Sunday, June 23, 2013

Original Ronald McDonald

In the category of 'What were they thinking?' —Here is the original Ronald McDonald from 1963, played by comedian and clown Willard Scott, who created the character.


(Video link) This vintage TV ad shows Ronald slipping on his skates and handing out hamburgers to a kid, overcoming his objections: "Mom told me never to talk to strangers."

8 comments:

Keith Parker said...

And the creepy commercial award goes to...the happy hamburger clown!

armandcabrera said...

Diane and I have a friend who played Ronald in the 80's, Squire Fridell. He is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet and a very successful Actor.

mp said...

Shocking naivete.

Resuna said...

Yeh, we used to play in the street and do "bob a job" as cub scouts to raise money for the troop... knocking on stranger's doors and doing odd jobs for them without any adult supervision. Absolutely shocking. What were our parents thinking?

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

Wow. This would not fly today.

The costume is exceptionally odd too. I mean a paper cup nose a box for a hat? Whose idea was that?

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

Wow. This would not fly today.

The costume is exceptionally odd too. I mean a paper cup nose a box for a hat? Whose idea was that?

Leslie Rego said...

I live in the west and will be attending a wedding in Hanover, New Hampshire in September. I know that the Norman Rockwell museum is a couple hour drive from Hanover, but I am wondering if there are any other museums I might want to visit that would be relatively close. You seem to visit the museums quite frequently and I was hoping you could help me by naming a few. Thank you!

K_tigress said...

At: ARMAND CABRERA
I loved those old 80's MD's commercials for happy-meals. My favorite one is with some little girls scouts. I remember they're singing this song about ducks as they walk and waddle in a row like ducks singing "quack quack waddle waddle"
Personally I think he was the best MD's clown.

But yeah that first clown has major creep factor.