Today, Popeye's restaurants are known for their Louisiana Cajun recipes for chicken. The chain, which launched in 1972, acquired a license three years later to use the image of its more famous namesake, Popeye The Sailor (Jack Mercer), who starred in a series of ads with his lady fair, Olive Oyl.
From what we can discern, while Mercer was brought in to reprise as Popeye, Mae Questel, who would soon begin doing ads for Scott Towels, was not. Not sure if it's Marilyn Schreffler, who was hired by Hanna-Barbera three years later, or another actress, as Olive, who sings along with the cashiers in this spot.
Bluto would make his final appearance as Brutus in another spot.
Luis Cardenas, owner of what was, at the time, the largest drum kit in the world, had released a solo CD while on a break from his band, Renegade, in 1986. The first single, a cover of Del Shannon's "Runaway", failed to crack the top 40, peaking at #83. Why that was, I don't know. Shannon appears in the video, along with Donny Osmond and some CGI dinosaurs, the latter of which explains why we're posting it here.
I think what Cardenas & Renegade had hoped to do was cut into some of Menudo's popularity, albeit with a harder rocking sound. Unfortunately, despite the cool video, which was nominated for a Grammy and had some decent airplay on MTV, it didn't happen.
This was what put Arthur Rankin, Jr. & Jules Bass on the map nearly 60 years ago, after their first series for syndication had flopped a few years earlier.
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, based on the Johnny Marks song, made famous by Gene Autry, tells the story, in greater detail, of why Rudolph (Billie Richards) was ostracized by his fellow reindeer, until recruited by Santa one fateful Christmas Eve.
Burl Ives narrates.
Edit, 11/11/24: The video's been privatized by NBC-Universal. In its place is a screencap.
Popeye, like everyone else, was expecting Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. However, the Sea Hag has other ideas, taking up the tack that she hates Christmas.
Here's "Spinach Greetings":
If you've seen the Sea Hag's later appearances under the Hanna-Barbera, you'd notice that they changed her skin color from dark green. Don't ask.
Here's a live-action Howdy Doody short for the holidays.
Howdy, Buffalo Bob Smith, & Clarabell (Bob Keeshan) fly to the North Pole to investigate the disappearance of Santa Claus. As it turns out, Ugly Sam (a clean shaven Dayton Allen) is dealing with a case of mistaken identity, and isn't exactly too sharp, either......
See what I mean about Sam being slow on the uptake?
It's kind of weird hearing Davey (Dick Beals) claim that he hates Christmas in this 1965 episode, but that is the crux of the lesson, which even Goliath (Hal Smith, The Andy Griffith Show) has a hand in teaching, in "Christmas Lost & Found":
Popeye returned to CBS & Hanna-Barbera in 1987 after a few years away, during which time Jack Mercer had passed on, so impressionist Maurice LaMarche (The Real Ghostbusters) was brought in to succeed Mercer. Otherwise, cast members Allan Melvin (Bluto, Wimpy) and Marilyn Schreffler (Olive, Sea Hag, et al) returned from the previous run.
This, though, was the first iteration to offer Popeye & Olive as husband & wife. Likewise, Bluto had gotten married, and each rival has a son of their own. Talk about your time jumps. Bluto's son, Tank, and Popeye, Jr. are nearly teenagers, even though it'd been 4 years since The Popeye & Olive Show had ended. H-B and King Features didn't learn anything from the time jump that Tabitha had experienced more than a decade earlier when spun off from Bewitched, as, like Tabitha, Popeye & Son was dry-docked after 1 season.
In the opener, spinach-hating Junior must take matters into his own hands and rescue Bluto's yacht party, including the Mayor of Sweet Haven (Rip Taylor, ex-Here Comes The Grump), from the Sea Hag. Then, the predictable tale of a wedding anniversary nearly forgotten, and we learn how our couples, yes, including Bluto & Lizzie, got married.
12 years later, comics & television writer Peter David wrote a 1-shot comic that offered a different take on Popeye & Olive's wedding. Nearly 25 years later, however, it's still not canon.
I have to admit I'm not a fan of the William Snyder-Gene Deitch era of Popeye. They weren't exactly geniuses on the order of the Fleischers, or even Hanna-Barbera (Snyder & Deitch also did some disservice to Tom & Jerry, but that's another story), but at least they introduced American audiences to the British H-B, Halas & Bachelor, during their brief run.
In "Weight For Me", released in the winter of 1961, Olive (Mae Questel) has gained an inordinate amount of weight while Popeye (Jack Mercer) & Brutus (Jackson Beck) have been away. Brutus, of course, likes Olive the way she is, but Popeye believes she can lose some weight.......
In a way, Hallmark Cards marked the 30th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas by featuring Charlie, Linus, Lucy, Snoopy, & Woodstock, in a commercial. Lucy, unfortunately, alternates between crabby and smug.
I don't know if anyone still has those ornaments, 28 years later.
65 years ago, Brenda Lee recorded "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree". To learn that it hit #1 on the chart this year speaks to how much of an iconic Christmas classic it's become.
