Rice Krispies Ad – April 9, 1936

Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal has been a regular topic on this blog for some time. 

One of the reasons is that I once traded some emails with Nels Winkless, who is the son of the advertising executive who composed the classic Rice Krispies song (Snap! Crackle! Pop! Rice Krispies!). His reminisce about how his father N. B. Winkless came up with the melody was the subject of this post, and is now the generally accepted explanation found all over the internet. I'm kind of proud of that.

I've also written about Rice Krispies Marshmallow Treats, as well as the special retro Rice Krispies box sold at Target in 2013 (featuring the 1960s version of Snap, Crackle and Pop). 

Anyway, ninety years ago today the ad for Rice Krispies at the top of this post ran in the Lorain Journal on April 9, 1936. It's part of a series that do not include the famous elfin trio. 

I wasn't a big fan of the original version of Snap, Crackle and Pop. Here's what they looked like in a Journal ad from three years earlier.

It's kind of interesting that at some point the three elves each received new headgear: Snap, a baker's hat; Crackle, a stocking cap; and Pop, a military hat.

Over the decades, the three cereal hucksters have been redesigned countless times, usually improving them to make them more appealing. I'm still partial to how they looked on the box when I was growing up in the 1960s and 70s.

When they started appearing in those great TV commercials with the Rice Krispies song, they were simplified (below) and I liked that version too. They looked like that on the box for several decades and for me, that was their definitive look. 

They've been redesigned many times since then, probably to freshen up the package. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of the current design of the lovable threesome. Their heavy-lidded eyes and glazed look to me says 'stoned' (which coincides nicely with the legalization of recreational marijuana).

Note how the severely pointed ears 'pop' out on one side of their noggins, without a trace of a corresponding ear on the other side. 

However, their Canadian counterparts look pretty good – energetic, with a lot of personality. (I just finished a box a few weeks ago, eh.)

Now if Kellogg's could only remove those hard-as-rock grain nuggets that sometimes make their way into the cereal. In the past few years, I've sent Kellogg's several samples of these little pieces of cereal shrapnel in small, labeled plastic bags, providing lot information, date, etc. Never heard back.

Nevertheless, I still can't resist buying a box of Rice Krispies every now and then. I just chew it carefully to avoid the 'crackle' coming from one of my aging molars.

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.

Snap, Crackle & Flop

Note my special Rice Krispies bowl – not used for anything else!

Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal has been a regular topic on this blog. I've been eating it all my life and even more often as an adult. But I've noticed that something's changed recently and it's enough to make Snap, Crackle and Pop go on strike.

So what's different? The cereal itself has no taste – no flavor. The cereal pieces themselves are lighter in taste and in color. They look almost bleached. It's like they're no longer even baked or cooked, because they've lost that light brown color. The cereal even sogs up quicker.

Compare the color of the cereal in my photo (from this weekend) at the top of this post, with the cereal in this photo from a 1965 Rice Krispies Marshmallow Treats ad.

For a direct comparison, here's what Rice Krispies Treats look like today. Note the stoned elfin trio. They're higher than a kite and unaware of the changes to their own cereal. They've got the munchies and are ready to attack that Treat that's as big as a Futon.

Worst of all – WORST of all – when you pour on the milk (oat milk in my case), the cereal no longer does its thing. The trademark 'snap, crackle and pop' is barely heard at all. It goes on faintly for about 2 or 3 seconds and that's it.

I'd write to Kellogg's to ask them what's going on, but they would probably ignore my letter like they did my last ones over the past few years. I kept finding hard bits of rice in my cereal – like gravel – and even collected samples from several boxes, packaged them in separated plastic bags labeled with lot, date, expiration, etc. and sent them to Kellogg's. I never heard back. ("Hey, it's another letter from that kook in Ohio!")

Anyways, judging from comments online, others have noticed it too. Someone who seemed knowledgeable said that Kellogg's is now using a different kind of rice. But all agree that the change is for the worse.

I guess Rice Krispies lovers are just up Battle Creek without a paddle.

"Gee, our cereal used to look golden brown and appetizing."

Rice Krispies Marshmallow Treats

The current box of the prepackaged ones

I’m not quite done writing about Rice Krispies yet. I almost forgot to mention one of the main reasons I buy them.

Homemade Rice Krispies Treats are a big favorite in our house.

I make'em when I have the time, and buy'em when I'm lazy. Store-bought or homemade, they don't last very long. In fact, we usually polish off a whole batch of them in two days!

I still remember that when I was a kid in the 1960s, they were called Marshmallow Treats in the commercials – and that Snap, Crackle and Pop would bribe you to make them.

That's right. If you sent in the refund form off the box, and the requested label from the marshmallow package, the elfin trio would send you a quarter just for using up some of their cereal, and hastening the need for Mom to buy some more.

Here’s a 1965 magazine ad (below) with the 25 cents offer. It also features the original, less healthy (but tastier) Treats recipe that used more butter and less cereal.

As often as I make Treats now, I don’t remember ever making them as a kid. I guess something made with cereal and melted marshmallows just didn’t fit in with the more ambitious cookies and bars Mom regularly made.

