Esso Blue - Illuminated Shop Sign

Here's a lovely blast from the past - an Esso Blue illuminated sign, seen above unilluminated, featuring Joe the Esso Blue dealer, befamed of the "Boom Boom Boom - Esso Blue!" TV ads from the 1950s to the 1970s.

On dark winters' evenings, signs like this would glow at us from shop windows as we made our way home.

The sign illuminated, with Joe informing passers-by: "ESSO BLUE PARAFFIN ON SALE HERE".

They're still around, of course, but the retro charm of the old days is somehow lacking (to younger generations, the present illuminated signs will probably assume greater charm in years to come, envoking fond memories of childhood).

When I was a kid, I imagined that the inner-workings of these signs must be somewhat sophisticated. Not till I was about eight did it occur to me that the striking effect was achieved with a single light bulb.

Aladdin Pink Paraffin - A Sensible Dog And A Pongo...

A 1961 newspaper ad - sensible people (and dogs) it seemed had pink paraffin delivered. Cute, wasn't he?

Well, we've already taken a nostalgic look at the famous (and very long-running) Esso Blue dealer, but what about Aladdin Pink Paraffin?

A friend of mine who claims to have knowledge about such things, tells me that the main difference between the Esso Blue, Regent Super Green and Aladdin Pink paraffins was simply dye and their respective manufacturing companies. But each claimed superiority over the other - less smelly, less smoky, more popular, etc.

And Esso Blue and Aladdin Pink tried to gain our loyalty by employing nice little cartoon characters to charm us.

Esso Blue, of course, struck gold with the Esso Blue dealer (who at first wasn't called Joe, then was), but Pink Paraffin shuffled about a bit. Two characters it brought us were a dog (see the 1961 newspaper ad above) and a "Pongo" - an elephant-like creature. The name, of course, alluded to the lack of pong with Pink.

Once Pink put the dog out, they brought the Pongo in. It was sort of a pink elephant. I think. I remember a catchphrase for Aladdin Pink "back in the day" - "Pink don't stink!".

Diggin' Mr Mix From Nesquik!

This is Mr Mix, my old hand puppet, issued as a special offer from Nesquik back in the late 1960s.

Mr Mix's reign as star of Nesquik telly ads and Nesquik packaging icon was brief - spanning the mid-1960s to the early 1970s - but I liked him, and my Mum sent for the puppet for me. Wasn't I lucky? I also wanted an Esso Blue dealer puppet, but they were never produced. Shame!

Mr Mix was a happy little chappie, but he didn't do a lot. He simply enthused over Nesquik in the telly ads and twirled about a bit, stirring milky drinks. He lacked character on-screen, but he was a great companion in puppet-form. I went through a phase of digging up the back garden with an old dessert spoon, and my Mr Mix puppet was happy to help, and seemed to share my fascination.

We both retired from that occupation many years ago, but my Mr Mix still bears some traces of good old 1960s garden soil.

Bless him.

 

Mr Mix on an advertising sign from the 1960s. Roll Up! Roll Up! - a 4d Animal Bar with every tin of Nesquik. Animal Bars were lovely little chocolate bars for us tiny tots. You can still get them. All this reminds me that, back then, we common English folk used to pronounce Nestlé's without the accent on the last e. We simply called it "Nestle's". I didn't know how to sound that accent until the 1980s!

Celebrities In Ads - Part 2: Fanny and Johnnie Cradock

Ah, the Cradocks! Forthright Fanny and jolly Johnnie! He all bumble and monocle, she all fire and fervour. A great pairing, who rose to fame through their exploits as Bon Viveur, reviewing various hotels and eateries for a national newspaper many moons ago. Fanny and Johnnie soon rose high into the culinary stratosphere and transformed English cookery (Fanny, like many food people of the day, worshipped French cuisine) with blue eggs and runny mincemeat pancakes and a host of other delights on the goggle box.

Although we mock slightly, we loved Fanny and Johnnie dearly, and there's no doubt the pair did an enormous amount for English/British cookery in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. And some of Fanny's tips are wonderful. If you've never tried stabbing a goose all over before cooking it, we recommend it. Not only is it a highly satisfying act in itself after a stressful day, but it really does make a fatty meat very delicious and digestable when cooked.

Although Fanny always maintained that the way she dominated Johnnie on-screen was all part of an act for the cameras, some on-lookers have since disagreed. But there is no doubt that, although not the first celebrity cooks, they brought a huge amount of character to the role, and have been very influential indeed.

Fanny and Johnnie were not blind to the power of advertising, and were involved in many advertising campaigns. Here they are in 1967, extolling the virtues of the Philips Electric Knife Sharpener and the Philips 3-Speed Electric Food Mixer. At 79/11 and £5:17:4 (this is old money) they weren't exactly a snip, but with Fanny and Johnnie endorsing them, I'm sure they were quality!

Celebrities In Ads: Part 1: Melvyn Hayes

Here's English actor Melvyn Hayes featuring in a magazine ad for Long John - "SOTCH with that ten foot feeling" - in 1968. Mr Hayes was still a few years away from the role that most people remember him for today - as "Gloria" Beaumont in the BBC sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum.

"Boom Boom Boom Boom!" - Joe The Esso Blue Dealer

This lovable little animated chap is known to many of us as he appeared in a long series of TV, newspaper and magazine ads from 1958 until the 1970s - I'm not sure exactly when he bowed out during that decade. He was Joe, the Esso Blue Dealer.

