Post Toasties Postscript

On yesterday’s, er, post about Post Toasties, I featured a photo of an early 1960s box of the cereal. If you looked closely on the front of the box, there was a small photo with the caption “RORY RACCOON INFLATABLE TOY.”

Unless you’re a Baby Boomer, you might be wondering: who was Rory Raccoon?

He was one of the members of the cartoon cast of Linus the Lionhearted, a TV show with segments built around all of the main Post Cereals advertising mascots. Cast members and their cereals included Linus (Crispy Critters), Sugar Bear (Sugar Crisp), Rory Raccoon (Post Toasties), So-Hi (Rice Krinkles) and Lovable Truly the Postman (Alpha Bits).

Since we watched the show, we ate the cereals – mainly Crispy Critters and Alpha Bits. I even entered a Post-sponsored contest in which you had to draw Lovable Truly. I won one of the lesser prizes (a Mattel V-RROOM! engine for my bike).

Anyway, here’s a Post Toasties commercial featuring Rory Raccoon.

And here’s a full episode of the original show, with all of the commercials intact. You might want to pour yourself a Jethro-sized bowl of cereal to enjoy while watching it.

Linus the Lionhearted was pretty good show, which my siblings and I watched religiously (which was appropriate since it was on Sunday during part of its run). Unfortunately, it was eventually pushed off the air by the FCC, because the show’s characters appeared in commercials plugging their own cereals – a big no-no.

Anyway, Rory was voiced by Bob McFadden (mentioned here on the blog when he appeared at the Mary Lee Tucker benefit show in 1955). Rory's cartoons featured him protecting his corn field from a wiseguy crow voiced by Jesse White (the original Maytag man in commercials).

Post later moved Rory over to Sugar Sparkled Flakes, the sweetened version of Post Toasties.

Sadly, almost all of the cereals plugged on Linus the Lionhearted are no longer in production, except for Alpha-Bits (which is hard to find) and Golden Crisp (which still has cool Sugar Bear as a mascot).