4 years ago, an animated music video was produced.
Christmas, a la Goof Troop. The episode was directed by a trio of auteurs more closely associated with either Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon---Rob Renzetti, Robert Alvarez, and Genndy Tartatovsky.
Some people will tell you, even though Bing Crosby passed away 46 years ago, that Christmas just isn't the same without him.
That might explain why his renditions of classic Christmas songs were adapted into animated music videos three years ago, and here's the latest in that group, "Winter Wonderland":
We've all misheard musical lyrics, and it's one such case that led to a 1997 children's book, in turn, adapted for television 2 years later by Matt Groening (The Simpsons, Futurama) into a primetime special for Fox.
Olive The Other Reindeer is what you get if you mishear the line from "Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer" which otherwise is "all of the other reindeer". Olive (Drew Barrymore) is actually a Jack Russell terrier who hears a "clarion call", if you will, when one of Santa's legendary reindeer is sidelined.
Barrymore doubles as co-executive producer with Groening. Additional voice talent includes Dan Castelleneta (The Simpsons), Billy West (Futurama), Ed Asner, Diedrich Bader (The Drew Carey Show), and toon vet Kath Soucie.
Olive has moved around the dial in recent years, airing on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, My Network TV, and WB, among other places.
It wasn't one of the best animated Fruity Pebbles ads, even with modern tech, but the idea behind this 2001 promotion was giving away some spy toys for the kiddo's, as demonstrated by Fred & Barney.
To think it starts when the cereal magically vanishes from the supermarket while Wilma & Pebbles are shopping....
By 1977, Burger King had rebooted their mascot into a live-action monarch gifted with magic powers, whom we've seen before.
At Christmas, Burger King began offering plush replicas of the King as an incentive to buy a $5 block of gift certificates. Actress Leah Ayres (The Edge of Night, later of The Bradys) is the cashier.
Before a series of animated commercials began in the late 60's, Burger King tried out a puppet version of their royal mascot. Actor Allen Swift (Underdog, King Leonardo) still voiced the character.
I think you can see why they discarded the puppet as fast as they did.
"Mele Kalikimaka" is a Hawaiian Christmas song, recorded by Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters in 1950, then reissued by Crosby on a Christmas album 5 years later. The song was written by Robert Alexander Anderson, a friend of Crosby's, in 1949.
70 years after its initial release, the song merited a flash animated music video.
The Canadian producers of the 2007 remake of George of The Jungle served up something Jay Ward & Bill Scott had failed to do 40 years earlier. That being, a Christmas episode.
Two Christmas shorts here. "Jungle Bells" "The Goat of Christmas Presents", and it all starts with "Jungle Bells", in which Ursula teaches George and the gang about the holiday.
This episode was the first that aired on Cartoon Network, understandably, as the rest of the series would follow several weeks later.
However, after initial cancellation, Classic Media brought the series back in Canada in 2016, with more changes. George looked more like his original design. Ursula and Magnolia, the latter a witch doctor's daughter in season 1, were merged together (in 1967, Magnolia was Tom Slick's girl), and there were other alterations that didn't make it to the US. Like, unnecessary, eh?
A discussion on the controversial Sacco & Venzetti trial leads to a re-enactment in class, but problems arise for the student assigned as prosecutor (Mark Lambert), when he learns his father, a judge, is embroiled in scandal.
DeForest Kelley (ex-Star Trek) guest stars.
The lessons in this story are still relevant today.
The Bobbs-Merrill Company, makers at the time of Raggedy Ann & Andy, entered into a licensing deal with CBS and with legendary animator Chuck Jones to produce a Christmas special in 1978.
"The Great Santa Claus Caper" introduces Raggedy Arthur, created by Jones, as Ann & Andy's pet/sidekick. Alexander Graham Wolf (Les Tremayne, ex-Shazam!) schemes to take over the North Pole. Comet, one of Santa's trusty reindeer, asks Ann & Andy for help.
June Foray voices Ann & Comet. Tremayne is also heard at Santa. Daws Butler is Andy. For the most part, the majority of the Jones repertory company.
I wonder, though. Alexander was modeled after Wile E. Coyote. Did Jones intend to have Mel Blanc work on this?
Marx's Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots turn 60 next year, and, yes, they're still being made. Mattel produced a version a few years back with an eye toward a movie and a Playstation game. Reportedly, the movie was being developed with actor Vin Diesel ("Guardians of The Galaxy", "The Fast & The Furious") attached.
Let's take you back to 1964, and the initial commercial, starring Bobby Buntrock (Hazel):
Those Ranger Danger skits from the 90's were remastered and posted to YouTube a year ago, to mark the WXXA kids show host's 30th anniversary. Blink, and you'd miss out, like this holiday entry, in which the Ranger wants to sit on Santa's lap one more time.
Ah yeah (and I've always heard it pronounced as Ai-Yaa).
Tweety and Sylvester are in the Civil War. Tweety is a Confederate courier, while Sylvester, who has already taken out every other courier the Confederates had, represents the Union. Here's "Rebel Without Claws":
