Barney Rubble is the secondary main character of The Flintstones, an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that was broadcast from 1960 to 1966 on ABC. The show, produced by Hanna-Barbera, fancifully depicted the lives of a working-class Stone Age man, his family, and his next-door neighbor and best friend. The show’s continuing popularity rested heavily on its juxtaposition of modern everyday concerns in the Stone Age setting. The Flintstones was the most financially successful network animated franchise for three decades, until The Simpsons debuted. In 2013, TV Guide Magazine ranked The Flintstones as the second greatest TV cartoon of all time (after The Simpsons). Barney Rubble and other characters from The Flintstones have been mascots of Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles breakfast cereal since 1969.
Fred Flintstone is the main character of The Flintstones, an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that was broadcast from 1960 to 1966 on ABC. The show, produced by Hanna-Barbera, fancifully depicted the lives of a working-class Stone Age man, his family, and his next-door neighbor and best friend. The show’s continuing popularity rested heavily on its juxtaposition of modern everyday concerns in the Stone Age setting. The Flintstones was the most financially successful network animated franchise for three decades, until The Simpsons debuted. In 2013, TV Guide Magazine ranked The Flintstones as the second greatest TV cartoon of all time (after The Simpsons). Fred Flintstone and other characters from The Flintstones have been mascots of Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles breakfast cereal since 1969.
Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne. The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh (1926). This was followed by The House at Pooh Corner (1928) and two children’s verse books. All four volumes were illustrated by E. H. Shepard. In the 1940s, Agnes Brush created the first plush dolls with Pooh in his red shirt. Rights to Winnie-the-Pooh were first licensed to Walt Disney in 1961. Disney has released numerous animated productions starring Pooh and related characters, including theatrical featurettes, television series, and direct-to-video films, as well as theatrical feature-length films.
A stuffed Pooh Bear from my 1980s childhood is one of my daughter’s favorite toys. She also believes that old Pooh and Baby Margot are some kind of inseparable team. It’s sweet. I am often reminded of the final passage of On the Road by Jack Kerouac: “So in America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, and all the people dreaming in the immensity of it, and in Iowa I know by now the children must be crying in the land where they let the children cry, and tonight the stars’ll be out, and don’t you know that God is Pooh Bear? the evening star must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all the rivers, cups the peaks and folds the final shore in, and nobody, nobody knows what’s going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old, I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty.”
Beach Bear is a character in The Rock-afire Explosion, an animatronic robot band. He is a “surfer” polar bear who would make sarcastic comments or ask other characters questions to throw off their act, but never in mean spirit. The Rock-afire Explosion played shows in Showbiz Pizza Place from the restaurant chain’s founding in 1980 until the early 1990s, when the Showbiz brand was unified with Chuck E. Cheese’s and Chuck E. Cheese characters steadily replaced the band. The Rock-afire Explosion show was created and manufactured by noted inventor Aaron Fechter, through his company Creative Engineering, Inc. (also known for Whac-A-Mole) in Orlando, Florida; in addition to overseeing the production of the animatronics, Fechter also provided the voices for several characters.
Dook LaRue is a character in The Rock-afire Explosion, an animatronic robot band. A dog who aspired to space travel, his costume is an astronaut suit. His character, when set up properly, had the ability to play a four-piece drum kit in time with the music. A bit of a dimwit, Dook would often lose focus during shows and miss his cues. The Rock-afire Explosion played shows in Showbiz Pizza Place from the restaurant chain’s founding in 1980 until the early 1990s, when the Showbiz brand was unified with Chuck E. Cheese’s and Chuck E. Cheese characters steadily replaced the band. The Rock-afire Explosion show was created and manufactured by noted inventor Aaron Fechter, through his company Creative Engineering, Inc. (also known for Whac-A-Mole) in Orlando, Florida; in addition to overseeing the production of the animatronics, Fechter also provided the voices for several characters.
Mitzi Mozzarella is a character in The Rock-afire Explosion, an animatronic robot band. A mouse and teenage cheerleader, Mitzi is obsessed with gossip, boyfriends, pop music and (appropriate for the time) Michael Jackson. The Rock-afire Explosion played shows in Showbiz Pizza Place from the restaurant chain’s founding in 1980 until the early 1990s, when the Showbiz brand was unified with Chuck E. Cheese’s and Chuck E. Cheese characters steadily replaced the band. The Rock-afire Explosion show was created and manufactured by noted inventor Aaron Fechter, through his company Creative Engineering, Inc. (also known for Whac-A-Mole) in Orlando, Florida; in addition to overseeing the production of the animatronics, Fechter also provided the voices for several characters.
