Ray Raisin in the Sun: Kellogg's Raisin Bran 1981 Animation Cel

 

What's the scoop, Sun?  In 1981, reporter Ray Raisin interviewed Sunny, the Kellogg's Raisin Bran mascot, about two bigger scoops of raisins being put in boxes of Kellogg's Raisin Bran cereal.  Years before the Claymation California Raisins, Kellogg's had its own singing and dancing cartoon raisins.  I recently found and purchased an animation cel of Ray Raisin (with a pencil drawing of Sunny)---for $40!

Before computers were used to color animated characters for cartoons, character drawings were transferred to clear plastic sheets (called cels), and the painting was done on the back.  This Raisin Bran advertisement took things to another level---the characters had meticulous shading painted right on to the cel.  This must have been an astonishing amount of work (possibly airbrushed?).  A TV commercial had a much bigger budget and care given to it than the TV shows the ads ran with at the time.

I believe the Kellogg's commercials were produced by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, which ironically went on to produce the hand-drawn California Raisins Saturday Morning cartoon in 1989, as well as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (among countless other projects).

Ray Raisin was voiced by the legendary Paul Winchell (the original voice of Tigger from Disney's Winnie the Pooh).  I believe Sunny was voiced by Joel Cory (who voiced the Helping Hand in commercials for Hamburger Helper).

Two bigger scoops of raisins are the reason Kellogg's Raisin Bran's so pleasin'!  That song is stuck in my head now.

More 2005 Topps Wacky Packages

Here are the rest of my Topps Wacky Packages from 2005.  This Wormy Packages "card" is actually a magnet that was part of a series of 9.

Nabisco Fig Newtons and Fed Ex get spoofed here.  Click on these images to get a better look.

Here's a parody of Drake's Ring Dings and Milton Bradley's Twister game.  I had never heard of Drake's Cakes until Rosie O'Donnell mentioned them on her 1990s syndicated talk show.

Swedish Fish candy and Post Honey Combs Cereal get lampooned here.  "Honey Comb's Big--Yeah, yeah, yeah!  It's not small---No, no, no!"

Here is a different take on Tums and Nestea Cool.

Oscar Meyer Lunchables and Tide laundry detergent get served here.

Hopefully at some point soon I'll find my 1980s Wacky Packages album.

I was happy to discover that a couple of my Garbage Pail Kids cards survived.  They are some of the earlier ones, too!

The Cheese That Goes Crunch

Those familiar with MAD Magazine Fold-Ins should appreciate this wonderful 1997 ad for Cheetos.  It's really too bad that the artist responsible for this image did not get a credit here.  This ad is from a Cartoon Network Dexter's Laboratory comic book.

Per the request of Darrin at Dad's Dish Retro Blog, I included the folded image (through the magic of Photoshop, I did not have to bend up my comic book).

Chester Cheetah was introduced as an animated character in 1986.  He's in good company with characters like the Pink Panther and the Warner Brothers character, Cool Cat.

I can remember a Chester Cheetah set of toys available at Kentucky Fried Chicken years ago.  This was fitting, since Pepsi owns Frito-Lay (the maker of Cheetos) and KFC.  Synergy at its finest!

These days, Chester Cheetah can be seen as a puppet character in some new TV commercials.

It's not easy being cheesy, so Chester Cheetah has been willing to adapt to change over the years. 

Candilicious-Bigger Than You Figure

This ad for a candy called Candilicious is from a 1989 Alf comic book.  Candilicious was a chewy candy that I never tried, and was not a big hit, but the animated commercial is something I do remember.

Animator Sally Cruikshank let her imagination run wild with this creative ad.  She was responsible for main title animation in a number of live action films, including "Ruthless People" and "Mannequin."  She also had some cartoons featured on Sesame Street, like "Your Feets Too Big."  Sometimes her work has a dream-like or nightmare-like quality that is fascinating.




I have lost count of how many times I have played this commercial.  I love the song!