(You might notice that at the bottom of the 1965 ad it says, “A Nancy Sasser Suggestion.” "Buy-Lines" by Nancy Sasser was a weekly syndicated newspaper column for homemakers. It was all about shopping and featured “new and interesting” products and suggestions.)

Here’s the same basic Treats ad from 1970.

Here's a later ad from December 1974 that ran in the Joplin Globe. Apparently Snap, Crackle and Pop were feeling the effects of the recession; now their bribe was in the form of a coupon and was worth one thin dime!

Just for comparison, here are a few more vintage ads featuring the Treats recipe. This one (below) appeared in a Canadian newspaper in 1941.

And here’s one from the days when Woody Woodpecker was the manic spokes-bird for Rice Krispies.

I don’t know how your Treats turn out when you make them, but I must be using the wrong pan or something. Mine end up very flat compared to the Treats shown in the ads, which would seem to make fine pavers.

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.

Sugar Crisp Ad – January 19, 1950

Breakfast cereal is one of my favorite topics on this blog. (I’ve written about Rice Krispies, Rice Krispies Marshmallow Treats, the Rice Krispies Song, General Mills Monster Cereals and Shreddies.)

So naturally, when I saw the ad above for Post Sugar Crisp – which ran in the Lorain Journal on January 19, 1950, 66 years ago today – I knew I had to feature it on the blog. (Another introductory ad that was in the Journal on Feb 9, 1950 is at right.)

Post Sugar Crisp was brand new back then, having been launched in 1949, and featured three bears on the package instead of the beloved Sugar Bear still seen on the Post Golden Crisp box today.

You didn’t know that there were originally three bears? Then read my article all about the history of Sugar Bear, which appears here courtesy of the HKM Grapevine.

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The Bear Facts About Sugar Bear

After more than 50 years, this bear still can’t get enough of that Sugar Crisp!

By Dan Brady

Some advertising mascots spring from the imagination fully formed and go on to promote a product for decades. Other mascots, like Post Cereals’ Sugar Bear, take a little longer to evolve. The story of Sugar Bear’s creation is an interesting one that bears repeating.

In 1949, Post launched one of the cereal industry’s very first pre-sweetened cereals, a sugarcoated wheat puff called Sugar Crisp. It was a spectacular success. Three identical cartoon bears named Dandy, Handy and Candy appeared on the first cereal packages. The bears were featured in magazine and newspaper ads in which the copy used their names to reinforce the cereal’s attributes: “As a cereal it’s dandy! For snacks it’s so handy. Or eat it like candy!”

The three bears created a sensation when they appeared as puppets in some stop action animated TV commercials for Sugar Crisp, convincing some of the rival cereal companies (like Kellogg’s) that they needed some animal pitchmen as well.

As you can see, the original cellophane bag in which Sugar Crisp was sold eventually gave way to a foil-lined box (below) that helped prevent the cereal from solidifying into a sugary brick.

A 1954 box

During the 1950s, the in-house Post creative team tinkered with the design of the bears on the cereal box. There were the original Betty Boop-like bears with large wide heads, as well as another version in which the bears were rounder and hairier. The bears on the cereal boxes seemed to alternate randomly between the two versions throughout the decade.

Eventually Bob Traverse, the commercial artist who worked on all of the Sugar Crisp boxes, got tired of creating layouts with three bears, and conspired to send two of them into permanent hibernation. He gradually reduced two of the bears to a secondary position on the box before eliminating them entirely.

For the next several years, he explored different layouts with the single “Betty Boop” style bear.

A 1963 box

Finally, Traverse and his art director decided to redesign the single bear to look less wimpy. 

The box in 1964

But this new, beady-eyed bear wasn’t quite Sugar Bear yet, even though he appeared in some TV commercials.

It wasn’t until this “new bear” was planned to part of the Linus the Lionhearted TV show that he received a makeover by the advertising agency and became Sugar Bear.

Linus the Lionhearted was a half-hour weekly cartoon that hit the airwaves in September 1964. It featured all of the Post Cereals ad mascots in their own animated adventures, including Linus, who was on Crispy Critters, an animal-shaped cereal; Lovable Truly the postman (from Alpha-Bits); So-Hi (from Rice Krinkles); Rory Raccoon (from Post Toasties); and Sugar Bear.

Sugar Bear was given the personality of a jive-talking disk jockey, as well as a Bing Crosby voice that was provided by nightclub comic Gerry Matthews. The unflappable bear became an immediate hit on the Linus the Lionhearted show, becoming more popular than Linus. 

A 1965 box

Unfortunately, while the show was a ratings success, the lagging sales of the Post cereals did not justify the show’s expense. It continued in syndicated reruns until 1969, when the Federal Communications Commission ruled that children’s programs could not feature characters based on products. This meant the end of the line for Linus the Lionhearted. A few years later, Linus and Crispy Critters were both extinct, but Sugar Crisp continued to be popular.

