"Daffy's Rhapsody" talkback
"The Snow Queen" trailer
"Arrietty" Will Be Ghibli's Biggest US Release Yet
Ricky Garduno, RIP
Follow @CartoonBrew on Twitter
YouTube
Vimeo
RSS
Follow Cartoon Brew on Facebook
|
|
|
Rare Commercials by Tex Avery, Ed Benedict and Tom Oreb
December 20, 2008 5:22 pm
YouTube user ‘VidResidue’ has uploaded a couple of rare 1950s animated commercials worth sharing. The first is a Kool-Aid spot directed by Tex Avery and designed by Ed Benedict. I think it’s amazing that Avery’s last theatrical cartoon—Sh-h-h-h—was released in 1955 when he was only 47 years old. Tex’s flame burned out prematurely. As much as I enjoy his TV commercials (of which I’ve only seen a dozen or so out of hundreds that he directed), it’s disheartening that one of animation’s greatest directors has a late body of work that is comprised entirely of lightweight advertising jobs and cheap TV shows. (Earlier this year I did a lengthier post about Avery’s late-career.) Next is a Peter Pan Peanut Butter spot designed by Tom Oreb. I’m guessing the director of the spot is Charles Nichols. Here is the model sheet that Tom Oreb created for the TV version of Peter Pan characters (click for bigger version).
13 comments
posted in Advertising, Cartoon Modern, Tex Avery, Tom Oreb 
|
ADVERTISEMENTS
EVENTS
RECENT BREW TV EPISODES By Sitji Chou. A man tries to understand the futility of creating human connections when they’ve been impeded by the microcosmic void between material particles.  By Nikolas Ilic. A story of a Scottish sheep farmer who shears his sheep and tosses them cliff side…  By Dylan Hayes. Lesson 1: Everyone gambles, not everyone loses. Lesson 2: The world is full of traps. Lesson 3: You cannot win if you don’t take risks.  By Jean Yi. A personal and humorous exploration of being the ‘Nice Girl’ and coming to terms with the label and all its different meanings.  By Ferg Brennan. A lonely fisherman catches an unusual fish, which he decides to keep as a pet. |
Mmmm…peanut butter in a vacuum tin. Delish. I was always curious what the commercials that correspond to these model sheets were like! Thanks for pointing them out.
Wow, they used to sell peanut butter in big cans?
Thanks for posting these. I’m a huge Charles Nichols fan and always loved his Fred Flintstone better than anyone else’s.
Tom Oerb’s designs remind me of the simplified re-designs to the characters of The Emperor’s New Groove and 101 Dalmations once they brought them back for their respective animated TV spin-offs. It really makes you think about the effort that went into the original films.
The Peter Pan spot was great! Thanks for sharing.
At least Tex left theatrical shorts on top his game. I could care less about his TV work. That’s just the crap he did for a paycheck.
Not only did the Kool Aid spot feature top drawer visuals and direction, but voice work as well with Thurl Ravenscroft as the Pitcher and Mel Blanc as the Beaver. Either the advertising dollar went farther in the 50’s, or people actually cared how the product looked when done.
Yep, Charles Nichols and his crew was in 2G in the Animation Building. I was right down the hall from his guys. They did really cool work, and I was surprised they were doing much of their work in black and white.
I love Bill Thompson’s voice work.
I love that little 2D Tinkerbell.
Hook looks very like Dick Dastardly, I enjoyed that commercial. Was very cute.
I think it’s awesome these things were just short of 60 seconds! When I was in commercial animation and when we had a full :30 for a spot it felt as though we were luxuriously awash in time.
The timing and animation of the crock waiting in the water reminds me of Oerb’s designs for Avery in “Symphony In Slang”.
Was that Thurl Ravenscroft (Tony the Tiger) voicing the narrator/Kool-Aid guy on the Tex Avery one?