Post Cereals has shown up as a topic on many of my blog, er, posts over the years.
Why? Mainly for sentimental reasons. My siblings and I used to watch the Linus the Lionhearted show, which featured the Post advertising cereal mascots in their own cartoon segments: Linus (for Crispy Critters); Sugar Bear (for Sugar Crisp); So-Hi (for Rice Krinkles); Lovable Truly (for Alpha Bits); and Rory Raccoon (for Post Toasties). Although we were mainly a Kellogg's family, Mom did buy a few Post cereals from time to time, mainly Crispy Critters and Alpha Bits.
Here's the introduction to the Linus show.
Need proof that I enjoyed the show? Here's a drawing I made of some of the characters back in 1965. (By George, my mother saved almost all my doodles from the time I picked up a crayon.)
 |
| Just like my drawing, Linus was overshadowed by his friends on his own TV show |
And here's a good example of its marketing strategy: a coupon good for 12 cents off any two Post cereals. The almost 3/4 page ad ran in the Journal on March 4, 1964.
Of particular interest is the Sugar Crisp box (below). It had a bear on it, but the beady-eyed bruin wasn't quite the well-known Sugar Bear that we all know.
The box would keep this look for a while even after Sugar Bear debuted on the Linus show. Eventually, the box was redesigned (below) to highlight the most popular character on the show.
Sugar Crisp (now called Golden Crisp, with Sugar Bear still on the box) is one of the few surviving Post cereals from the 1964 ad. Crispy Critters, Post Toasties, and Alpha Bits have all been discontinued.
Rice Krinkles is gone as well, but was reformulated into the Pebbles cereals – Fruity and Cocoa.
Even though these days I eat a lot of Post Shredded Wheat, as well as Cream of Wheat (since I got sick last month), I still keep a box of Golden Crisp on hand. I guess I'm just a kid at heart.
I buy a box of Post Grape Nuts about once a year. But just like Corn Nuts (which I love), Grape Nuts can be hazardous to your dental health.
I gave up Grape Nuts a couple of decades ago after a friend cracked a molar on them.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness they put clothing on that Sugar Bear, though, like a certain duck, he's still airing his naughty bits!
Y'know... I *never* connected the Linus Show to Post Cereals.
Wouldn't have mattered, though, we were a store-brand family, mostly. When we splurged it was for K-E-Double-Ell-Oh-Double-Good.
https://youtu.be/PuBwES00FgI?feature=shared
ReplyDeleteI wrote about the original Sugar Crisp mascots Dandy, Handy and Candy not too long ago, with a link to this here blog. My Post post involves a promotional record from Roy Rogers and Rosemary Clooney, who recorded a "Dandy, Handy and Candy" disc back in 1951.
ReplyDeletehttps://bustersss.blogspot.com/2024/02/on-sugar-high-with-rosie-roy-and-three.html
I used to eat shredded wheat also with milk and butter. Today my favorite cracker is Triscuits, which as far as I can tell, is the same thing in a smaller square form.
ReplyDeleteI like Kellogg's too Dan but if the CEO of Kellogg's had his way, we'd all be eating cereal morning,noon and night.A few weeks ago he made a few remarks pertaining to inflation.He suggested that everybody should just eat cereal all the time.Eat it when you get up.Eat it for lunch.And eat it for dinner.This just shows how out of touch the 1%ers are with their customers.
ReplyDeleteAlpha Bits were my favorites from Post, but eventually I came to understand that Frosted Cheerios are the greatest cereal of all time. ;)
ReplyDeleteBuster, I had completely forgotten that you have an excellent, well-written blog about 45 and 78 records and music-related topics – thanks for reminding me. I put a link to your blog (which dates back to 2012) under my "Websites of Interest" listing at the top of the page. And I enjoyed the post about the three Sugar Crisp bears and their record!
ReplyDeleteWell, thank you kindly, Dan. I have two sites - the one for singles such as "Handy, Dandy and Candy" (or whatever order it was) and one for LPs and longer collections of material. Most of my material is classical records and vocalists from the 1920s-70s, but I post everything from gospel to 50s big bands. I restore everything I post - sound, scans, photos, etc.
ReplyDeleteThis is the main blog:
https://big10inchrecord.blogspot.com/