The Burger King Visits Lorain – August 7, 1972

Burger King seems to turn up on this blog regularly as a topic. 

Why? Because I have favorable feelings toward the burger chain. Unlike McDonald's, Burger King has never closed or moved its original Lorain outlets. Both were open by 1970, right where they are now – on Fairless Drive and Leavitt Road. And I still go to the one on Leavitt Road – especially since Vermilion lost its own Burger King.

To compete with the popular Ronald McDonald, Burger King created its own mascot – a cartoon king. Naturally, the company wanted a costumed version of him to be able to appear at the restaurants.

And that's what's going on the photo below, which appeared in the Journal back on August 7, 1972.

As the caption notes, "Children, such as 8-year-old Jeffery Konowal, son of Mr. and Mrs. James Konowal of 2825 Lexington Ave., Lorain, grow up in a world of giants. But this time Jeff met a new and unusual fellow, Mr. Burger King, the Disney Studios' newly designed trademark for the hamburger palace chain. Jeff, who shook hands with The King as District Manager Mike Reed looked on, was in on the second public appearance of the sunny, curly-haired fellow at Burger King's Leavitt Road stand. The King now goes on to visit each of the 900 Burger King restaurants coast to coast."

It's interesting the Disney Studios were involved in the creation of the Burger King mascot. Disney also created the Orange Bird mascot for the Florida Citrus Commission.

I can see where the Disney Studios would be pretty helpful in the design of a walk-around character. That's what the company does best when it comes to populating its theme parks with live-action versions of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, etc. And the Burger King in the photo looks not unlike one of the Seven Dwarves. 

But the cartoon King himself apparently wasn't endearing or lovable enough to take on the McDonald's juggernaut, and was eventually exiled.

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Click here to visit my past posts on Burger King.