1960's Archives - Page 3 of 20 - Retro Reminiscing Video and Pictures

Superman and the Early Tony the Tiger

Long before Tony the Tiger became the big, sporty “They’re Gr-r-reat!” mascot we all remember, he looked a little different — and in this old Kellogg’s Sugar Frosted Flakes ad, he even shared the screen with George Reeves from The Adventures of Superman.

That is what makes the commercial so strange and fun today. You have Clark Kent/Superman helping sell cereal, and beside him is an early Tony who does not quite look like the Tony we grew up with. He is skinnier, odder, and still finding his final look.

Back then, shows and sponsors were tied together much more directly. Kellogg’s sponsored The Adventures of Superman, so seeing George Reeves pitch cereal was just part of the deal. To kids watching, Superman was not just saving the day — he was also telling you what to eat for breakfast.

Do you remember when TV stars would show up right in the commercials?

The Adventures of Superman

I was not even born when The Adventures of Superman first aired, but it still became one of my favorite TV shows.

The series starred George Reeves as Clark Kent and Superman, and for a generation of kids, he was the Man of Steel. The show originally ran in the 1950s, but because it was syndicated, it did not belong to one single night across the country. Local stations could run it whenever they wanted.

That is how I remember it — turning up before or after cartoons, rarely getting in the way of them, even on Sundays. Superman just seemed to be there, flying into the living room when you least expected it.

Looking back, the show was simple, but that was part of the charm. Clark Kent worked at the Daily Planet, Lois and Jimmy got into trouble, Perry White barked orders, and sooner or later Superman showed up to save the day. There were no giant special effects or complicated superhero universes. Just good guys, bad guys, and George Reeves making you believe a man could stand for truth and justice.

I also remember being devastated when my dad told me George Reeves had died by suicide. As a kid, that made no sense to me. How could the Man of Steel die?

That is the strange thing about childhood TV heroes. We know they are actors, but part of us still believes in them. And for many of us, George Reeves will always be Superman.

Do you remember watching The Adventures of Superman in reruns?

When Plymouth Turned a Cartoon Into a Muscle Car

The Road Runner was already a Saturday morning favorite before Plymouth got involved. Kids knew the bird, the desert, the endless chase, and that famous “Beep Beep!”

Then Plymouth did something that still feels almost unbelievable: they named a real muscle car after the cartoon.

The Plymouth Road Runner arrived for 1968, and it was not just a car with a cute name. Plymouth actually licensed the Warner Bros. character, put the bird on the car, and even gave it a horn that went “Beep Beep.” How many cars can say their personality came from a cartoon?

That was the genius of it. The Road Runner cartoon meant speed, fun, and always staying one step ahead. That fit perfectly with a stripped-down, affordable muscle car built for younger drivers who wanted performance without a lot of fancy extras.

So when Plymouth used the Road Runner in commercials, it was more than a gimmick. It connected Saturday morning cartoons to the muscle car era in a way that made instant sense. The bird was fast on TV, and now Plymouth was saying their car was fast on the street.

Looking back, it may be one of the best matches between pop culture and automobiles ever made. A cartoon character, a muscle car, and a horn that could make everybody smile.

Beep Beep!

The Road Runner Show: Saturday Morning Speed

This clip from 1966 comes from The Road Runner Show, when Warner Bros. gave Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner their own Saturday morning showcase. The formula could not have been simpler: a hungry coyote, a bird who was always one step ahead, a desert full of cliffs, tunnels, rockets, spring-loaded traps, and of course, plenty of bad ideas from Acme.

What made it work was that we knew exactly what was coming, and somehow it was still funny every time. Wile E. Coyote would carefully build the perfect plan, the Road Runner would zip by with a “beep beep,” and gravity would usually handle the rest. For kids watching in 1966, this was Saturday morning cartoon comfort food — fast, colorful, silly, and impossible not to watch.

And speaking of Road Runners, we’ll be staying in the fast lane for the next post — but this time, we’re trading the cartoon desert for one of the most memorable muscle cars to ever borrow a cartoon name.

Batman Season Two and the New Bat-Gadets

When Batman came back for its second season in 1966, it was not just promising more villains. It was promising more stuff.

The promo almost feels like Batman and Robin are opening up a toy box. There’s the Batmobile, the Batboat, the Batcycle, the Batcave, the gadgets, the traps, the flashing machines, and every strange crime-fighting invention they could squeeze into a half hour.

That was part of the fun. Season two still had the cliffhangers, the colorful villains, the tilted camera angles, and the POW! BAM! ZAP! fights, but it also leaned even harder into the idea that Batman had a special tool for everything.

To kids watching in 1966, those were not just props. They were dream machines. Every new Bat-gadget felt like something you wanted to own, ride, launch, or press a button on.

Same Bat-time. Same Bat-channel. But now with even more Bat-toys.

