In the 1950s, almost all television advertisements were live performers extolling the virtues of the products sponsoring the television show.
In fact, sometimes the actors in the show were required to do the actual advertisement themselves with Desi Arnaz not only loving Lucy but Phillip Morris cigarettes, as well, and George “Superman/Clark Kent” Reeves chowing down on Kellogg's Corn Flakes with a smile.
Walt Disney never had to do those product endorsements for his weekly Disneyland television program. Instead, he allowed an animated Tinker Bell to extol the virtues of the American Dairy Association and Peter Pan Peanut Butter and others when they sponsored the program.
Actually, advertisers were very happy to have the little spokes-pixie showing how much she loved their products. At that time, animation was expensive and time consuming to produce, but advertisers discovered it was also highly effective and many of the best-liked ads were animated.
When Tinker Bell promoted Peter Pan Peanut Butter for several years, she almost seemed euphoric as she sniffed the contents of the open jar since it was the “p-nuttiest!”
In 1950, Phyllis Hurrell who was originally Phyllis Bounds, the niece of the wife of Walt Disney, Lillian, had married photographer George Hurrell and reconnected with her uncle Walt who had expressed interest into getting into television.
However, he made it clear he didn't want to use his company's name. There was a stigma about a motion picture studio being involved in any way with work for television.
He also intended to use the television work to quickly generate money that could be used for building and sustaining Disneyland especially since the theatrical short cartoons had stopped generating any real revenue.
In December, George Hurrell negotiated with Roy O. Disney (Walt's older brother), Gunther Lessing (the Disney Studio lawyer) and Paul Pease to create Hurrell Productions. It was officially established January 5, 1951.
The agreement was that the television production company would function on the Disney Studio lot itself and be able to use the talent and resources of the studio. Because of his still existing advertising commitments back East, Hurrell himself remained in New York to finish up that work while putting Phyllis in charge of the commercial studio.
Hurrell returned in 1952 but concentrated on doing portraits out of his Rodeo Drive studio, primarily leaving much of the day-to-day operations of Hurrell Productions to Phyllis.
Hurrell Productions at the Disney Studios proved to be especially successful in making television commercials for a variety of clients including Kellogg's, General Mills, Sunkist, Hunts, and Johnson & Johnson among many others.
Hurrell Productions produced two different tracks of commercials. First, they did commercials featuring the classic Disney characters primarily for sponsors of the Disney television programs.
These commercials featured the classic Disney animated characters including Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Donald Duck, Tinker Bell, Jiminy Cricket, Alice and the Cheshire Cat and many others although simplified in design for television animation. Clients included Peter Pan Peanut Butter, American Motors, Jello, Canada Dry and more.
The second track of commercials created memorable new advertising character icons from Tommy Mohawk for Mohawk Carpets to Fresh Up Freddie for the 7-Up soft drink.
Officially, the Disney Studio was not producing the commercials, but this independent studio that happened to be on the Disney lot in the fabled Animation building was bringing in much needed income.
The primary director for these commercials was Charles “Nick” Nichols. Nichols, who began his Disney career as an animator on the Disney shorts, had most of his recognition as a director on the Pluto cartoons from 1944-1951. He also had his Screen Directors Card so he could also direct the live action in commercials.
However, theatrical cartoons were being phased out because they were becoming too expensive to produce. The television commercials helped provide work for some of the Disney staff who had been working on the diminishing output of theatrical short cartoons.
According to records at the Disney Studio, Roy Williams, Don Luske, Bob Carlson, Bill Justice, Phil Duncan, and Xavier Atencio among others were all assigned at one time to work on the Tinker Bell cartoons.
A model sheet shows suggested poses for Tinker Bell in peanut butter commercials.
Hurrell separated from his wife in 1954 and they later divorced in 1955. After the divorce, she assumed control of the company.
Hurrell Productions was disbanded on May 8, 1959 for several reasons, including the fact that Walt was unhappy with the use of classic Disney characters in commercials, the interference from clients and the limited animation that, because of costs, had to be used in order to be competitive in the market.
Animator Paul Carlson remembered in an interview with Didier Ghez in 2008 that “during 1956-58, I worked for Phyllis Hurrell, Walt's niece. She was in charge of the Disney Commercial Division. Phyllis's assistant was her cousin, Sharon Disney, Walt Disney's (adopted) daughter.