Billy Bob Brockali is a character in The Rock-afire Explosion, an animatronic robot band. A bear in overalls, Billy Bob was the mascot for Showbiz Pizza Place throughout its existence, and his image was on most of the chain’s merchandise. Sweet and naive, Billy Bob was usually a mediator to the band’s minor on-stage squabbles. The Rock-afire Explosion played shows in Showbiz Pizza Place from the restaurant chain’s founding in 1980 until the early 1990s, when the Showbiz brand was unified with Chuck E. Cheese’s and Chuck E. Cheese characters steadily replaced the band. The Rock-afire Explosion show was created and manufactured by noted inventor Aaron Fechter, through his company Creative Engineering, Inc. (also known for Whac-A-Mole) in Orlando, Florida; in addition to overseeing the production of the animatronics, Fechter also provided the voices for several characters.
Fatz Geronimo is a character in The Rock-afire Explosion, an animatronic robot band. A silverback gorilla who plays the keyboard, Fatz is a parody of real-life entertainers Fats Domino and Ray Charles. As the band’s unofficial front man, Fatz introduced most shows, ordered other band members around and had a tendency to ramble. The Rock-afire Explosion played shows in Showbiz Pizza Place from the restaurant chain’s founding in 1980 until the early 1990s, when the Showbiz brand was unified with Chuck E. Cheese’s and Chuck E. Cheese characters steadily replaced the band. The Rock-afire Explosion show was created and manufactured by noted inventor Aaron Fechter, through his company Creative Engineering, Inc. (also known for Whac-A-Mole) in Orlando, Florida; in addition to overseeing the production of the animatronics, Fechter also provided the voices for several characters.
During my 1980s childhood, I had a lot of good times at Showbiz Pizza and Chuck E. Cheese’s. For an entertaining history of singing animatronic robots in pizza parlors, I recommend watching The Rock-afire Explosion (2008), a documentary about Chris Thrash, Aaron Fechter and the remaining Rock-afire Explosion fan base.
Chuck E. Cheese is the mascot of Chuck E. Cheese’s, a chain of American family entertainment center restaurants. The brand derives its name from its main animatronic character Chuck E. Cheese, a comedic mouse who sings and interacts with guests. The establishment serves pizza and other menu items, complemented by arcade games, amusement rides and family-friendly animatronic displays. In 1977, Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre in San Jose, California, was the first location to open. The concept was authored by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, credited with bringing video games such as Pong to the mainstream. Pizza Time Theatre was the first family restaurant to integrate food, animated entertainment and an indoor arcade. The chain merged with competitor Showbiz Pizza Place in 1984. In the early 1990s, the company unified the two brands renaming every location to Chuck E. Cheese’s.
Snoopy is a pet dog owned by Charlie Brown in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. The original drawings of Snoopy were inspired by Spike, one of Schulz’s childhood dogs. Snoopy is a perpetually innocent and mindlessly happy dog who either fantasizes or dances around in joy. Snoopy cannot talk, so his thoughts are shown in thought balloons. In the animated Peanuts films and television specials, Snoopy’s thoughts are not verbalized; his moods are instead conveyed through growls, sobs, laughter, monosyllabic utterances and pantomime. Snoopy has imagined himself as different things such as a pelican, a vulture, an author and a World War I Flying Ace (in which he battles the Red Baron).
The Little Professor is a backwards calculator designed for children ages five to nine. Instead of providing the answer to a mathematical expression entered by the user, it generates unsolved expressions and prompts the user for the answer. The Little Professor was first released by Texas Instruments in 1976. As the first electronic educational toy, the Little Professor is a common item on calculator collectors’ lists. An emulator of the Little Professor for Android was published in 2012.
I still have my Little Professor calculator from the early 1980s in a box somewhere, as well as a couple of Tiger handheld games. I was quite fond of the robotic way the Little Professor spoke. If you play as the Little Professor in my retro artillery game, he throws money. In other money-throwing news, we officially closed on a new house today, and so the laborious process of moving across town begins. Keeping up with any of my hobbies is going to be difficult for a little while.
The Chiquita company mascot Miss Chiquita, now Chiquita Banana, was created in 1944 by Dik Browne, who is best known for his Hägar the Horrible comic strip. Miss Chiquita started as an animated banana with a woman’s dress and legs. Advertisements featured the trademark banana character wearing a fruit-filled sombrero. The obvious inspiration was Brazilian bombshell Carmen Miranda, who was known for wearing exotic fruit-adorned hats/headdresses. Miss Chiquita was depicted as a banana until 1987, when artist Oscar Grillo, creator of the Pink Panther, transformed her into a woman. A new Miss Chiquita design was unveiled in 1998. Peel-off logo stickers have been placed on bananas since 1963. This year was Miss Chiquita’s 60th anniversary.
P.S. As a playable 8-bit character in my retro artillery game, Miss Chiquita throws bananas (obviously), just like the original gorilla character and inspiration for this entire project, QBasic Gorilla.
Mr. Peanut is the advertising logo and mascot of Planters, an American snack-food company and division of Kraft Foods. Dating to 1916, he is depicted as an anthropomorphic peanut in its shell dressed in the formal clothing of an old-fashioned gentleman: a top hat, monocle, white gloves, spats and a cane. Mr. Peanut has appeared in many TV commercials as an animated cartoon character. He continues to teach hipsters the modern practice of dandyism.
