Blast from the Past

[tubemonkey]

Who remembers:

Fizzies

Ruth Millard invented the idea for Emerson Drug Company, manufacturer of Bromo-Seltzer, by adding a fruit flavor that children liked. Once perfected, Emerson named the creation Fizzies. The tablet was dropped into a glass of water, then fizzed and dissolved, creating a sweet, effervescent drink. Fizzies were first introduced by Emerson on a regional basis in July 1957. In 1962, the Emerson Drug Company was acquired by Warner–Lambert, which sold the product nationally that same year.[1] In the 1950s and 1960s Fizzies came in seven flavors: grape, orange, cherry, lemon-lime, strawberry, root beer, and cola. Fizzies' sales grew both nationally and internationally until 1968, achieving more than double the sales volume of Kool-Aid.[2][full citation needed] Fizzies was also one of the sponsors for "The Shari Lewis Show" on NBC-TV in the early 1960s and pitched by Lewis herself.

The successful beverage became a cultural icon of its time. In the motion picture National Lampoon's Animal House, set in 1962, Dean Wormer reads a list of pranks committed by members of the Delta House fraternity, which included dumping "a truckload of Fizzies" into a swimming pool during a swim meet.

[cromag]

Of course!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by cromag

Of course!

Yummy, right?

I hated those things... yuck!

[cromag]

"Yummy" didn't really factor in. My parents didn't like them, so I got them whenever possible!

[tubemonkey]

The good ole days when smoking was a harmless pastime...

The first two seasons were co-sponsored by Winston cigarettes and the characters appeared in several black-and-white television commercials for Winston (dictated by the custom, at that time, that the star(s) of a TV series often "pitched" their sponsor's product in an "integrated commercial" at the end of the episode).

Orange flavor lets us know it wasn't real oranges. Seems like that would have been enough. But they added the qualifier "imitation" as well. So I guess you can imagine what imitation flavor tasted like! I remember the Shari Lewis Show and Lambchop, but I don't remember Fizzies.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The good ole days when smoking was a harmless pastime...

I was trying to figure out the connection with the bottom-right image that displays after the video stops, or maybe I was just staring, but anyway I zoomed in on it to read the text on my iPad and then saw it was about weird Japanese shows. Still not sure how that is connected to Fred and Barney and Granny though.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by cromag

"Yummy" didn't really factor in. My parents didn't like them, so I got them whenever possible!

Like I said, I hated them. I preferred Pixy Stix:

Pixy Stix is a sweet and sour colored powdered candy usually packaged in a wrapper that resembles a drinking straw. Pixy Stix is a registered trademark of Société des Produits Nestlé S.A., Vevey, Switzerland.

~~~~~~~

Pixy Stix were invented by Sunline Inc. in St. Louis, Missouri. The concept for this powdered candy originated in 1942 and was derived from a penny drink mix sold as Fruzola Jr. by the Fruzola Company in Salt Lake City, Utah. When J. Fish Smith found that kids were eating the sweet and sour powder straight from the package, he modified the formula and branded it as Lik-M-Aid.

[FizzyWater]

My aunt, who lived in rural Ohio, had Fizzies to disguise the taste of the well water. I don't remember if she herself used them, but all my cousins and I did when I was visiting there!

[poohbear_nc]

We used to put a Fizzie in our mouth and pretend to have rabies .... foaming at the mouth .... yeah, stupid, ... especially when it bubbled out your nose .... that really hurt ...

Sigh, such fond memories of childhood stupidities.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Like I said, I hated them. I preferred Pixy Stix:

I preferred Tang, possibly because they pushed the astronaut connection so much, and in the 1960s we idolized the astronauts. Actually I still drink it on occasion. Mom wouldn't let us have things like Pixy Stix...and I never heard of Fizzies until a few months ago when I saw them on Amazon.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

My aunt, who lived in rural Ohio, had Fizzies to disguise the taste of the well water. I don't remember if she herself used them, but all my cousins and I did when I was visiting there!

Given a choice in your situation, I'd go with the Fizzies.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

We used to put a Fizzie in our mouth and pretend to have rabies .... foaming at the mouth .... yeah, stupid, ... especially when it bubbled out your nose .... that really hurt ...

Sigh, such fond memories of childhood stupidities.

I did that too; but only one time. The nose bit really hurt and I wasn't about to do it again.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I preferred Tang, possibly because they pushed the astronaut connection so much, and in the 1960s we idolized the astronauts. Actually I still drink it on occasion. Mom wouldn't let us have things like Pixy Stix...and I never heard of Fizzies until a few months ago when I saw them on Amazon.

I never liked the taste of Tang, but it was definitely better than Fizzies.

And I remember the astronaut connection. Starting with Project Gemini, I really got hooked on following the space program. There was one song I always connect with it -- Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire -- because of the lyrics:

Think of all the hate there is in Red China!
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama!
Ah, you may leave here, for four days in space,
But when your return, it's the same old place,

The song was recorded in Jul 1965, just after we finished two 4-day missions in space - Gemini 3 & Gemini IV. When it was released and started getting airplay, Gemini V was launched and completed eight days in space. So whenever I heard the song, I would mentally change "four days in space" to "eight days in space". Me being pedantic at the age of 13.

A great song and very topical for the times. The songwriter - PF Sloan - really got hammered by the media and the establishment for being a communist dupe. The times, they were a changin'.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

....The times, they were a changin'.

Yes they were! I was only 7 in 1965, but I remember 1968, unfortunately. The country went from wanting the war in Vietnam to eventually turning against it, and unfortunately they turned on the veterans as well. Thankfully my teen years were all in the 1970s when it was much more tolerable, at least after they put Tricky-Dicky out to pasture. But I remember watching every space launch in the mid to late 1960s. Even when we were in school, they would stop classes and roll in portable TVs on which to watch the launch and hear Walter Cronkite discussing it. It was a nice break from the constant war coverage.