How About Some Vintage TV Pitchmen/women?

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rp2813

rp2813

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Who do you remember? Either by character name or real name?

People like Katy Winters (Ice Blue Secret), Mrs. Olsen (Folger's), Mr Quigley (Charmin), Josephine-the-Plumber (aka Jane Withers for Comet), Harry Von Zell and George Fennerman (Home Savings and Loan), Cora (aka Margaret Hamilton/WWW and/or Elphaba for Maxwell House)

I know there are tons that aren't coming to mind . . .
 
Don't Forget The Premier Spokeswoman Of The 1950's!

Betty Furness, of course. You CAN be sure!
 
John Cameron Swayze for Timex watches... "It takes a licking, and keeps on ticking." I remember asking my mom why people would need to lick their watches.
 
Coffee

Was Vivian Vance folgers or Nescafe,on Saturday mornings DannyO Day and Farfo Nestles commercial.Dinah Shore of course for Chevy.Lee Merriweather for Philco the Miss America model.Groucho Marx for Desoto.This is fun,keep it going!
 
Palmolive

Was it Madge or Marge, for Palmolive dish soap, "you soaking in it right now" or something like that.

Mr. Whipple, "Please Don't Squeeze The Charmin".

Nancy Walker, for Bounty Paper Towels. (?)
 
Bernadette Castro

yanking open those faboo convertible sofas! I believe she's now head of, or a commissioner of, NY State Parks Department (Not NYC).

I was always troubled by Katy Winters' untimely passing=frozen armpits.
*hides under desk*
 
Can't forget Madge for Palmolive dishwashing liquid. I also remember Joe DiMaggio doing Mr. Coffee commercials and Ricardo Montalban pitching the Chrysler Cordoba.

And of course there was Clara (Where's the beef?) Peller. (I guess by now that could squeak into the vintage category.)
 
One of our local stations shows vintage commercials all the time. They show the 5th Dimension selling 1969 Chevy Impala's, Buster Keaton hawking Simon Pure beer, Ed McMahon selling Budweiser, Tom Bosley selling Shasta cola, 1966 Plymouth's being sold by Petula Clark, etc....
 
Oh yeah, Mr. Swayze, how could I forget him? Such a trademark recitation of the tag line which I'm not remembering completely, but ends with ". . . than any other watch . . . in the world."
 
Annette Funicello

For Skippy peanut butter (still the only one I'll buy)

Phyllis Diller for Clorox "Harsh bleaching wrecked me!" "All these new fabrics: Lycra, Blue C, Spandel...Ha! Sounds like the chorus line at the Palace!"

Julia Meade for Mercury cars and Chock Full O' Nuts coffee on the Ed Sullivan Show

Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding as "Bert & Harry Piels" for Piels beer (probably best known in the NY market)

Garry Moore for Winston cigarettes

I guess just about anyone would shill if the price was right
 
What about Farfo's colleagues, real or handheld? Morris the Cat comes to mind first. I might be stretching it with Charlie the Tuna, The Trix Rabbit, well, that list could go on and on and on.

There is one type of commercial that's glaring in its absence from this thread so far. Laundry detergent. As I recall, there was someone pitching "Wisk" perhaps or maybe "Spray 'n' Wash" because I remember situations like people being at her house and either wearing stained clothes or having them handy. Anybody know more?
 
In the Biz bag

Biz along with Axion and maybe others were the mid-sixties marketing of enzyme additives for washing.

BTW, the dog's name was Farfel which means something I've forgotten in Yiddish. Danny O'day was the puppet, and Jimmy Nelson was the ventriloquist. N-E-S-T-L-E-S, Nestles makes the very best Chooooooclate!

Another ventriloquist pitchman was Paul Winchel, whose puppet was named Jerry Mahoney. He sold 3-Vees birdseed for parakeets and canaries. In later years, Paul Winchel did voice work for what seemed like 99% of all cartoons made in this country.
 
Super Circus

With (somebody) the ringmaster, and Mary Hartline in the short skirt. They sold dairy products. (Get the best, get Sealtest!)

Also Buffalo Bob Smith/Howdy Doody who sold:
Wonder Bread
Hostess Cupcakes, Snowballs, Twinkies
5th Avenue Candy Bars
Tootsie Rolls & Tootsie Pops
and probably other stuff I've forgotten.

Bert Lahr (yes, the cowardly lion) who couldn't eat just one potato chip before Jack Guilford took over that role.

Soupy Sales, who had a kids show in Detroit before he hit it big in New York. He sold Risdon Milk, and United Dairies Milk, and probably other local Detroit products that I can no longer remember. I still have my "Soupy Sales Bird Bath Club" card.
 
Sitcom folks

Ozzie and Harriet for Hotpoint,George Burns and Gracie for Carnation evaporated milk.Also for Swans soap.Bob Hope for Pepsodent toothpaste.Bob Hope for Chrysler and Kraft foods.Bing Crosby for Kraft.Bob Hopes first television show was sponserd by frigidaire.Lucy and Ethel in 1958 did commercials for Westinghouse.Sky King for Nabisco Lorna Doone cookies.Ronald Reagen for 20Muleteam Borax.Burt Lahr for lays potatoe chips.Milton Berl for Buick,and Texaco.Also Bob Hope for Texaco.Love That Bob,20Mule Team Borax.
 
Dinah Shore for Chevy:

If you want to see the ultimate Dinah Shore Chevy Show commercial, go to the link and scroll down until you see "1959 Chevrolet". It's a RealPlayer file, but Windows Media Player should also be able to play it if you don't have RealPlayer.

It's a whole musical production number, with Dinah piloting a brand-new '59 Impala convertible loaded to the gills with hunks. She drives in time to the music and sings her lungs out. At one point, a helicopter flies in to become part of the number! It's a kind of showmanship that is sadly all too lacking in today's commercials.

http://www.tvparty.com/vaultcomm.html
9-13-2008-02-39-3--danemodsandy.jpg
 
Bess Meyerson was also the pitchwoman for other Colgate products, such as "Florient" air freshener

Locally in NY area, we had Gloria Okon for Arnold Bakeries, Susan Strong for Colgate's short lived "Burst" detergent,
Sheila MacRae for "Punch" Detergent ("Colgate's knockout detergent that puts the enzyme power of presoaks - POW, right in your washer"), Dennis James/Martha Wright for "Cheer" ("there's been a change in Cheer", Arthur Godfrey for Axion pre soak
 
Lillie Tomlin for ALL where she runs a blender of cranberries with the top off the water with all covers her to the neck.
 
I don't remember that, but I do remember Dena Dietrich for Blue Bonnet saying "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!" That was late 1960s, I think.
 
If you think it's butter, but it's not, it's CHI

Chiffon is the margarine that fooled Mother Nature.

However, you can add Blue Bonnet margarine to the list of products advertised by Buffalo Bob on Howdy Doody.
 
In Color

As Expensive as color was in those days,Howdy Dowdy was in color from 1953 to 1960,or around about that time.and so was Sheri Lewis and Lambchop.I read in a 1955 life magazine it cost 7,000 dollars more to shoot in color for a 60 minute show than black and white,of course this was a Betty Grable special with all of the costuming.
 

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