I associate Mr. Peanut with being a child in my grandparents’ house in West Virginia. Behind the bifold doors of their pantry they always had a jar of peanuts. My grandparents’ house was a place of many memorable childhood food-consumption activities, including making and eating pancakes at the kitchen bar; drinking brown soup with ditalini pasta; devouring homemade bread and pepperoni rolls; and sneaking homemade biscotti, chocolate chip cookies and brownies from the cookie jars.
Cleatus the Robot is the official mascot of Fox NFL Sunday, named by a viewer during a contest in the winter of 2007 in which fans were able to submit entries as to what they thought the robot’s name should be. Cleatus made his first appearance during the 2005-2006 NFL season, but was not used regularly until the following season. Cleatus mainly appears during the intro sequence of the show as well as brief commercials for movies and TV shows. In these commercials he commonly gets attacked by a CGI character (including Iron Man and the Burger King) from whatever the advertisement is about. If a Thanksgiving NFL game is on Fox, Cleatus is usually replaced with a robot turkey.
Note: I don’t usually watch NFL games, but when I do, I remember that this annoying robot mascot exists. For nine years now. Happy Thanksgiving! No football for us. We’re headed back to Seattle and Orcas Island.
Smokey Bear (or Smokey the Bear) is a ranger hat-wearing advertising mascot created to educate the public about the dangers of forest fires. The first advertising campaign featuring Smokey was created in 1944. Smokey Bear’s famous slogan, “Remember – Only YOU can prevent forest fires,” was created in 1947 by the Ad Council for the U.S. Forest Service. According to the Ad Council, Smokey Bear and his message are recognized by 95% of adults and 77% of children. Smokey Bear was featured in a 1955 book in the Little Golden Books series called Smokey the Bear.
Note: Smokey the Bear says, “Only you can prevent your neighborhood from being burned to the ground with illegal fireworks this weekend.” Happy Independence Day, ‘Merica!
Woodsy Owl is an owl icon for the United States Forest Service most famous for his motto, “Give a hoot! Don’t pollute.” Woodsy was designed to be seen as a mentor to children, providing them with information and advice to help them appreciate nature. Harold Bell of Western Publishing (and producer of Smokey Bear public service announcements), along with Glen Kovar and Chuck Williams, originally created the mascot in 1970 as part of a U.S. Forest Service campaign to raise awareness of protecting the environment. In 1997, Woodsy Owl’s design was overhauled.
Mr. Owl is a character first introduced in an animated Tootsie Pops commercial which debuted on U.S. television in 1969. Tootsie Pops are hard candy lollipops filled with chocolate-flavored chewy Tootsie Roll. After the commercial, Mr. Owl became the mascot for Tootsie Pops, appearing in marketing campaigns and on the packaging. How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
The 2014 Winter Paralympics, officially the XI Paralympic Winter Games, will be held from March 7-16, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Ray of Light (Fire Boy) and Snowflake (Snow Girl) were selected as the two mascots of the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games. The story goes that Ray of Light flew down to Earth from a planet where it was always hot.
The 2014 Winter Paralympics, officially the XI Paralympic Winter Games, will be held from March 7-16, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Snowflake (Snow Girl) and Ray of Light (Fire Boy) were selected as the two mascots of the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games. The story goes that Snowflake flew down to Earth from an icy planet.
The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially the XXII Olympic Winter Games, are currently taking place from February 6-23, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. The European Hare (designed by Silviya Petrova, Chuvashia) was selected as one of three 2014 Winter Olympic Games mascots. The other two mascots are the Amur Leopard (by Vadim Pak, Nakhodka) and the Polar Bear (by Oleg Serdechniy, Sochi).
Winnie-the-Pooh – No. 911
Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne. The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh (1926). This was followed by The House at Pooh Corner (1928) and two children’s verse books. All four volumes were illustrated by E. H. Shepard. In the 1940s, Agnes Brush created the first plush dolls with Pooh in his red shirt. Rights to Winnie-the-Pooh were first licensed to Walt Disney in 1961. Disney has released numerous animated productions starring Pooh and related characters, including theatrical featurettes, television series, and direct-to-video films, as well as theatrical feature-length films.
A stuffed Pooh Bear from my 1980s childhood is one of my daughter’s favorite toys. She also believes that old Pooh and Baby Margot are some kind of inseparable team. It’s sweet. I am often reminded of the final passage of On the Road by Jack Kerouac: “So in America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, and all the people dreaming in the immensity of it, and in Iowa I know by now the children must be crying in the land where they let the children cry, and tonight the stars’ll be out, and don’t you know that God is Pooh Bear? the evening star must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all the rivers, cups the peaks and folds the final shore in, and nobody, nobody knows what’s going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old, I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty.”