“Walt would review the work the unit produced roughly once a month in a screening room. We did so many different commercials and to tell you the truth I can't remember all of them. We worked in black and white to save money since they were only going to be run on television a few times and in those days, television was broadcast in only black and white.”
The history of Peter Pan Peanut Butter began with Henry Clay Derby who operated a butcher shop in Watertown, Massachusetts. His business grew and in 1888 he opened a branch in Chicago called the E.K. Pond Packing Company that was sold to Swift and Company in 1904.
In 1920, the E.K. Pond Company started its peanut butter business marketing a product under the E.K. Pond label. In 1929, the company entered into an agreement with Joseph Rosefield to use his patents in producing a non-separating peanut butter. The brand name was changed to “Peter Pan” and it became the first shelf-stable, non-separating peanut butter on the grocery shelves.
In the 1930s, Peter Pan Peanut Butter was sold in key-opening cans with re-sealable lids. However, a shortage of tin during World War II prompted the change to glass jars. In the 1940s, Peter Pan Peanut Butter became the first peanut butter to pursue national advertising.
In the stage tradition, a mature woman dressed in the Peter Pan green outfit with green tights appeared as the mascot for the brand. With several updated variations like was done with other advertising icons like Betty Crocker and Aunt Jemima, the figure remained relatively the same for roughly three decades.
With the release of the Disney animated feature Peter Pan in 1953, many of the characters including Tinker Bell were used on merchandising to promote the film. With the development of the Disneyland theme park in 1954, Tinker Bell became closely associated as the character icon for that entertainment venue.
As Margaret Kerry, who was the live action reference model for the film's Tinker Bell, told me, “Tinker Bell was just going to be a fun secondary character that Disney was going to have like so many others.
“I was told that so many of the people at the studio were worried that Disneyland was going to lose money or even possibly bankrupt the company that people went to Walt's brother Roy and pleaded, 'Could you please ask Walt not to use our big characters so we can still license them and make money if the park flops?' Of course, some of those characters already had other licensing agreements so could not be used in association with the park and its sponsored products.
“That's one of the reasons a secondary character like Tinker Bell became the one used so often to represent the park and on so much of its original merchandise. She appeared every week on the opening of the television show and people just began to associate her with Disneyland. She was on maps, gate cards, specialty merchandise and more.”
That animated image at the beginning of the weekly Disney television show was a simplified version of Marc Davis' classic design and done by legendary animator Les Clark with the pixie dust special effects provided by John Hench. In addition she was given a magic wand like the Fairy Godmother.
She was quite literally Walt's co-host so it was only natural that she would be the one to promote the company products sponsoring the show. As Disney historian Mindy Johnson wrote, “She became the pitch pixie for a wide range of sponsors' products. From the American Dairy Association to the American Motors Corporation, sponsors clamored for Tink's magical endorsements.
“She touted Kelvinators, Hudson and Nash automobiles and even a new line of frozen dinners from the Swift company.”
However, she was most prominently showcased in a series of one minute commercials for Peter Pan Peanut Butter that in the 1950s was advertised as “America's favorite…outsells all others.”
Legendary Disney storyman Bill Peet had a run-in with Walt Disney when Peet didn't make a change Walt wanted in a scene on Sleeping Beauty where the prince and Aurora are dancing in the forest.
“The next day, I was sent down to the main floor to work on Peter Pan Peanut Butter TV commercials, which was without a doubt my punishment for what Walt considered my stubbornness,” wrote Peet in his autobiography. “I toughed it out for about two months on peanut butter commercials, then stubbornly decided to return to my room on the third floor whether Walt liked it or not.”
“Yes, he worked on some on some Peter Pan commercials,” animator Paul Carlson remembered. “And he had some input on those. I don't remember what he talked to Phyllis about, but yeah, Peet did make some comments or some suggestions to story.”
Tinker Bell was mute in those days and had to pantomime her delight at the peanut butter that could be put on hot toast because it melted like butter and was so smooth that it could even be “spread on toast or crackers and even crispy potato chips.”
