Introducing Kellogg's Sugar Smacks Cereal – Nov. 1953

November 5, 1953 Lorain Journal ad

Yesterday we were talking coffee. Today – it's cereal.

When it comes to a sweetened wheat puff cereal, did your mom buy Post Sugar Crisp or Kellogg's Sugar Smacks? They're basically the same cereal; Post was there first, with Sugar Crisp (here's the 1950 Lorain Journal ad) and Kellogg's launched their version a few years later.

And above is the ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on November 5, 1953 breaking the news of the new cereal. That's famed Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey circus clown Paul Jung in the ad and on the box.

Another ad ran in the Journal a few weeks later on November 19, 1953.

Here's an oversized box that was part of a store display. It's currently on eBay.

I'm not sure why Kellogg's utilized the circus theme. Fellow clown Lou Jacobs was featured on boxes as well. It made for a fun and memorable visual theme. 

(It's kind of sad that a campaign like this would never fly today. For decades, clowns were seen as lovable childrens' friends. But in the last 20 or 30 years, clowns have become the very symbol of evil and terror, thanks to various horror movies.)

Anyway, when it comes to Sugar Smacks vs Sugar Crisp, I think Mom was in the Kellogg's camp. While I'm too young to remember any clowns on Sugar Smacks packages, I do remember when Hanna-Barbera's Quick Draw McGraw was on the  box (and Snagglepuss was on Cocoa Krispies).

However, after the members of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon menagerie were no longer featured on the boxes, I think we lost interest in many of the cereals – Sugar Smacks for sure. My siblings and I much preferred the Cap'n Crunch lineup from Quaker Oats, General Mills' Cocoa Puffs, etc. Mom did buy a few Post Cereals (mainly Crispy Critters and Alpha Bits).

Today, I almost always have a box of Sugar Crisp Golden Crisp in the pantry. But if Kellogg's put Quick Draw back on the Sugar Smacks Honey Smacks box, I'd give it a try again. But not while the unapppealing Dig'em Frog is on there!

I mean, frogs eat flies. Ugh.

Kellogg’s Sugar Frosted Flakes Ad – Feb. 19, 1953

Seventy years ago this month, Kellogg's Sugar Frosted Flakes was just being advertised as a new cereal in the Lorain Journal. Above is the ad that ran in the paper on Feb. 19, 1953.

What's interesting about the ad is that Kellogg's was basically staging a tryout to see who would secure a place on the Sugar Frosted Flakes box as its mascot: Tony the Tiger (and son) or Katy the Kangaroo. It would seem that Tony had the advantage, since the ad copy was already stressing the clever G-r-r-reat tagline.

Anyway, the ad directed the Journal reader to "ask your grocer for a free sample," and then to "get ready to buy whole box featuring Tony, the tiger, or Katy, the kangaroo."

Obviously, Tony won the gig and Katy hopped right out of the picture.

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I've written a lot about cereal on this blog. There have been several posts dedicated to Kellogg's and one post specifically about Tony, which included a Journal ad that appeared a month after the one shown above.

I still start my day with a bowl of cereal. Currently I'm working on a box of Rice Krispies, as opposed to my normal geezer diet of Spoon Sized Shredded Wheat.

Kellogg’s of Battle Creek Vintage Postcards

Remember watching TV shows in the 1960s that were sponsored by “Kellogg’s of Battle Creek?” Everyone in America knew the name of the city in Michigan where the cereal giant was located.

The Kellogg’s cereal plant was a major tourist destination for many years. Consequently, it ended up on postcards. Here’s an ample sample from through the years. (I’ve included some postmark dates.)

It’s interesting seeing how the plant evolved.

1912

The visitor’s entrance became the focal point of the postcard beginning in the late 1950s. 

1959

1961

1965

Being a cereal fanatic, I would have loved to have taken a tour of the Kellogg’s factory in Battle Creek, Michigan. But the public tours ended in the 1980s, out of concerns that trade secrets were being stolen.

I did visit Battle Creek with my younger brother in 1998, however, to visit the Kellogg’s Cereal City attraction located downtown. We made a side trip to drive around the huge Kellogg’s manufacturing plant, even though we couldn’t get inside. We also wanted to find and photograph the Tony the Tiger and son statue.

What we found was a little depressing. The former entrance to the plant – through which thousands of visitors streamed over the years, eager to see their favorite cereals being manufactured – was now an overgrown mess.

The statue of Tony the Tiger and Tony Jr. were still there on the grounds, but I had to photograph them through a chain link fence.

So what does the Kellogg’s plant and office complex look like today? Incredibly, most of the buildings shown in the vintage postcards are no more, except for some associated with production. The building where the visitor entrance was located was gone by the early 2000s.

The office building was the last to go. Here’s a vintage postcard of it.

And here’s a Google Maps view of it, off in the distance, circa 2012.

And finally, here’s a photo (courtesy of the Battle Creek Enquirer) of its demolition, along with neighboring Kellogg's buildings, in 2016.