What was Esso Blue? T'was paraffin for domestic heaters and stoves. The heaters were OK, but caused quite a lot of condensation. However, in the 1950s, '60s and '70s nobody round my neighbourhood had central heating. Heating was supplied by coal, gas or paraffin. Most people opted for gas or coal. We also had a one-bar electric fire, but it ate electricity at a tremendous rate so we never dared use it. We had a paraffin heater, but could rarely afford the paraffin. In consequence, the ground floor of our house was warm enough in the winter (coal fire in the back room, gas fire in the front), but upstairs was FREEZING. It was common in the winter months to awake to ice on the INSIDE of the bedroom windows.

The little Esso Blue fella, with his natty bow tie and dinky bowler hat, had his first telly airing in 1958.

In one late '50s ad, the Esso Blue dealer is seen at his desk, answering the phone to a variety of people, all asking if he's Joe. To each, he replies, in a Northern English accent, that he isn't - he's the Esso Blue dealer. A sexy sounding female, also asking for Joe, flusters the poor little beggar and he tells her he is the "Esso Blee dooler". Poor lad. In the end, the mysterious Joe phones, asking if there have been any calls for him. In between calls, the dealer sings to himself "Boom boom boom - Esso Blue!" and, at the end of the ad, we get the famous jingle.

Later, we learned that the Esso Blue dealer was also called Joe.

The Esso Blue dealer as he appeared in a late 1950s ad.

YOUR DEALER RECOMMENDS ESSO BLUE. A shame, because it's no longer available.

The "Esso Blee dooler" ad line came about by accident. The actor Dorland Advertising had employed to do the voice-over was late arriving at the recording session for one of the ads. Time was pressing, and Dorland executive Tony Solomon stepped forward, champing at the bit to get the sound balance right, and said: "Let me have a go at it." He then said "I'm your Esso Blee Dooler" instead of "Esso Blue Dealer", which "brought the house down", causing great hilarity amongst the staff looking on. So, Mr Solomon's bit of genuine tongue-tiedness was incorporated into the script for the ad, and was also a tremendous hit with telly viewers. 

 A boggle-eyed Joe on an Esso Blue Delivery Service order postcard.

 A lovely filled-in Esso Blue receipt from Leighton Buzzard - March, 1971.

 Cor, self-service Esso Blue!

In those days of few TV channels (two when it first aired, three when it ended, and four from November 1982 until 1989 when Sky launched), we eagerly grasped hold of various jingles and catchphrases and, even today, many of us remember them. From the likes of "Murray Mints, Murray Mints, too good to hurry mints!" to Beattie of BT's late 1980s ads ("You got an ology?") and beyond, we took 'em all to our hearts. "Boom Boom Boom Boom - Esso Blue!" is still etched on my mind today.

Joe assured us that, with Esso Blue, smoke wouldn't get in your eyes. Esso Blue didn't smoke. But all paraffin heaters gave off a slight smell. In 1971, Joe starred on his own flexi-disc recording - "The Great Blue Singer" ("They asked me how I knew it was Esso Blue. I of course replies, with lower grades one buys, smoke gets in your eyes."). The flexi-disc ended with the "Boom Boom Boom Boom - Esso Blue!" jingle, which featured at the end of each ad and became a national catchphrase.

 Here's Joe appearing on an Esso Blue can. He looks so happy - obviously a man who believed in his product.

After the Esso Blue dealer left our screens, there was a reminder of him for many years in my neighbourhood: Mr Dean, the local greengrocer, florist and Esso Blue supplier, had a tin sign showing Joe, stating "ESSO BLUE SOLD HERE" - or some-such. The sign, which Mr Dean put out on the pavement by his shop every day, ensured that the dear old dealer was a presence in my neck of the woods long after he'd finished on the telly.

Newspaper ad from 1960.

Three Esso Blue badges from the early 1970s - Joe The Non-Smoker, Boom Boom Boom, and Conserve Your Energy.

An Esso Blue receipt from the 1970s. "YOUR HEATER NEEDS BLUE". The inclusion of V.A.T indicates that the UK was a member of the Common Market by the time the receipt was printed.

Yeast Vite

A very early Yeast Vite bottle - "The New And Wonderful Treatment of Pure Yeast Vitamins".

A box of Yeast Vite was always to be found in my grandmother's handbag. She swore by the little brown tablets to give an energy boost and settle the nerves. This blotter, printed in 1929 ready for 1930, proclaims: "YEAST-VITE TABLETS - The greatest Medical Discovery of the Century."

A whole series of ads, depicting men and women discovering the benefits of Yeast-Vite, appeared in newspapers in 1947 and 1948.

A Yeast-Vite box from the 1960s.

1982 - a far cry from the 1947 woman "done up, aching all over" and not half finished the washing yet! This lady has big hair, no doubt an automatic washing machine, and is evidently going places!

Yeast Vite are still available today.

I was introduced to them by my gran years ago and still rate them as a handy boost when my eyelids start to droop at inappropriate times!

1968 - a Cat in a Groovy Motor & Abbey Fabby National

The groovy, free lovin', free wheelin', non-materialistic 60s...

But how could you be "with it" without "dough"?

Abbey National aimed this ad at "hip" youngsters.

Mateus Rosé

A 1968 magazine advertisement for Mateus Rosé - fondly remembered by many of the "children of the 60s".

"It's All At The Co-op NOW!"

"It's All At Your Co-op NOW!" or "It's All At The Co-op NOW" were famous TV ad slogans and jingles of the 1960s and early 1970s.

In the hard times of the '70s, the slogan changed to the far less catchy "Your Caring Sharing Co-op".

Shame.

1960s: Plastic Money...

A 1967 magazine advertisement for Barclaycard. "Plastic money" did not become commonplace until the 1980s. The first UK debit card, Barclays Connect, was released in 1987.