A box from 1969
(From the Dan Brady collection)

Sugar Bear continued his cereal commercials for decades as the last of the original Post cereal mascots. In the long-running spots, he outwitted characters including Granny Goodwitch, a kindly witch (voiced by Ruth Buzzi of Laugh-In fame), the Blob, a loose-limbed gangster, and a menagerie of bullying foxes, tigers and other animals. 

Sugar Bear enjoyed a brief recording career with the Sugar Bears.

Sugar Bear’s signature tune – “Can’t get enough of that Sugar Crisp” – had to be adjusted a few times: when the addition of extra vitamins changed the name of the cereal to Super Sugar Crisp, and when the name of the cereal was changed to the more nutritionally friendly Super Golden Crisp (strangely, the cereal is still known as Sugar Crisp in Canada).

More than 50 years after his introduction, Sugar Bear is still around. In one of his last TV commercials, he was seen hanging out at a breakfast table with live action husband-and-wife Baby Boomers, nostalgically cajoling them to try Golden Crisp again. He also received a makeover on the box when Post Cereals was spun off on its own.

The current box

Today, Golden Crisp is somewhat of a cereal anachronism, a leftover from a time when Post seriously challenged Kellogg’s and its other rivals. But although his beloved cereal is known now as Golden Crisp, Sugar Bear retains his own sweet moniker.

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Can’t get enough of that Sugar Crisp history? Check out this massive collection of vintage Sugar Crisp commercials featuring our old pal Sugar Bear! There’s one with the three original bears as well.

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?

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.

Win a Phone from Cap'n Crunch – August 1984

It's funny how our cell phones have become our most vital possession. 

Besides making it possible for us to be connected with family and friends 24/7, we use them for everything: banking, shopping, entertainment, etc. We wouldn't leave the house without our phone any more than we would without our wallets.

Who could have possible imagined forty or so years ago that phones would be so important to us?

Well, Cap'n Crunch for one. 

At least that's the impression I got when I saw how the good skipper of the S. S. Guppy was offering kids the chance to win an AT&T phone back in August 1984 in the Crunch Island Monster Phone Sweepstakes. The ad above ran in the Journal on August 1st of that year.

I wasn't sure what to think, seeing as the horned monster in the ad has a napkin tied around his neck. Is Cap'n Crunch on the menu (and I don't mean the cereal)?

Nah. As the commercial below shows, the Cap'n and a real live action kid who apparently needs to make a phone call were looking for a phone booth on Crunch Island. They find one, but a monster is using the phone – and then eats it when he's done yakking. 

It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Unfortunately, by the mid-1980s, Quaker Oats had changed animation studios for Cap'n Crunch cereal, moving the account from the Jay Ward Studios (where it had been since 1963) to a new one. Cap'n Crunch was still being voiced by Daws Butler (who also did Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, etc.) but the design of the Cap'n, as well as the tone of the commercials, would change drastically in the years ahead.

Anyway, Cap'n Crunch was one of my favorite cereals when I was a kid. Fortunately for my siblings and me, Mom would buy whatever cereals we requested, usually about 3 or 4 boxes a week. Consequently we ate a lot of Cap'n Crunch. We could finish off half a box in one sitting!

One of these days I will have to feature my collection of Cap'n Crunch memorabilia on the blog, including vintage boxes, premiums, ads, animation cels, figurines, etc. He's one of my favorite cereal ad mascots, along with Sugar Bear and the Rice Krispies elfin trio.

The first box design

But I don't eat a lot of sweet cereals these days. It's mostly the Breakfast of Geezers®: Shredded Wheat, Cheerios, Grape-Nuts, etc.

Kentucky Derby 1936

Ever since my sister moved to Louisville, Kentucky decades ago, the Kentucky Derby has assumed a little more prominence in the Brady family. My parents traveled down there in the 1980s to spend Derby time with her, and she still enjoys the weeks-long hoopla surrounding the race. 

In recent years, she has shared her excitement with her siblings by encouraging my brothers and me to pick a horse. Back in 2024, I picked Mystik Dan – and he was the winner, just ahead of Sierra Leone. Unfortunately, I didn't bet anything.

Anyway, the Kentucky Derby is timeless – and what better way to show that than by looking back ninety years ago see what coverage the Lorain Journal had for the 1936 edition of the race. Coverage started several weeks early. What's really interesting is that the second article below points out that at that time, only one filly had ever won the Derby. (As of right now, there have only been three in the race's entire history.)

April 11, 1936

April 20, 1936

April 22, 1936

April 23, 1936

April 23, 1936

April 27, 1936

May 2, 1936

Bold Venture, a 20-1 long shot, was the winning horse that year, beating the favorite, Brevity.

May 4, 1936

And here's some British coverage of the race, courtesy of British Gaumont Newsreel. It's pretty funny at the end.

The 2026 Kentucky Derby is tomorrow – so be sure to pick a horse and tune in!

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Sorry, but every time I watch the Derby or any horse race, I always think of the great "Fugue for Tinhorns" from Guys and Dolls. These three guys are great, especially Stubby Kaye. And did you know this tune was the inspiration for the Rice Krispies Song?