Vintage VHS Commercial Bonanza, Part 6 (feat. Sergio Valente and Frank Perdue)
It’s been more than two months since I shared the last batch of vintage 1982 commercials, so I’d say we’re overdue. The following are all the ads shown during the fifth break of WABC-TV Channel 7′s airing of Von Ryan’s Express on June 19, 1982. In this double-size break we’ve got Mel from Alice hawking bug spray, processed cheese-type food, the one and only Frank Perdue, and more!
Two of the ads in this section — Kal Kan and Midas — were repeated from earlier in the broadcast and have already been posted, so I’m not putting them here again. Part 5 of our VHS treasure trove is here.
Astute viewers should recognize our bug-challenged gardener friend as Vic Tayback, aka Mel from the old Alice TV show. (No-Pest)
Other than the jaunty, period jingle the thing that stands out to me in this spot is how generic the packaging was. (Kraft Singles)
I miss Frank Perdue. He was friendly and a bit curmudgeonly at the same time. Did you know that Frank did not found Perdue Farms, but joined the company that his parents Arthur and Pearl started in 1920? It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken, indeed. (Perdue Farms)
Aaaand there’s some vintage ’80s advertising right there. Nothing sucks you right into a particular year like an old fashion ad, eh? And note how the woman in the beginning of the ad zooms right past a poor soul wearing gray and obviously near death. (Sergio Valente, available at Gimbels)
This salad dressing spot features a young Scott Schwartz, just prior to his acting debut in The Toy (and later A Christmas Story). It also features Anna Maria Alberghetti as the Good Seasons Lady. (Good Seasons)
This is easily the dullest ad of the bunch, but one with the most significance to those who lived in the metro New York area back in the day. Seaman’s was a Long Island-based furniture retailer, and was in existence from 1933 to 2005. The company was liquidated and sold to Levitz, which in turn closed in 2008. (Seaman’s Furniture)
Cindy B.
I wouldn’t have been caught dead in cut-off shorts in 1982! Cut-offs weren’t preppy at all.