Rocky and Bullwinkle Archives - Retro Reminiscing Video and Pictures

Quisp Cereal

What other cereal commercial could turn a giant ball of space yarn into an 87-mile-long necktie? This Quisp ad feels more like a miniature Saturday morning cartoon than a commercial, with Quisp flying through space to deliver cereal before encountering a very “knotty” problem.

Quisp was not just a cereal mascot. He was the Crown Prince of Planet Q, and the propeller on his head allowed him to fly through space. He occasionally traveled with a furry sidekick named Quunchy and competed against Quake, a musclebound miner voiced by Cannon star William Conrad.

Quaker Oats introduced Quisp in 1965, with crunchy corn pieces shaped like flying saucers. The commercials were produced by Jay Ward, creator of Rocky and Bullwinkle, which explains their fast jokes, wild characters and cartoon-style adventures. Daws Butler, also famous as the voice of Yogi Bear, provided Quisp’s voice.

Quisp never starred in a regular cartoon series, but its animated commercials often appeared during children’s programming and became almost as memorable as the shows they sponsored. The cereal disappeared and returned several times over the decades before Quaker discontinued it again around 2024.

Do you remember eating Quisp, or were the crazy commercials more memorable than the cereal?

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Rocky and Bullwinkle was one of those cartoons that worked on two levels. Kids saw a flying squirrel, a goofy moose, spies, fairy tales, and silly adventures. Adults heard the puns, political jokes, Cold War humor, and smart little digs that went right over a lot of kids’ heads.

The show began in 1959 as Rocky and His Friends on ABC, then moved to NBC in 1961 as The Bullwinkle Show. Rocky was Rocket J. Squirrel, the brave flying squirrel, and Bullwinkle J. Moose was his well-meaning but not always brilliant best friend from Frostbite Falls, Minnesota. The show originally ran until 1964, with reruns continuing for years, including ABC Sunday mornings into the early 1970s.

What made it different was the variety-show style. You did not just get Rocky and Bullwinkle fighting Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. You also got Fractured Fairy Tales, Peabody’s Improbable History with Mr. Peabody and Sherman, Aesop and Son, Dudley Do-Right, Bullwinkle’s Corner, and all those cliffhanger endings with ridiculous titles.

The animation was not fancy, even for its time, but the writing was the real star. Jay Ward and Bill Scott leaned into wordplay, satire, narrator jokes, and absurd situations. That is why Rocky and Bullwinkle still feels different from a lot of old cartoons. It was funny for kids, but it was also sneaky smart for the adults in the room. UCLA’s Hammer Museum called the series a “rare gem” and credited its wit to the Jay Ward team, including Bill Scott, June Foray, and the show’s writers and animators.

Did You Watch Super Chicken?

Super Chicken was one of those cartoons that felt like it was made for kids, but the jokes were flying right over our little heads and landing with the grown-ups. It was part of George of the Jungle, which aired on ABC starting in 1967, along with the other segments Tom Slick and Super Chicken. It came from Jay Ward Productions, the same folks behind Rocky and Bullwinkle, so you knew it was going to be loaded with silly names, smart-aleck humor, and jokes that moved faster than most of us realized at the time.

Super Chicken’s real name was Henry Cabot Henhouse III, because of course it was. He was a wealthy chicken superhero who would head off to fight crime with his lion sidekick Fred. And poor Fred always seemed to take the worst of it, which led to that famous line: “You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred!” That was the kind of cartoon writing I appreciate more now than I probably did back then.

The whole thing only had 17 original episodes as part of George of the Jungle, but like so many Saturday morning cartoons, it lived a lot longer in reruns and in our memories. Between the theme song, the goofy superhero setup, and that classic Jay Ward humor, Super Chicken was one of those quick little cartoons that didn’t need much time to leave a mark.

Who remembers Super Chicken? And did you watch it for him, George of the Jungle, or Tom Slick?