I was simultaneously freaked out and delighted to find this original commercial for Quisp cereal posted on YouTube. Quisp was the favorite cereal of my childhood. I ate it, straight from the box, during countless hours of viewing shows like Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, and The Jetsons. The cereal was flavored similarly to Captain Crunch and was shaped like little flying saucers.
I remember seeing this commercial. And I have to wonder, was THIS bit of advertising what drew me to the cereal? Because this? This is one weird commercial. A space dude knits a giant scarf in outer space?
All I can picture is a couple of Cheech and Chong-like Mad Men sitting around a conference table smoking some really righteous weed during the Summer of Love saying things like…
MAD MAN #1
DUDE. This Quisp campaign, I don’t know. Just a plain old space man is SO boring…
MAD MAN #2
Totally.
(Mad Man #1 and Mad Man #2 pass the doobie back and fourth about fourteen more times in complete silence, then…)
MAD MAN #1
You know, man, I been thinking.
MAD MAN #2
Oh, WOW! I can’t BELIEVE this! Because I’VE been THINKING TOO!
MAD MAN #1
I been thinking about outer space.
MAD MAN #2
ME TOO! This is unbelievable!
MAD MAN #1
And don’t planets sort of remind you of…big balls of yarn?
MAD MAN #2
(reverently)
Right on, man. That is just so. Like, RIGHT ON.
MAD MAN #1
I’m thinking the Quisp space guy could like…he could knit…maybe a
MAD MAN #2
SCARF! He could knit a giant space scarf!
MAD MAN #1
It could be…
MAD MAN #2
What, 86 miles long?
MAD MAN #1
Dude. Are you crazy? It would have to be eighty-SEVEN miles long.
MAD MAN #2
(Reverently again)
Eighty-seven, man. You are so right about that.
MAD MAN #1
Knit one…
MAD MAN #2
Purl two! Knit one, purl two! Far OUT!
MAD MAN #1
My Gramma used to say that.
MAD MAN #2
Far out?
MAD MAN #1
No, stupid, Knit One…
MAD MAN #2
Mmmm….Gramma. She makes the grooviest cinnamon rolls…
MAD MAN #1
Is there anything to eat around here?
MAD MAN #2
Just this box of Quisp cereal.
(The Mad Men enthusiastically dig into the Quisp in silence for about ten minutes. Then…)
MAD MAN #1
(suddenly)
DAMNIT!
MAD MAN #2
(startled)
What is it man?!
MAD MAN #1
I forgot, we were supposed to work Shecky Green into the Quisp commercial somehow as a favor to my Uncle Morty!
MAD MAN #2
Don’t sweat it, Dude.
MAD MAN #1
Easy for you to say. Poor Shecky hasn’t worked in years. How does he fit into the Big Ball of Yarn commercial?
MAD MAN #2
He’ll uh…., he can uh….
MAD MAN #1
He’ll have to be the voice of the Quisp astronaut guy.
MAD MAN #2
Right ON, my bruthah!
MAD MAN #1
Dude. You are so stoned.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
A Big Ball of Yarn
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3 comments:
Good grief. I missed a lot of TV during the 70's because I was working, attending law school, moving to another state, starting a new career, yada yada. . .
My only TV set was a 12-inch black and white which was a gift in 1970 and used until 1984. When I finally bought a color Sony tabletop model that weighed approximately half a ton.
Thanks - I think - for this glimpse of what I missed in that lost decade.
I think you're on to something with that reconstruction of the brainstorming session! How else could that commercial have come to be?
Wow.
;)
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