Thursday, October 26, 2017

Toonfomercial: Remember W. C. Fritos? (1971)

After pressure from certain corners forced Frito-Lay's advertising agency to retire the Frito Bandito (Mel Blanc) in 1971,  the snack giant found a short-term answer in 1971 in W. C. Fritos, modeled after actor-comedian W. C. Fields. I'd not be surprised to learn Paul Frees was hired to do the voice......



Ah, yas, yas indeed. If anyone can confirm that it was Frees or another impressionist that voiced W. C. Fritos, please share.

10 comments:

Chris Sobieniak said...

Certainly was something of a thing for W.C. Fields' impersonations during that year. Rich Little did one for Pizza Hut for instance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh5PhS_AIS8

hobbyfan said...

Yas, I've seen that one recently. I could do a decent Fields myself, but don't have all the peculiar inflections down.

Silverstar said...

I am aware of the Frito Bandito coming under fire, but I don't think I ever encountered W.C. Fritos. I do remember Keebler employing a Fields caricature of their own, an elf named C.C. Biggs, named after their then brand of chocolate chip cookies of the same name (they were called that 'cause the chips were huge). Caricaturing Golden Age film and TV stars was a fairly common practice back in the day.

hobbyfan said...

Until I found that ad, I hadn't seen WC Fritos, either.

Chris Sobieniak said...

Another interesting item of the day was the "W.C. Fields Battery Tester". I actually found one years back at some antique shop I bought! Sadly the colors have faced on it but it's still in its package!
http://historysdumpster.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-wc-fields-battery-tester.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJrvH9wTPBw

hobbyfan said...

So what else is there? A Laurel & Hardy tie twiddler? Just kidding. Seems Fields knew something about marketing back in those days.

Chris Sobieniak said...

Of course he was already dead for a few decades before this popped up.=

hobbyfan said...

Ah, yas, yas of course.......

Bradyguy said...

If I'm not mistaken, W.C. Fritos' voice was credited to Karell Fox - a magician/clown from the midewest somewhere. I believe he did an act revolving around W.C. Fields.

Makes sense.

hobbyfan said...

Thank you, my good man. Yas, yas indeed.