carlyle, Dave, and Brunhilde, respectively. The ship’s mascot was a canine character named Sea Dog.

 Although I did an extensive search online I haven’t been able to pin down just exactly when the crew disappeared from the cereal’s commercials. The last one I saw them in was one for a chocolate version of “Crunch” from 1984. Not many people remember the crew of The Guppy but I do. Even though their spots were only 60 seconds or less they were as entertaining as some of the Saturday morning TV cartoon shows during which they were shown.  

Jean LeFeet, the barefoot pirate, was the villain in those early Cap’n Crunch commercials. He was always after the Cap’n’s cereal or the secret of its crunch. He also tried to create his own cereal. He finally succeeded with Cinnamon Crunch and even appeared on its boxes. He has continued to be part of the Cap’n Crunch universe. Most recently as part of a special premium card set on specially marked Cap’n Crunch cereal boxes in 2010.

There are quite a few of Cap’n Crunch commercials featuring the Guppy Crew and Jean Lafoot available on You Tube. If you’re like me you’ll enjoy going back and spending time with these old friends. 

Funny Face Drink Mixes: Everyone knows the Kool-aid man, a frosty pitcher filled with Kool-Aid. His brand dominates the drink mix market. But in the late 60’s Pillsbury challenged General Foods and the quintessential non-carbonated soft drink.

Funny Face was a group of different flavored powdered drink mixes, each with their own specific character: The original group included: Goofy Grape, Freckle Face Strawberry, Rootin’ Tootin’ Raspberry, Loud Mouth Lime, Chinese Cherry, and Injun Orange.

Those last two characters met with major protests from what would now be called politically correctness groups. They were eventually changed to Choo Choo Cherry and

Jolly Olly Orange. Also two additional flavors and characters were added: Captain Black Cherry and Lefty Lemonade.

What was different about the Funny Face drink mixes was that they were pre-sweetened. With no sugar they were promoted as being “better for you” than sugar sweetened Kool Aid. Not having to add sugar also cut down on the mess of making it.

After the initial issue with the insensitivity of stereo-types was resolved, the characters were very popular. But the product itself had some major issues. The main one being that the sodium cyclamates used as a sugar substitute were banned by the FDA due to a link to cancer. Immediately the mixes were recalled and the cyclamates removed.

The new non-sweetened Funny Face mixes were no longer different from or as well known or established as Kool Aid. They were exponentially out sold and eventually were taken off the market.

As a kid all that stuff about political correctness or dangerous artificial sweeteners didn’t matter to me. I just liked the Funny Face characters a lot better than Kool Aid because they had personality and a back story. They had potential but alas they disappeared almost before any of that could be explored.

Their window in the market place was so small that not many people remember them. But for me they remain among my favorite commercial characters introduced to me through my television. 

Wallace The Waffle Wiffer: In 1968, a couple of years before the Kellogg company first demanded that we “Leggo their Eggo”; the Quaker Oats company introduced Aunt Jemima frozen waffles.

The convenient breakfast food’s first TV commercials were aimed at kids; airing during Saturday morning cartoon programming. The animated advertisements featured a pair of characters: Professor Goody and Wallace the Waffle Wiffer

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Professor Goody is, what I would call, a collegiate level zoologist. He presents to viewers, Wallace; a hyperactive bird-like character. When he catches the aroma of an AJ waffle heating in the toaster, Wallace manically follows his nose exclaiming, in an excited warbling manner, “waffle waffle waffle.” You can see this for yourself in a couple of the commercials on You Tube.

The reason I liked this commercial character is that a part of me feels like he did about waffles. I love those delicious toasted aromatic rectangles with their subset of small squares that can be filled with melted butter and Aunt Jemima syrup.  

Yes, in answer to the commercial’s tag lines, there is and always has been a waffle wiffer at my house. Wallace is truly an animated personification of my perpetual appetite for waffles. 

Mr. Wiggle: This 1966 commercial character has by far the longest lasting effect on my life than any other. I’ll explain why in a few paragraphs; but first some product and icon history.

In 1966 General Foods, makers of Jello, made their first attempt to market a sugar free gelatin to kids. That product was Mr. Wiggle. The names of these flavors were: candy corn orange, rock candy raspberry, gumdrop grape, jellybean strawberry, lollipop lime, and candyball cherry.

I was unable to find any type of detailed history of the product  online but here’s what I remember. It was initially a success but, just like the Funny Face drink mixes, Mr. Wiggle gelatin fell victim to the cyclamates ban.

The commercial campaign featured the animated character Mr. Wiggle (voiced by Daws Butler) endeavoring to bring his gelatin to kids while keeping it away from his arch enemy, Sweet Tooth Sam (voiced by Paul Frees).

With the flexibility possessed only by an anamorphic glob of red gelatin and a “finishing move” that I would describe as a “sonic wiggle” he was successful in defeating his foe and delivering his dessert.

In the picture above you can see Mr. Wiggle in all his flavored incarnations. You can also go to You Tube and watch the original black and white commercials.

Of course, after seeing the commercials, I requested that mom bring home and make me some Mr. Wiggle “Jello”; which she did. My momma loved me.

Now let’s move on to the reason why the influence of Mr. Wiggle is with me even today. When I was 8 or 9 while in the hospital I was given a flexible plastic Mr. Wiggle puppet. I believe it was the very first puppet I ever owned. I used that puppet to perform puppet shows in church.

Mr.Wiggle helped my love for puppets grow throughout my childhood. Over 40 years and many many more puppets later I still have my original Mr. Wiggle puppet. Here’s a picture of me and my childhood pal. 

As you can see, my hand no longer fits allowing me to manipulate Mr. Wiggle. Therefore he's permanently "retired" and is protected in a plastic display case. But just like the Ernie and Kermit the frog puppets, Mr. Wiggle holds a special place in my history as a puppeteer. 

That’s my list of TV commercial characters that may not be commonly remembered but will always remain treasured memories in my mind and friends in my heart. I apologize for the length of this post. But as you have read these characters hold many memories for me.

The next “TV Memories Week” post will feature some of my favorite cartoons that are not remembered by many others my age. I hope you are enjoying this series of posts. I know I’m having a great time writing them. See you next time.