Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Reddy for the Political Conventions

Seventy-two years ago this month, both the Republican and Democratic political parties held their nominating conventions at the International Ampitheatre in Chicago, Illinois – just a few weeks apart.

And our old pal Reddy Kilowatt was there, circling high above the convention center on his patented flying carpet equipped with a TV set and apparently the world's longest extension cord.
The ad above, which ran in the Lorain Journal on July 18, 1952 puts Reddy in position to catch the action at the Democratic convention, which ran from July 21 to 26.
Unlike Reddy, I don't watch either party's convention. 
As you probably remember, in 1952 the Republicans nominated Dwight D. Eisenhower. One of the tactics used to promote his candidacy was this animated "I Like Ike" commercial. (Here's the story behind its creation, which involved some Walt Disney staffers.)
As for Reddy, he had his own promotional commercial too.



3 comments:

Don Hilton said...

I wouldn't pay a penny an hour to watch either convention. Then, again, I would pay a penny to watch *all* of them, neither.

Stevenson of Illinois was the Democratic nominee, didn't even win his home state but swept most of the south

Estes Kefauver was a contender and the convention. Great name. Anybody besides me have the National Lampoon Yearbook: Kefauver High School in Dacron, Ohio?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lampoon_1964_High_School_Yearbook_Parody

Anonymous said...

Hey Don,I have a copy of that National Lampoon 1964 Yearbook.I got it in a bunch of Lorain High yearbooks.Evidently somebody thought it was infact real and had it in the mix.

Don Hilton said...

Anon:

Laughing. It's pretty convincing and close enough to the truth to be both funny *and* a little uncomfortable.