Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Manners Ad – August 25, 1962


Watermelon was always a favorite of my parents in the summertime. Me? I could take it or leave it. But my father particularly enjoyed it. We would sprinkle salt on each slice. (Now I wouldn't dream of putting salt on watermelon – or sweet corn for that matter.)

But watermelon is the focus of the Manners ad above, which ran in the Journal back on August 25, 1962. The deal: a free, whole watermelon with the purchase of Manners Country Cousin Chicken in the carry-out 'red barn' box. Besides the watermelon, dinner consisted of twelve pieces of chicken and dinner rolls.

Here's a closer look at the Country Cousin Chicken box, in color, courtesy of Worthpoint. It's pretty cute, with the Manners version of Big Boy all decked out like a farmhand.

I like the creativity that went into advertising in those days. The box actually made the whole experience fun. 

I remember saving an actual Red Barn restaurant box (similar to the Manners one) and using it to store my bottle cap collection. I'll bet the inside of that box was pretty greasy.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I small,I remember the Higbee's at the Midway Mall had a restaurant upstairs.They also had a restaurant or snack bar in the lower first floor of the store.It was sunken in the ground if I recall.But the restaurant upstairs offered a kids meal type "house" container or something to that effect.Maybe your readers can describe it as I can vaguely remember it.

Don Hilton said...

Salt on melon. Apples. Corn. Beer.

Not too much with beer, though, which is very nearly perfect on its own!

Mike Kozlowski said...

...Their fish dinner had a box made up like a creel, and those dinners were amazing. And the french fried mushrooms were nirvana itself.

Anonymous said...

The escalator in Higbees led to “The Attic”, from what I remember. My parents bought Thanksgiving Dinner there in the early 80s if I remember correctly. The Harvest House was in Woolworths. Great days