Friday, August 11, 2023

Reddy to Freeze Just About Anything – Aug. 1963

It's been a while since our old pal Reddy Kilowatt has dropped by here on the blog. He was pretty much retired by the early 1970s, so it's unlikely that he'll pop up in any 1973 ads. So, we'll reach back a little earlier and post this ad that appeared in the Journal back on August 6, 1963.

Reddy surprises us a little this time. Rather than encouraging us to freeze fruits and vegetables as in previous ads, he's recommending that we plan ahead to 'ease the strain of holidays.'  Thus, Reddy encourages us to freeze decorated birthday cakes, frosted cupcakes, "blobs" of whipped cream to be used as toppings later, cream cheese balls, bags of ice cubes, spaghetti sauce, chili, chow mein, and even potato chips!

It's an odd ad, with its illustrations of a woman stylishly dressed while preparing her soon-to-be-frozen vittles. (It looks like she's wearing a cocktail dress while she decorates her cake.)
Anyway, I've mentioned before how I just don't use my freezer very much, despite Reddy's advice. I have a pot pie in there that's aging nicely, some soup I made in the early spring, and some ancient, stinky ice cubes – but that's about it.
I knew a few people in my youth that had those huge freezers like Reddy is demonstrating. But the Brady freezer in the basement was upright, and – for quite a time in the 1970s and 80s – filled with perch and walleye that Dad caught.
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UPDATE (Sept. 2, 2024)
Here's Reddy again, shilling for electric food freezers in ad that ran in the Journal just a few weeks later on August 20, 1963.
Are those pot pies the housewife has in her hand?

1 comment:

Don Hilton said...

Dan and Reddy. Reddy and Dan.
They're always together, as close as can be!

We bought a small chest freezer to store extra Sam's Club stuff when the kids came along. Three decades later it's still chugging right along, and we use it all the time.

But, growing up, we never had one. No food survived in the house long enough to be frozed!

As an aside, Mom never ever looked that happy in the kitchen.