Today, the Tony the Tiger and Tony Jr. statue are located near the new entrance to the factory. You can just barely see them near the base of the flagpole in these Google Maps drive-by photos.

Here’s a closer look.

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Kellogg’s sponsored The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Yogi Bear Show and Quick Draw McGraw. So it’s not surprising that the Hanna Barbara cartoon menagerie was featured on postcards along with the Kellogg’s advertising mascots.

Kellogg’s Sugar Frosted Flakes Ad – March 4, 1953

Tony the Tiger as I remember him,
with the football-shaped head

Kellogg’s Sugar Frosted Flakes was one of the sugary sweet cereals that my mother regularly bought for my siblings and me in the 1960s and 70s. With four kids pouring big bowlfuls of it at a time, the box never lasted very long. It was also the favorite cereal in the Snack Pak (or Variety Pak) multi-box package that my parents brought along on our camping trips.

But more than sixty years ago, Kellogg’s Sugar Frosted Flakes was still a new cereal. Below is an ad that ran in the Lorain Journal back on March 4, 1953.

Note that Tony Jr. was around since the beginning. Here’s a closer look at the box in the ad.

Whatever happened to Tony Jr. anyway? After he was a flop fronting his own cereal (Frosted Rice), he seems to have disappeared. 

Here’s how Tony looks these days.

And here’s a screen grab from the Frosted Flakes website, showing Tony has evolved. “New” Tony looks like he’s misplaced his dentures.

Anyway, here’s a vintage commercial for Sugar Frosted Flakes. Maybe it will bring back some happy memories and cause you to pick up a box.

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Tony the Tiger has been featured on this blog before, mainly in his moonlighting role at Giant Tiger. And Tony’s elfin co-workers at Kellogg’s – Snap, Crackle and Pop – have popped up on the blog too.

Kellogg’s Jumbo Assortment Ad – May 1969

Well, it’s finally Friday – the end of the work week. Time to limp home and relax.

But fifty years ago in May 1969, Friday in the Brady household meant one thing: Mom was going grocery shopping after dinner. And she was sure to bring home plenty (three or four boxes) of the sugary cereal my siblings and I craved. She would buy whatever we asked for – Cap’n Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes... How many mothers do that in 2019?

We would pretty much go through a box on Friday night at snack time, and then enjoy some more in the morning right before we settled down for the inevitable Saturday morning cartoons.

This large ad (which ran in the Journal on May 14, 1969) combines cereal and cartoons very nicely. It shows the gargantuan Kellogg’s Jumbo Assortment: 18 mini boxes of cereal including the dreaded adult ones (Raisin Bran, Corn Flakes) and the kiddie ones we liked.

Here’s a color photo of the Jumbo Assortment in the ad, courtesy of Hake’s.com.

Making a cameo appearance in the 1969 ad is Bingo, one of the Banana Splits – the costumed musical foursome who hosted their own show for Kellogg’s.  Each week the group (Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky) performed in what would now be considered music videos, as well as short slapstick comedy bits. They also showed a strange grab bag of cartoons, plus episodes of Danger Island, a live action adventure.

(I remember just tolerating cartoons like The Three Musketeers, waiting for the show to get back to the Banana Splits and their hijinks.)

Who doesn’t remember the Tra La La song, the theme song of the Banana Splits?

This YouTube sample includes the theme song again, plus some of the comedy bits, such as Fleegle getting the mail, Drooper taking out the trash, etc. That strange, caterpillar-like arm in the mail box always creeped me out!

The Banana Splits were also featured on many Kellogg’s cereal boxes, promoting various send-away offers, such as this printing set. (Hey – maybe this cereal box ad indirectly led me to go into the printing business as a career!)

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Cereal has long been a favorite topic on this blog. I also did a post on the Rice Krispies song, whose songwriter – N. B. Winkless, Jr. – also wrote the Tra La La song).

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Hey, how about a look back at the introductory commercial to Kellogg's Puffa Puffa Rice? I remember this commercial well, especially with that grass-skirted Hawaiian cutie in there. I wonder if Kellogg’s was aiming this cereal at men, as a sort of Polynesian fantasy breakfast?

His "Pop" Wrote the Rice Krispies Song

I received an email back in mid-May from Nels Winkless.

While that name may not ring a bell with you, as soon as I saw his name as the sender, I was excited. That's because one of my earlier blog posts had mentioned his father, N. B. Winkless, Jr. and his work at Leo Burnett Co., the advertising agency that's had the Kellogg breakfast cereals.

N. B. Winkless, Jr. joined the Leo Burnett agency in August 1957. As a creative director, he was responsible for much of what was seen in the Kellogg commercials on those early days of television.

One of his many accomplishments was composing the beloved "Rice Krispies Song." Here's the commercial that I believe introduced the jingle.

Here's another early one, one of the few where Snap, Crackle and Pop sing the whole thing straight without getting interrupted.

Here's another version – the one I remember from when I was a kid – in which Snap, Crackle and Pop get banged up a bit.

Lastly, here's the lovable elves doing their best "hotel lounge singer" version of their signature tune.

