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

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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

I loved Great Shakes too. I did write to them several years ago, along with others on some website. No plans to bring it back.

Whip&Chill was also a favorite.

I used to drink the Borden's shakes in the small cans that cost so much but tasted so good (the 1970's)! Never had a great shakes, just heard the lingo on Fox radio done by the Who as a remember when thing. Those Borden's canned shakes must have been LOADED with fat because they tasted very creamy almost like drinking pure heavy cream, lol.
You can try making a great shake with half and half and Nesquick, I bet it's good! I was born one month after JFK got shot, bummer time to enter America I guess but I didn't have a choice!

Dusty's Great Shakes commercial is available on the 2002 Varese Sarabande compilation Heart & Soul. It's, um, not one of the better Dusty CD's out there - the Great Shakes commercial is probably a highlight, along with wonderful live renditions of "Up On The Roof" and "People Get Ready". The Great Shakes commercial is done in the style of "I Only Want To Be With You" - it's really very clever.

I am 48 and was about 5 or 6 when these came out in 66-67. I LOVED THEM! The Vanilla was esp good. It is a shame these are not around anymore.

I can't say I remember this product. If we wanted great shakes, we would go down to Chandler Drugs soda fountain and get a shake! Then McDonalds shakes came around!

These weren't meant to compete with soda fountain shakes or ice cream parlor shakes. They were sold in supermarkets to take home, technically they were more like Nestle Quick. Chocolate or Vanilla Milk but better. They were a bit more frothy due to the shaking.

The Happenings also did a jingle, using their version of "I Got Rhythm." Dit dit Great Shakes. Great Shakes. (instead of Rhythm Rhythm). I loved the Great Shakes jingle. I did actually drink them in junior high school because they were cool. The biggest problem was getting them to mix properly. No matter how much you shook them, there were pieces that didn't disolve.

I can't recall problems with mixing them, and unfortunately don't have any of the containers as a remembrance. Funny how something that lasted such a short time still sticks in the memory. I LOVED Great Shakes. To me, chocolate was the best. Thick, bubbly--not at all like an ice cream shake but as good or better because the liquid itself was so thick and didn't have to be ice cold to retain its substance. I couldn't believe it when General Foods discontinued it. I kept checking the grocery store for months until I realized it wasn't coming back.

I've always had a weakness for processed milk-based dessert-like things. To this day, I'll drink half a carton of Hood "Calorie Count Down" enhanced chocolate milk, add 2 cans of condensed milk, shake it up and drink the rest. Great Shakes are right up there with "Carnation Breakfast Squares" and "123" on my list of favorite discontinued food items. The fake-vanilla flavor was particularly good. I remember seeing the shaker around the house years later and wishing if I could still get the stuff. I didn't know those commercials were done by the Who, but I vaguely remember them sounding like a cross between Garage-rock, Power-pop and Bubble-gum (as did so much music from that era), so the (early)Who would have been a logic choice for them.

I remember Great Shakes too. Really liked the chocolate ones. I had a one a day habit for one summer. Don't have any recollection of the commercials though. However, for the time period, they were expensive, but I had my own money, and bought them, as my mom wouldn't. I only remember them during one summer. Could they have lasted such a short time? Has anyone been given a reason as to why they were discontinued? Not enough sales? Lack of redeeming ingredients? They spend all that time making and marketing them, why would they get rid of them so quietly and quickly?