Beech-nut - Cherry and Grapes

Inhoud

Two friends compete for the most attention for a specific new flavour of chewing gum. It degenerates into comical chaos. 

This advert for Beech-Nut chewing gum, which introduces two new flavours, is the most ‘recent’ one we have posted on this website. These four striped animal figures were introduced in the film Yipes! Stripes!' (1969). In the light of the 1960s, this film can certainly be considered the brand's most anarchistic advert. This will certainly have been noticed by TV viewers at the time. This time the hilarious chaos described above is a rivalry between the mouse and the zebra, both of whom are fighting for the most attention for their flavoured chewing gum. Explosions are everywhere. The names of the flavours are repeatedly mentioned in a playful manner.

Trivia

The technical realisation of the characters must have caused the creators a lot of headaches. The round shapes and the stripes on the body are very striking. That is why each animal consists of different parts. The talking ‘heads’ are phase masks, each with a specific mouth position. The arms are made of PVC, as is probably the torso. The hips are probably made of wood, with a mortise and tenon joint to attach the torso. The legs were made in different variations: for walking, interchangeable (wooden) phase legs were used. Once in place, the legs were made of PVC with a flexible wire inside. The elephant's trunk was made of foam rubber for when necessary. The animator also had wooden parts of the trunk to prevent it from looking worn out too quickly. The animator had a series of parts for each animal to build the character as needed.

A series of stages with different ‘mouth expressions’ has been created for each animal.