Get enough SUGAR FOR BREAKFAST?

I ate a lot of cereal as a kid. I was partial to Cheerios, Sugar Smacks, Rice Krispies, and Sugar Pops. I was partial to sugar. It's a wonder I could function.

I do remember in the 50s being one of those kids who would see a cereal ad on tv and then beg my mom for it. My poor dad was always the one who ended up eating my experiments. I remember especially wanting a box of Jets. My dad said that one was the worst of all of them. I ate one bite and refused to eat the rest. The saying in our house was, "Give it to dad, he'll eat anything." My family didn't have money to waste so indeed, dad ate the crap.

This ad comes from a 1964 Jack and Jill magazine I found at an estate sale. I was long past Jack and Jill by the time this ad ran and I don't remember this cereal. But, I'm sure I'd have begged my mom for a box.

Click on image to see it larger.

Now watch the commercial and imagine how much parents wanted to kill the creators of this targeted propaganda.

And just for old time sake...



Mind you, I also fell for the PF Flyers ad that said you could fly if you wore them. I used to run down the sidewalk, which went slightly downhill, picking up speed as I went, only to take a leap right before the final curb and the street. I was convinced I would eventually fly. I never did. I always stopped short of the street. However, the neighbors must have wondered about this kid running down the sidewalk full tilt only to take a little leap, land, turn around and walk back up the sidewalk only to do it again and again. So I'm pretty sure I was convinced Jets would have enable me to break the boundaries of gravity.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

A REAL CHRISTMAS GIFT for yourself

Portrait of a Legend

I had been planning on running this vintage magazine ad for a Sam Cooke album, but when I saw the above offer on Amazon I knew it was important to run it NOW. I don't know how long Amazon is going to have this album at this price, but for $2.99 it's a steal for Sam Cooke fans. You can click on the image or title to see the offer. 

UPDATE: This special price is no longer available.

On December 11th it will be 48 years since Sam Cooke's death. He was part of the soundtrack of my youth.


Click on image to see it larger. (SOURCE: Teen, March, 1964)

More BRECK GIRLS

Okay, now that I'm looking at more of these they are sort of odd. They all start to look like performers on the Lawrence Welk Show. I'm imagining them in chiffon dresses, standing in a line, singing Proud Mary. Just not workin' for me.

Lovely drawings, but something a little off.


(SOURCE: TEEN, March 1965) Click on image to see it larger.


(SOURCE: TEEN, September 1967) Click on image to see it larger.

BRECK GIRL, September 1964

If you're of a certain age (old) you'll remember the Breck Girl. Women's magazines, teen girl magazines, ran full page ads showing a lovely girl with beautiful hair. The images were constantly changing. Blonds, brunettes, redheads...they ran the gamut. By the time I became aware of the ads the illustrator was Ralph William Williams. The illustration below was done by him.


(SOURCE: TEEN, September 1964) Click on image to see it larger.

I have not found any biographical information about the artist other than what is in this Wikipedia post about Breck Girls.

Breck Shampoo is an American brand of shampoo that is also known for its Breck Girls advertising campaign.

In 1930 Dr. John H. Breck, Sr. (June 5, 1877 – February 1965) of Springfield, Massachusetts, founded Breck Shampoo. In 1936, son Edward J. Breck (1907 - 1993) assumed management of Breck Shampoo and hired commercial artist Charles Gates Sheldon (1889 – 1961) to draw women for their advertisements. Sheldon's early portraits for Breck were done in pastels, with a soft focus and halos of light and color surrounding them. He created romantic images of feminine beauty and purity. He preferred to draw "real women" as opposed to professional models.

In 1957 Ralph William Williams succeeded Sheldon as the Breck artist. Unlike Sheldon, he often used professional women. Breck advertisements ran regularly in magazines such as Ladies Home Journal, Woman's Home Companion, Seventeen, Vogue, Glamour, and Harper's Bazaar. They were most often on the back cover of the magazine. During these years, Breck Girls were identified through the company's sponsorship of America's Junior Miss contests. After Williams' death in 1976, the advertising tradition stopped.

In 1963, Breck was sold to Shulton Division of American Cyanamid, a chemical company based in New Jersey.

In 1990, Breck was sold to the Dial Corporation.

In 2006, Breck was acquired by Dollar Tree of Chesapeake, Virginia. It continues to sell the variety of shampoos, plus moisturizing body washes and bubble baths in a variety of fragrances, such as "Lavender Lily" (2006) and "Vanilla Melon" (2007).

The Breck Girls ads are now in the advertising history records in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

I didn't even know Breck was still being made. I remember using it as a teenager in hopes I'd look like one of the beautiful Breck Girls. I didn't.

I must say that this one looks a bit like Betty Crocker...another impossible standard to live up to.

I'll have to dig through my other magazines in hope of finding more.

