The Best Classic Commercials From the 50's & 60's

--It's kind of funny, isn't it? When you buy a TV show or movie on DVD, you certainly don't want to have any dreaded commercials spoiling the experience. But when the TV ads are from a "long, long time ago", they're automatically "better" somehow, and evoke a nostalgic-type quality because of their age.

This collection of old television advertisements from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s falls into that "nostalgic" category, and are therefore worth seeing again (and even again).

If you can locate some of the many VHS video volumes of "Classic TV Commercials Of The '50s & '60s", produced and marketed in 1994 by "Video Resources" of New York City, I'd recommend picking up a volume or two from that series. (And even though no "1970s" ads are supposed to be included on those particular tapes {given the title}, many '70s commercials ARE, indeed, included nonetheless -- with advertisements dating all the way up to 1975, in fact, on some of the videos.)

There are more than 40 total volumes in that "Video Resources" collection of videocassettes, with each tape containing one hour of old-time TV commercials and promo spots (in both color and black-and-white).

The picture quality on these videos isn't too great, and most of the color ads have very weak-looking color to them -- but they are still fun to re-visit now and again (from a "Trip Down Memory Lane" point-of-view).


Some of the highlights from the multi-tape "Classic Commercials" assortment by Video Resources include:

>> Ronald Reagan pitching "lighting solutions" for your home.

>> Jim Davis ("Jock Ewing" of "Dallas" TV fame) in an energetic ad promoting the new 1964 Buick "Wildcat" convertible.

>> Vincent Price (as a bank teller) in a spot for the game "Hangman". .... "I can't play with these interruptions!"

>> Marilyn Monroe selling gasoline. .... "Put Royal Triton in Cynthia's tummy!"

>> Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz (and the rest of the "I Love Lucy" cast) can be seen alongside popular spokesperson of the day, Betty Furness, in a time-consuming filmed endorsement for "Westinghouse Value Days". Fred & Ethel haul their old refrigerator down to the store for a trade-in deal! .... "You can be sure -- if it's Westinghouse!"

>> "Mama-mia! That's-a spicy meatball-a!"

>> Cigarette commercials dominated the TV airwaves in the 1950s and 1960s, with the intense competition between these tobacco companies very obvious when viewing such adverts. See vintage TV spots for lots of different cigarette brands, including: Kool, Pall Mall, Kent, Newport, Lark, Old Gold ("Get a treat, instead of a treatment"), Winston ("Winston tastes good like a cigarette should"), Tareyton ("I'd rather fight than switch"), and Virginia Slims ("You've come a long way, baby").

>> "Let Hertz put YOU in the driver's seat -- to-dayyyyy!"

>> Hear the Nabisco cookie jingle till you want to throw up. (They "theme" a lot of these ads, jamming all of one kind together -- not always such a good idea, IMO.) :)

>> See those sharp new 1959 Chevys, with Pat Boone and Dinah Shore!

>> Remember the game "Mystery Date"? It's in this VR "Classics" collection, too. The very first commercial shown on Volume #1, in fact. .... "Will your date be a dream -- or a dud?!"

>> Fly Eastern Airlines and their smoky DC-8s, and (per one of their advertising slogans at the time) "discover how good an airline can be".

>> Or you can take off with Delta Airlines -- "We love to fly, and it shows".

>> See some behind-the-scenes clips from the TV series "Bewitched" during the filming of an on-location ABC-TV promo spot shot in Salem, Massachusetts.

>> Find out why "The Whopper" is "The two-fisted burger at Burger King".

>> Fasten your seat belt tightly when viewing the extremely-lengthy dealer plug for "Johnny Lightning Rocket 500" miniature race-car sets that were being marketed with vigor in 1970. That evidently was a huge advertising campaign, costing millions of (1970) dollars.

>> Coca-Cola ads from 1963. .... "Things go better with Coke".

>> "Brylcreem, a little dab'll do ya! Brylcreem, you'll look so debonair! Brylcreem, the gals will pursue ya! Simply rub a little in your hair!!"

>> Ronald Reagan is back in another old-time commercial -- this time peddling "Boraxo Hand Soap".

>> Watch Bing Crosby in a lengthy Christmas-time TV piece aimed at dealers instead of individual consumers -- all about "gas" (the type used to heat your home). :)

>> Soupy Sales pops up in some spots for "Gino's" Hamburger Restaurants.

>> Hear the unintentionally-hilarious and over-the-top melodramatic ditty written for Dodge cars. (At least I don't THINK the song was meant to be humorous.) .... "Gonna take me a press; gonna take me some steel; gonna take my two hands...and build an auto-mo-bile!" :)

>> See what made the Ford "Edsel" so special in 1958.

>> Watch Andy, Barney, Opie, and Aunt Bee sell "Sanka" instant coffee and breakfast cereal from the set of "The Andy Griffith Show".

>> Lucy & Desi smoke up a storm in ads for "Philip Morris" cigarettes.

>> See "The Marlboro Man", and once again hear that fabulous music that was associated with that top-notch 1960s-era cigarette advertising campaign.

>> Plus several very good local Washington, D.C., "Live" advertisements (with Milt Grant) -- for: Pepsi-Cola, Briggs Ice Cream, Motorola portable radios, "Tops Drive-Inns" (and their delicious "Sirloiner" steak sandwiches), and "The Music Box" (a local Washington record shop).

------------------

Playing these "Classic Television Commercials" videos will take you straight back in time to when soft drinks came in glass bottles only; cars had lots of chrome and were really l-o-n-g; cigarette ads on TV were still legal (~gasp!~); a candy bar only set you back one nickel; a "21-inch" TV screen was considered pretty big; flying on a commercial aircraft was an "event" to be savored and enjoyed (instead of simply a mere means of transportation); and, thankfully, there were no TV commercials for products to help improve -- (~gulp!~) -- "male performance

". Shipping & Handling is $3.00 in the United States and variable, internationally, based upon location.  I will ship immediately upon receipt of payment via First Class Mail in the United States and Airmail, internationally. Buy with confidence from an EBAY Power Seller devoted to Client Focus!!

On Oct-19-02 at 04:33:56 PDT, seller added the following information: