Reddy for Action in the 1960s

Last week our old pal Reddy Kilowatt, my favorite advertising mascot of all time, electrified one of Gene Patrick’s "The Passing Scene" comics with a cameo appearance. This week, Reddy’s back as I feature two of his March appearances from ads that ran in the Journal during the month of March in the early 1960s.

After appearing seemingly every day in the newspaper in the 40s and 50s, Reddy's career as a spokesman for electricity began to dim a bit in the 1960s. Perhaps consumers were more sophisticated by then, having already embraced the many modern conveniences available in the post-war period.

But Reddy still had a job to do for Ohio Edison in the war against gas appliances. Here he is in a March 3, 1963 Journal ad promoting electric ranges.

(Looking at this ad, it occurs to me that some of my younger readers may not recognize the chalkboard and erasers in the illustration.)

Here’s Reddy in an attractive rendering a year later in a March 30, 1964 ad. He’s still pointing out that cooking with electricity is cleaner because it’s flameless.

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I’m not convinced that the cleanliness factor was a strong enough advertising point to make the case against cooking with gas.

A better angle might have been to point out that “You’ll never blow up your kitchen with an electric range.” After all, there's at least two Laurel & Hardy movies where attempting to light a gas stove had explosive results.

Here’s the hilarious scene from Blockheads (1938).

In case you’re wondering why Laurel flicked his thumb a few times after discovering he didn’t have any matches, it’s because earlier in the movie he demonstrated a bit of white magic: using his thumb as a lighter. It worked with a pipe; too bad it didn’t work with the stove.

It’s also unfortunate that they didn’t take Reddy’s advice.