TV Commercials 1950s-1960s one hour

One hour compilation of television commercials from the 50s through 60s (and a few from the 70s), including cartoons and live action pitches for Silvercup bread (whose product is worked right into the Rootie Kazootie puppet show), Corn Chex, Rice Chex, Wheat Chex, Anahist cold tablets, Mounds, Mobil gas, Beech Nut gum, Girl Scouts, Chock vitamins, Tootsie Rolls, Betty Crocker, Kleenex, Bounty, Crest toothpaste, Ultrabrite toothpaste, Ipana toothpaste (with Bucky Beaver), Panasonic radios, Lucky Strike cigarettes, Funny Face drink mixes, Cheer detergent, Salvo detergent, Axion detergent, Sealtest Light and Lively Ice Milk, Viking carpet, Ajax, Pruf spray starch, St. Joseph aspirin, Miller beer, Capn Crunch, Wheaties, Trix, Jet cereal, Total, Cocoa Puffs, and the very first Lucky Charms ad. TV show ads are included for Disney's Wonderful World, the Mod Squad, Courtship of Eddie's Father, Lost in Space, Sugarfoot, Day in Court, and Love That Bob.

Celebrity cameos include Ozzie Nelson for Peter Paul candy, Buffalo Bob and Howdy Doody for Tootsie Roll Pops, athlete Bud Wilkenson for phys ed, Shari Lewis plugging her puppet show with Lambchop, Bullwinkle for Cheerios, Rocky and Bullwinkle for Trix, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd for Kool-Aid, Stan Musial for Wheaties, and Clayton Moore with Jay Silverheels reprising their roles as the Lone Ranger and Tonto.

BetaGems are culled from an archive of over 1000 beta video tapes recorded from 1983 into the 1990s. Most feature live music performances broadcast on television in San Diego CA, though there are also rarely seen commercials, comedy clips, and other material that doesn't seem to be anywhere else on Youtube or online.

Most of the tapes were recorded on a Sony SL-HFT7 Super Beta Theater Hi-Fi Stereo - the same model was refurbished and is being used for these digital transfers and uploads. In rare occasions where a BetaGems clip does appear elsewhere, we're only uploading if our own beta master is better quality or contains material not seen previously. Much footage comes from public television and public access broadcasts that the taper, who worked for a local cable TV production company in the 1980s, monitored nightly for several years. Some of the programming is strictly regional, mostly from the San Diego area.