A lively background chorus would sing that “your eyes know and your tummy knows; best of all, your taster knows, Peter Pan Peanut Butter is so grand — the smoothest peanut butter in the land.”
Cliff “Jiminy Cricket” Edwards and Sterling “Winnie the Pooh” Holloway often narrated the commercials. At the time, Holloway had finished doing the voice of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland and Edwards was doing the voice of Jiminy for segments on the Mickey Mouse Club television show and on records.
Reportedly, Josh Meador, who was the head of the Disney Studios animation effects department, did some work on the Tinker Bell commercials especially with the combination of live action and animation.
In one commercial, Captain Hook has tied up little Tinker Bell to force her to tell him where the Peter Pan Peanut Butter is and when she refuses, he makes her walk the plank.
She is rescued by Peter Pan who battles Hook and tosses him to the hungry crocodile who is already consulting a recipe book for “Hook Stew” and “Baked Hook.” However, a kindhearted Tink rescues the Captain from the jaws of death with a jar of peanut butter because “it certainly is true Peter Pan Peanut Butter is the favorite of people and crocodiles, too!”
A model sheet shows simplified drawing of characters from Peter Pan for use in TV commercials.
Tink appeared in a commercial where she uses her hands to make hand shadows on a nearby blank wall for viewers to guess the figures, including the easiest of all, her miming the opening of a jar of Peter Pan Peanut Butter.
Often times there were enthusiastic off-camera children's voices, like when Tink played a game with live-action hands and another where she interacted with a set of three different pairs of animated hands.
In one commercial, Tink even plays a game of connecting the dots to reveal a jar of Peter Pan Peanut Butter and in another plays with a large storybook of words and pictures. (“Let's play a word and picture game!” although all the pictures are of jars of Peter Pan Peanut Butter and Tink.)
One commercial has a peanut butter machine with the voice of Paul Frees making crunchy peanut butter for Tink. (“I'm the one who puts the crunch in Peter Pan. My work to me is fun because you know I'm the one…who puts the crunch in Peter Pan.”)
In another commercial, Tink is momentarily startled when a jar of Peter Pan Peanut Butter comes flying out of a jack-in-the-box and demonstrates its new easy opening lid. It may not have been as easy-opening as advertised because the narrator had to explain to twist it to the right to open and then twist it to the left to seal it up again.
In yet another commercial, Peter Pan himself shows up. He and Tink have hidden a treasure of Peter Pan Peanut Butter in a treasure chest in Never Land. “A treasure more precious than gold!”
Captain Hook and his pirate crew have a map that lead to the treasure. Pan tricks them and captures the pirates in a fishing net and when Hook opens the treasure chest “his old friend” a hungry crocodile with bib and fork and knife is waiting inside. The crocodile chases Hook out to the beach. Pan and Tink celebrate their victory with Peter Pan Peanut Butter on bread.
Tink's character design was very similar to the version that was used for the opening of the Disneyland television show and in fact at the end of that show, Tink might do an animated sequence to remind viewers to get some Peter Pan Peanut Butter or that the American Dairy Association recommends three glasses of whole milk a day just as live action television stars who were promoting their own sponsors in commercials.
Over the years, Peter Pan Peanut Butter has done other promotions with the Disney Peter Pan characters, including one in 1976 in 15,000 supermarkets across the country offering two million full-color Disney Peter Pan movie posters given away free with the purchase of any size jar of Peter Pan Peanut Butter.
They also had a $300,000 television campaign highlighted with scenes from the Disney movie and the information that if a store ran out of posters, sending a label to a special address would get the customer a poster.
This promotion was done despite the fact that Derby Foods severed its connection with Disney's Tinker Bell sometime in late 1957.
When it produced a promotional Peter Pan coloring book in 1963, Peter was still depicted as a woman (as she would until the 1970s when they transformed the character into a freckle-faced red-headed boy) and Tinker Bell became a pot-bellied male gnome with two antenna sticking out of the small slicked down patch of black hair on his head. He only had four fingers on each hand.
Tinker Bell no longer appears in commercials promoting non-Disney products although her iconic trail of swirling pixie dust has been used in commercials advertising everything from cereal to cars in recent years.
Some samples of the classic Tinker Bell commercials can be found on YouTube