MORE TINY ADS from the back pages

A few more ads from the back pages of early '60s 'TEEN magazines. from the silly to the disgusting.


(SOURCE: 'TEEN, December 1963)

In those days it was cool to be smart. Having politicians be complete rubes was frowned upon. An education was important and valued. People did not grow up wanting to be reality "stars" or celebrities. So the odd little item above was part of its time.



(SOURCE: 'TEEN, April 1964)

The thought of this wallet just makes me ill.

To see the ads from yesterday click here.

THE TINY ADS on the back pages

What did it cost to run the tiny ads in the back of magazines back in 1964? Remember that for many of these companies this was the only access they had to a particular group, in this case teenage girls. Since most of the tiny ads were for photo processing these companies had to somehow get their message out when surrounded with ads yelling "25 PHOTOS FOR $1!"

Below are a few examples from the March and September 1964 'TEEN magazine. Note the John F. Kennedy charm available just a few months after his assassination. I wonder how many they sold.




(SOURCE: 'TEEN, March 1964)








(SOURCE: 'TEEN, September 1964)

A COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP for the cost of a bra

Read the copy and then think about hitting your head against a wall as it sinks in that in 1964 you could go to college for four years for $5000. Were boys excluded from the contest? I wonder who won.

Click on image to see it larger.

(SOURCE: 'TEEN, September 1964)

Near the bottom of THE BLOND BOMBSHELL LIST

There’s really no room for your career to grow when you’re just one of the blonds in Hollywood that is at the bottom of the feeding chain: Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren, and, somewhere near the bottom, women like Eva Six. Whether they had talent or not made no difference; they were on screen to make the audience think of Marilyn on a low budget. They were bleached blonds stuffed in clothes too tight. They survived in B movies or worse. They don’t’ have cult followings. They never really parlayed their fame into riches unless they married it.

I have no idea what became of Eva Six, but she’d now be around 73 years old. Let’s hope her life turned out as she’d hoped even if fame was fleeting. It’s always sad to see someone age who believed momentary fame was going to be their golden ticket. I used to see far to many people with that blank Hollywood stare waiting for checks at the Hollywood post office.

The only site I found with any “significant” information about Eva is here. And I'm guessing Eva had nothing to do with the quote in the ad extolling the virtues of Wate-On. Call me crazy, but it's just a hunch.


(SOURCE: 'TEEN, June 1964)

Frankly, until I was looking at this ad, I wouldn’t have even remembered her. Actually I still don’t remember her, but I do remember going to see the movie that she appeared in, Bikini Beach. I remember going to see many of the Beach Party movies in the early ‘60s. Popcorn fun with a bunch of kids on a Saturday.

You’ll notice in the ad for Bikini Beach that “exciting new actress” Eva is not even listed in the credits. I’m guessing her moments on screen were fleeting, as was fame. And I’m guessing her appearance in this ad was her agents idea of promotion.


(SOURCE: 'TEEN, September 1964)

As to Wate-On, I haven’t a clue. I do recall ads that guaranteed you’d put on weight if you used their products. Boys would no longer be weaklings forced to eat sand; girls would fill out in all the right places, not the wrong places. You might as well just sell elixir from the back of a wagon and be done with it. Medical quackery is the same today as it was thousands of years ago. These days some of it’s wrapped in labels bearing the names of pharmaceutical corporations and strangely they still get “stars” to hawk the stuff to us. The same old tricks keep working over and over again. Someone signs a contract to allow their image to be used for false advertising and suckers line up to buy it. Folks, this is why education is so important. Never ever believe what an advertiser tells you. NEVER!

Click here to see another Wate-On ad featuring Eva. And here's an add without Eva.


(SOURCE: 'TEEN, September 1964)

Quick, find Eva in the trailer.

So, WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY'RE DOING?

Even today when I first see this ad I think, "Cool, wrist radios that allow me to talk to other kids!" This would have solved a lot of problems during childhood when my best friend and I were sick at the same time. Instead of cutting letters out of construction paper and holding them up to our bedroom windows at night while shinning a flashlight at them in a futile attempt to spell out words, window to window, and generally getting sleepy before either of us ever managed to spell out a complete sentence...talking into our wrists would have been A LOT easier.

Click on image to see it larger.

From the February 1964 "She's Josie" comic book published by Radio Comics.

Ahhhh, but no, this is not what they're selling. Read the copy. Even if the ad makes it look like these kids are talking to each other, what you've really got is just a small transistor radio. I'm betting it was made in Japan, which at that time generally meant it was junk. Boy how times have changed.

I would love to know of anyone who ever bought one of these. I wonder if any still exist or did kids stomp on them when they arrived, angry that they'd been "duped" by a company called Honor House. I cannot find any information about Honor House other than a lot of other ads for junk toys which most surely disappointed every child who anxiously waited by their mailbox for their special delivery.