I Remember JFK

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Great Shakes

Great Shakes packageKeith Mcelmurray, if you're still out there, this one's for you.

"Any place can be a soda fountain now, with Great Shakes, yeah Great Shakes!"

Not only was this a great commercial jingle, it was sung by some serious rock and roll stars of the 60's. At least three movers and shakers were persuaded by Great Shakes, manufacured by General Foods, to perform their jingle in the style that would define the signature of each artist: Dusty Springfield, The Who, and The Yardbirds.

Over the years, mega-corporations like Pepsi, Anheuser-Busch, and Coca-Cola have managed to pony up enough bucks to get popular music stars to hawk their wares.

But Great Shakes just happened to tap into some of the greatest talent of the 1960's for their ads. And they weren't singing some garbage crafted by some no-talent PR guy. The Great Shakes jingle still rings true through my brain even though it hasn't appeared on television in at least 35 years.

The aforementioned Keith Mcelmurray and myself had a discussion circa 1976 concerning this song. We were both youngsters working in a grocery store, and we we agreed that the Great Shakes jingle was a classic tune that should somehow be immortalized and given its due.

Well, neither one of us foresaw things like computers in each home, the internet, or the digitizing of music. But nowadays, you can either listen to or purchase online the original jingles by the aforementioned trio of talented artists by shrewd search engine usage.

Believe it or not, I don't ever recall making a Great Shake. Perhaps that's why they aren't around anymore. While I loved the commercials, the product itself just didn't ring my bell.

You took powder, poured it into an included cup, added milk, sealed it with its included lid, and shook it until it turned into a shake "so thick it stands up to a straw." Some of my friends bragged about it, but I never got around to trying it.

Too bad. Unlike its immortal jingle, Great Shakes disappeared from the scene a long time ago.

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Comments (8)

sandy:

Great shakes, remind me of "jiffy pop" popcorn! Anybody remember that?!

They were produced by General Foods. Here's a link to a 1967's article! Just do a "find" (Alt F) and type in "Great Shakes" to get to the article.

http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/pdfs/ubyssey/UBYSSEY_1967_10_24.pdf

bigfoot:

These were not real good, unless you put a scoop of ice cream in the shaker. I also used to add a spoonful of instant coffee crystals to make a "mocha" flavored shake.

Rhonda:

I don't remember Great Shakes at all, but I do remember Shake A Puddin. Probably the same premise as Great Shakes but it turned into pudding when you were finished shaking it up! Mom bought it one time, but must not have been too impressed because that was the only time we ever had it. I thought it was pretty cool though!

Billy B Kool:

I loved Great Shakes ! During the mid-sixties I used to spend a weekend a month with my grandparents and part of our Friday night ritual was ensuring there were plenty of the weird elongated, tri-cornered packages of Great Shakes for the weekend.....I still have two of the shakers ! It was one of the most poignant disappointments of my young consumerist life (remember how all the old cartoons had breakfast food characters as the stars ?) when it just simply wasn't there on the shelf one Friday in the late 60's....no explanation..no goodbye...no parting...just sweet sorrow.

slark:

Darn tootin', my friend - Great Shakes were the BOSSEST!! I really loved the vanilla one, and I too was heartbroken when they disappeared. I tried all kinds of alchemy with vanilla extract and milk and eggs and sugar... yes, I even resorted to "the big cheat": ice cream. Never could quite match the flavor and consistency of theirs. (In retrospect, I'll bet it contained a ton of maltodextrin as a thickener...)

Oh, and yes - I too still have the dark brown Great Shakes cup with the light brown lid!

Ralph Fore:

Do you think we could all conduct a letter writing campaign to General Mills to encourage them to put Great Shakes back on the market on a trial basis? I really loved these. To say they were like a milk shake is hyperbole, but they had a distinctive shake-like pleasant taste that you don't get with cocoa, Nesquik,Hershey or any other milk additive. I also liked the Bordens Milk Shakes in a can. I found them to be a good supplement for regular milk when I needed something to tide me over until dinner time.

Beth Crawford:

Oh, how I loved the chocolate Great Shake(s).

I don't recall hearing the original jingle by any of the 3 artists, but I do have the Yardbirds commercial on CD (Hal Lifson's "1966").

Anybody remember 1-2-3 Jello? And chocolate Space Food Sticks. Emmmmm......accompanied by watching "Wacky Races" Saturday mornings...

~Beth

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on March 17, 2007 12:12 AM.

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