One night as I was Googling around indifferently, I thought to myself, “Gosh! I haven’t seen those marvelous John Hubley-directed Marky Maypo spots in at least 30 years. I wonder if I can find them on the net…” (I always think to myself with three dots at the end…)
About a second-and-a-half later, my search yielded four of them, on a website linked to the company that still makes and sells Maypo after all these years. These spots made a huge impression on me when I first saw them on TV – I was four – and they still do to this day. I know Jerry posted these a couple of years ago, but they’re certainly worth revisiting – and if you’ve never seen them before, enjoy! Here is the original spot:
I’d file them under the sub-heading of “The Pleasures of the Deceptively Simple.” Yes, they’re stylized. Yes, they’re graphic. They’re also masterpieces of communication and entertaining advertising, boasting many innovations and good old-fashioned traditional know-how. First, there’s the soundtrack: the husband-and-wife team of John and Faith Hubley recorded semi-improvised dialogue, charming mistakes and all, with their young son Mark, making the character sound like a real kid. Wow, what a concept! (The Hubleys later used this technique, with their offspring, in their many personal short films, like Moonbird and Cockaboody, and almost-as-talented adults like Dudley Moore and Dizzy Gillespie, in films like The Hole and The Hat.)
