"Candy coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize! That's what you get with Cracker Jack!"
If you remember JFK, you also remember actor Jack Gilford and his immortal Cracker Jack commercials of the 60's. Click on the movie to the left for one of my favorites, involving a kid who's just a bit short on cash.
Cracker Jack is one of those memories that our grandparents actually remembered from THEIR childhoods. The song "Take Me out to the Ballgame" was written in 1908, fifteen years after F.W. Rueckheim introduced a unique popcorn, peanuts and molasses confection at the Chicago World's Fair.
Cracker Jack was an instant hit. It has truly become a part of our culture. But we Boomer kids have our own memories. Many of them involve those Jack Gilford commercials.
One of my favorites was the one where Jack was dressed up like a witch, along with some other actors. They are adding ingredients to a boiling cauldron. One of them adds a "purple flurp." Then Jack adds the piece de resistance: a large, one-eyed, no-nosed nothing. The cauldron then explodes.
Cracker Jack was simply irresistible to a kid. Not only was it delicious to eat, but it came with a prize! I remember getting lots of puzzles that had tiny metal balls under a plastic cap and that required you to roll them into holes. Little clip-on plastic badges were common, as were semicircular thin plastic whistles that required dexterity beyond what seven-year-old me possessed. You put the whole thing in your mouth and somehow blew against the plastic to make a shrill whistle.
My memories of prizes were greatly enhanced by this cool site: http://members.cox.net/jeepers/archives.html The man is clearly passionate about Cracker Jack prizes.
Anticipation could be summed up in that feeling when you fished through the caramel-coated peanuts and popcorn and found that little paper-wrapped delight.
Of course, the candy itself was delicious, too. I loved how the heavier peanuts would find their way to the bottom of the box, to be savored at the end.
Cracker Jack cost a dime when most other candy bars cost a nickel. So I didn't buy too many boxes at Moonwink Grocery. But I went to many high school football and basketball games to watch my older brother play for the Miami Wardogs, and it was a tradition for dad to buy me a box of Cracker Jack each time. We had a circus that regularly came through town in the 60's, and I recall watching the performers with Cracker Jack crunching in my mouth.
I don't eat too many sweets any more, but I will treat myself to Cracker Jack every now and then. When I get grandkids, that will make five consecutive generations of my family digging through the candy to get to the hidden prize.
Comments (3)
I remember that commercial. That song came right back to me when I played the video. I love Cracker Jack even today but I never liked the peanuts. They always tasted bitter to me.
Posted by Rhea | June 18, 2007 10:30 AM
Posted on June 18, 2007 10:30
I can't remember many of the prizes that were in the box, but I remember the rub -on- tatto prizes.
Posted by JDavis | June 28, 2007 11:25 PM
Posted on June 28, 2007 23:25
This product is as American as Apple pie! And a historical treat too! Boxes of cracker Jack was real treat! The paper cover prize was always neat! Yup, the peanuts always settled at the bottom. And for me, the box is the classic! The bags today just don't make it for me, but that is all we have these days. Cracker Jack is just as good as it was when we were kids. Seems like the prizes in the 50s and 60s were better then what you get today. Seems like all paper products or stickers are the prizes of today. I remember the commercials too! Wasn't that guy on the movie, Cacoon? Seems like we always got cracker jacks at the ballpark or the circus. There is a lot of knockoff brands, but Cracker Jack by far the best! Long live another 100 years!
Posted by Rivers End | June 21, 2009 9:01 PM
Posted on June 21, 2009 21:01