throwback commercials Archives - Retro Reminiscing Video and Pictures

Suzy Cute and Louis Armstrong: Yes, This Really Happened

The Suzy Cute doll commercial is one of those 1960s toy ads that makes you stop and say, “Wait, is that really Louis Armstrong?”

Yes, it is.

The commercial was for Topper Toys’ Suzy Cute doll, part of the company’s Suzy line. After Armstrong’s huge 1964 hit “Hello, Dolly!”, Topper’s Henry Orenstein apparently thought, “Who better to sell a doll than the man singing about Dolly?” Armstrong filmed and recorded the spot on January 6, 1965, shortly after returning from a major overseas tour.

The ad has Armstrong singing and performing with a group of little girls while promoting the doll. What makes it so charming, and a little surreal, is that Armstrong does not phone it in. The Louis Armstrong House Museum notes that even the full unused take of the jingle shows him treating it seriously, scatting, encouraging the band, and even playing trumpet during the extended recording.

That is what makes the commercial so memorable today. It is not just a toy ad. It is one of the greatest jazz legends of all time giving full Louis Armstrong energy to a tiny baby doll commercial.

Only in the 1960s could a toy company say, “Let’s get Satchmo to sell Suzy Cute,” and somehow make it happen.

National Donut Day: Time To Make The Donuts With Fred

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Today is National Donut Day, so it feels like the perfect time to celebrate with Fred the Baker and his famous line: “Time to make the donuts.”

Fred was played by actor Michael Vale, who became the face of Dunkin’ Donuts in commercials from the early 1980s until 1997. The whole idea was simple: while the rest of us were still sleeping, Fred was dragging himself out of bed before dawn to make fresh donuts. That tired little walk and mumble made him feel like every hardworking person who had to get up early and do the job.

National Donut Day itself goes back much further. It was created by The Salvation Army in Chicago in 1938 to honor the “Doughnut Lassies,” women who served donuts to soldiers during World War I. It also helped raise money for people in need during the Great Depression.

So today, grab a donut and give a little nod to Fred. He made getting up before dawn look exhausting, funny, and somehow heroic.

Time to make the donuts!

Josephine the Plumber: Comet’s Cleaning Queen

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Josephine from the Comet cleanser commercials was played by Jane Withers, who had already been famous years earlier as a 1930s child star. Later, a whole new generation knew her not from the movies, but as Josephine the Plumber.

Josephine appeared in Comet commercials from the 1960s into the 1970s, usually dressed in white work overalls and showing how Comet could handle stains, sinks, tubs, and other tough cleaning jobs.

What made the campaign stand out was that a woman plumber was highly unusual on TV at the time. That was part of the hook. Instead of using a typical male repairman, Comet gave viewers Josephine — friendly, confident, and no-nonsense. She knew the pipes, the porcelain, and exactly what cleaner to use.

The character worked because she felt practical and believable. She was not glamorous or fancy. She was the woman who knew how to get the job done. Jane Withers reportedly even took a plumbing course to make the role feel more authentic.

For a lot of viewers, Josephine was one of those commercial faces you trusted. If she said Comet cleaned better, you believed her. She had that perfect old-school ad quality: part neighbor, part expert, part TV personality, and completely unforgettable.

“Muncha buncha, muncha buncha, Fritos go with lunch!”

It was catchy, silly, and easy for kids to repeat, which is exactly what made old snack commercials work. A plain lunch suddenly felt more exciting when you added a bag of Fritos.

That was the charm of the campaign. It did not need a complicated story. It was just a happy little reminder that Fritos were salty, crunchy, and perfect next to a sandwich.

You’re singing it now, aren’t cha?

“My dog’s bigger than your dog, my dog’s faster than yours!”

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Here’s another earworm from the ’70s to get stuck in your head for the rest of the day.

Ken-L Ration was one of the big names in dog food for decades, dating back to the 1920s. The brand became known for canned dog food and later dry food, but most of us remember it because of that insanely catchy commercial jingle.

The song was based on “My Dog’s Bigger Than Your Dog” by folk singer Tom Paxton, and the ad turned it into a playground-style brag between kids. The idea was simple: my dog is bigger, faster, shinier, and better because he eats Ken-L Ration.

It was the kind of jingle advertisers loved because you didn’t just hear it — you repeated it. Kids could sing it, parents remembered it, and the brand name was baked right into the hook.

Ken-L Ration was eventually owned by Quaker Oats and later sold to H.J. Heinz in the 1990s, but the product faded from store shelves. The jingle, though? That survived. For a lot of us, all it takes is one line:

“My dog’s bigger than your dog…”

…and suddenly the whole thing comes running back like a dog hearing the can opener.

Sorry, Charlie!

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The StarKist “Sorry, Charlie” campaign started in 1961 and gave us one of the great advertising mascots: Charlie the Tuna. He was created by Tom Rogers of the Leo Burnett Agency as a beatnik-style tuna with a beret, thick glasses, and plenty of confidence. Charlie thought his “good taste” made him perfect for StarKist, but the joke was that StarKist did not want tuna with good taste — they wanted tuna that tastes good.

Charlie himself was originally voiced by actor Herschel Bernardi, who gave him that hip, New York, slightly theatrical sound. The famous announcer line “Sorry, Charlie” was voiced by Danny Dark, one of the biggest commercial voice-over artists of his era. StarKist’s own history page credits Dark as the narrator who delivered the line.

The commercials worked because Charlie was trying so hard to be chosen. He dressed sharp, talked cool, and acted like a sophisticated fish who deserved to end up in the can. Instead, he was rejected every time. Poor Charlie never understood that he was selling the product by not being good enough.

Looking back, it was a perfect old-school ad gag: one simple joke, a catchy phrase, and a character everyone remembered. “Sorry, Charlie” became bigger than tuna and turned into something people said whenever someone got rejected.

When Aftershave Came With Self-Defense Instructions

Hai Karate was one of those aftershaves that sold the joke as much as the scent.

It launched in 1967 and the whole idea was that the stuff made a man so irresistible that women would practically attack him. That is why the package and commercials leaned into the gag that every man needed self-defense instructions after putting it on. The famous warning was: “Be careful how you use it.”

The commercials were pure 1960s and early 1970s male fantasy advertising. A regular guy splashes on Hai Karate, and suddenly a woman goes wild for him. He has to use goofy karate moves to fend her off. It was played for broad slapstick laughs, with the martial arts craze and the “irresistible aftershave” idea mashed together into one very memorable campaign.

The campaign came from the ad firm McCaffrey & McCall, and one of the people behind the marketing plan was George Newall, who later became famous as a co-creator and songwriter for Schoolhouse Rock!

Looking back, it feels like the granddaddy of those later body spray ads where one spritz supposedly turns you into a babe magnet. Back then, though, Hai Karate had the extra gimmick: not only would women chase you, but you might need to defend yourself afterward.

It was silly, sexist, over-the-top, and very much of its time. But that is exactly why people remember it. The bottle may have been aftershave, but the real product was the joke.