Anyway, Nels contacted me to offer a minor factual correction to my original post about Rice Krispies (back here). I was glad he did, because it gave me the opportunity to trade a few emails with him, and learn about how his father created the beloved jingle.

According to Nels, his father "painstakingly banged that out of an old upright piano at home in Kenilworth, Illinois."

Nels also revealed to me in his email that his father had a little help – and that it took time to get the song just right.

"He was handy with words, but needed some help from my brother, Jeff, in the trickier parts of the music," he wrote. "We heard that thing taking shape for months before it went on the air for thirty years or so."

Well, the time and effort that N. B. Winkless, Jr. put into the creation of the jingle certainly paid off. Decades after he composed it, the catchy melody lingers on in our subconscious, especially when we sit down to enjoy a bowl of Kellogg's Rice Krispies.

Nels Winkless is a consultant who writes "The ABQ Correspondent," an online newsletter that focuses on "the impact of new technology on society."

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UPDATE (June 1, 2025)

Nels recently alerted me to this great rendition of his father's masterpiece. It's performed by From The Heart Barbershop Quartet.

Snap, Crackle & Pop Culture

I was at Target on Oak Point Road a few weeks ago when I saw this special Retro Edition box of Kellogg's Rice Krispies. On it was a classic rendering of Snap, Crackle and Pop, looking exactly as they did in the 1960s and 70s.

Kellogg's obviously did their market research well, because I excitedly jammed the box of Rice Krispies into my shopping basket without thinking.

Why? Because seeing those friendly, familiar faces brought back happy memories of being a kid in the 60s and early 70s.

And of course, many of those memories revolved around cereal, because we were a cereal-eating family, especially my siblings and me.

We had cereal every day for breakfast before school, and some more when we got home from school. We also ate it as a snack before bedtime – sometimes polishing off a whole box between my brothers and me.

Cereal seemed to pervade all aspects of our lives.

We grew up watching both cartoons and prime-time shows that were "Brought to you by Kellogg's of Battle Creek!" I still hear that familiar musical tagline in my head: "K-E-Double L... O-Double Good, Kellogg's Best to You!"

Vintage box from my collection

We even took cereal along with us on our family camping trips. Mom used to pack a Kellogg's Variety Pack for breakfast at the campground. Predictably, my siblings and I used to argue over who got which cereal. There were always a few Rice Krispies in the pack, with one of the elfin trio grinning from the upper left corner of the box.

Everyone wanted the Sugar Frosted Flakes, but some had to settle for Rice Krispies.

It's probably a good metaphor for life in general.

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Despite the nostalgic feelings triggered by the retro box of Rice Krispies, I must confess that it was never my favorite cereal.

Rice Krispies was one – along with Nabisco Shredded Wheat – that was usually in the cupboard. I guess Mom bought them so that she and Dad had something to eat.

Of course, my siblings and I loved the sugary sweet cereals – Sugar Frosted Flakes, Cap'n Crunch, Frosty O's, Cocoa Puffs, Lucky Charms, Post Crispy Critters, etc. And Mom – to her credit – bought whatever we wanted. (How many mothers do that anymore?)

We did eat unsweetened cereals too, such as Cheerios and Rice Krispies – as long as we could ladle on the sugar. I used to put so much sugar on my Cheerios that I'd have a half-inch of gritty sugar sludge on the bottom of my bowl, waiting to be dredged.

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But getting back to Snap, Crackle and Pop.

Although their cereal wasn't my favorite, I always did like them. They were so cheerful and friendly.

Their TV commercials were very subtle compared to those of other cereals. Snap, Crackle & Pop weren't trying to prevent others from obtaining their cereal (like Lucky the Leprechaun) or devising schemes to get some for themselves (like the Trix Rabbit.) They had no funny adventures (like Cap'n Crunch).

Quite simply, they just wanted you to try Rice Krispies.

For me, the strange thing about the 1960s commercials was the fact that Snap, Crackle & Pop looked different than how they did on the cereal box. On TV, they had a much more streamlined, simplified look.

Here's a classic commercial featuring the simpler, appealingly designed elves singing the well-remembered "Snap, Crackle and Pop Fugue."



The "Snap, Crackle and Pop Fugue" was written by N. B. Winkless, Jr., jingle writer, copywriter, and creative director of the Leo Burnett advertising agency's television group. Strangely enough, the song was modeled on the "Fugue for Tin Horns" from the musical Guys and Dolls.

The "new look" Snap, Crackle & Pop from TV slowly infiltrated print ads. Here's part of a 1973 magazine ad.

A portion of a 1973 magazine ad

Eventually, the simplified cartoon designs of Snap, Crackle & Pop pushed the old, realistically rendered designs off the front of the box.

Here's how they looked on the bottom of an early 1980's box (below).

Since then, Snap, Crackle & Pop seem to be redesigned about every couple of years. The current versions look so deranged and manic that it's almost hard to look at a box of Rice Krispies without getting annoyed.

Anyway, I bought a couple of the Retro Edition boxes, so I can visit some old pals – and revisit some memories – for a little while at least.