Did you watch Batman when Bat-mania was everywhere?

Colt 45 and the Man Who Waited for the Pour

Colt 45 started in Baltimore in 1963, and even the name had a local sports connection. The brand now says it was named for Baltimore Colts running back Jerry Hill, who wore jersey #45. So right from the start, Colt 45 had that mix of beer, sports, attitude, and local pride built into it.

But before Billy Dee Williams later made Colt 45 famous with “works every time,” the brand had another unforgettable advertising campaign — the calm, silent man who barely reacted to anything.

In the 1960s Colt 45 malt liquor commercials, Billy Van sat at a table while the world around him went completely crazy. There could be noise, danger, action, beautiful women, strange characters, or total chaos, and he would barely move.

Then the Colt 45 was poured.

That was the joke. Nothing impressed him until the glass filled up.

The campaign came from W.B. Doner, the Baltimore ad agency behind Colt 45’s early advertising for National Brewing. Their idea was not to make another ordinary beer commercial. They wanted Colt 45 to feel different — a “completely unique experience” — and these ads certainly were. They played more like strange little comedy sketches than standard drink ads.

Even the music helped. The odd, bouncy tune came from Robert Maxwell’s “Solfeggio,” better known to classic TV fans from Ernie Kovacs’ Nairobi Trio. It gave the commercials that slightly offbeat, almost dreamlike feel.

Looking back, these ads were pure 1960s advertising: stylish, weird, simple, and memorable. A Baltimore-born malt liquor, a silent comic setup, a familiar piece of oddball TV music, and one perfect reaction when the drink was poured.

Do you remember the Colt 45 man who stayed calm through everything?

Maxwell House and the Percolator Days

Before Mr. Coffee changed the way so many of us made coffee (drip coffee), most homes had a percolator sitting on the stove or plugged in on the counter.

This old Maxwell House ad from the 1950s really shows how much effort went into getting a good cup of coffee. The percolator had to bubble, perk, and fill the kitchen with that smell before anyone got their first cup.

What stands out now is how dramatic the ad makes it all look. The rich dark coffee, the steam rising from the percolator, and the dark grounds all make a simple cup of coffee feel almost seductive.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate my drip coffee that goes into a carafe and stays warm for hours. There is something nice about pressing a button and knowing coffee will be ready and waiting.

What memories does this percolator ad bring back to you?

Before the Lawyers Got Involved

As a kid, I always wondered why adults were leaving blasting caps around often enough that they had to hire Willie Mays to make a commercial about it.

This old PSA is such a strange piece of TV history. One minute you were watching cartoons or cereal commercials, and the next minute one of the greatest baseball players of all time was looking into the camera warning you not to touch explosives.

It feels like it came from that era before everything had ten warning labels, sealed packaging, and a legal department reviewing every word. The message was simple: if you find a blasting cap, do not pick it up. Tell a policeman, a fireman, or an adult.

Looking back, it is funny how many safety lessons were delivered to kids through television. Fire safety, seat belts, strangers, drugs, littering, and apparently, random blasting caps.

Only back then could Willie Mays interrupt your Saturday morning to warn you about explosives.

Do you remember this PSA?

The Internet in 1969: They Got There… Sort Of

This 1969 look at the future is fascinating because, in a way, they really did predict where we were going. Shopping from home, checking accounts, paying bills, ordering things through a screen — all of that eventually became part of everyday life. The funny part is that they imagined it happening through a giant home computer setup that looked more like mission control than the phone in your pocket.

And you have to love the very 1969 version of household roles. The wife uses the futuristic computer to shop for clothes and groceries, while the husband comes in later to handle the bills and finances. It is such a perfect little time capsule of how the future was imagined through the lens of that era.

They were right about the destination, just not the road we took to get there. No big computer room in the house, no dedicated shopping console, and thankfully no need to dress up just to order something online. But watching this now, it is still impressive how close they came to predicting the basic idea of the online world we use every day.

New Country Corn Flakes

The New Country Corn Flakes commercial stood out to me as a kid, and I still remember it to this day. So I guess it was an effective ad.

It was not flashy by today’s standards. There were no cartoon mascots running around, no big prize reveal, and no wild animation. Instead, it had that plain, old-fashioned country feel, with a serious farm couple look that reminded people of American Gothic.

That may be why it stuck. The ad was simple, a little odd, and very catchy. It kept repeating the name and selling the idea that these corn flakes were crispier, toastier, and just a little different from the usual bowl of cereal.

Looking back, it feels like a perfect example of early 1960s advertising. Sometimes the commercials that stayed with us were not the loudest ones. They were the ones that had a strange little rhythm, a memorable image, or a jingle that somehow never left your head.

Do you remember New Country Corn Flakes, or is there another cereal commercial that has stayed with you all these years?