From the Beverage Aisle: King Stir

Product: King Stir
Company: Pacific Hawaiian Products
Years: I'm guessing late 60's. Complete Guess, though.

Image by grickly

King Stir.....the Bubbly drink mix on swizzle sticks.

Here's another product that was just a bit before my time, but I recently saw this item posted on Flickr by Grickly, and I fell in love with it. The magical swirl in the glass.....the candy coated swizzle sticks.....the legless king.....love I tell you. Love it.

I know very little about this other then that the packaging rocks, so any and all info to help fill in the Bio would be welcomed. It was made in Fullerton, CA in what I'm guessing was the mid to late 60's by a company called Pacific Hawaiian Product. It came in Orange and Lemon Lime (Imitation Flavors) and I'm betting it came in more.

So yeah, I know about .5% of the history of this. But I know 100% that the package is amazing.

And I'd really like to know what's up with the legless king. Combine Accident? Or is he a ghost king?

From the Snack Aisle: Nabisco Chit Chat Crackers

Product: Chit Chat Barbecue Crackers
Company: Nabisco
Years: 1964-?

Short post today. I've got a bad head cold and feel pretty crummy. I need a bowl of chicken soup and some crackers to make it go away.

That's my segway into the post. Crackers. Yup, pretty crummy I tell you.

 Nabisco makes crackers, that's their thing. And I'm guessing over the last 50+ years they've had hundreds of crackers I've never heard of and have never seen. That's why it's always fun to stumble upon a long gone flavor, such as the Chit Chat Crackers.

What a 60's sounding name.

I just picture people sitting around their horribly decorated apartments talking about how awesome the last episode of "Gidget" was. Then someone would say "hey, lets go down to the drive in and get some burgers!", to which someone else would respond "We don't have to, I've got a box of new Chit Chat Crackers, by Nabisco!", to which the first guy would then respond in a really whiny Richie-from-Happy-Days-voice "But I wanted a Cheeseburger!"
Then they'd all start to dance. Probably the Twist......no, no...the Mashed Potato.Yeah. That's it.

So, yeah, I don't really know much about these crackers. Other then the Nabisco trademark of the name "Chit Chat" expired back in 2005 and is still available if you're bored and/or starting a fledgling cracker company.

That's all I got today. I need to go blow nose and drink a bottle of NyQuil.

And don't lie, you've never heard of these crackers either.

From the Candy Aisle: Dynamints

Product: Dynamints
Company: Dentyne
Years: 1970s

I was recently reminded of Dynamints by my friend Jason Liebig over at Collecting Candy  (if you haven't checked out his website already, what's wrong with you?). You see, in the 70's, when you would eat something like French Onion Soup, or Garlic Bread, or Limburger Cheese, you would need a quick fix to rid your mouth of that nasty odor. And what better to turn to then the super minty flavor of Dynamints! They were sort of like Tic-Tacs, only with a stronger flavor to fix the poor decision you made for lunch. Onion Rings??? Are you serious, man? You've got a hot date with Tina from accounting later tonight to go see "The Apple Dumpling Gang", and chances are, you're gonna end up making out. EVERYONE makes out with Tina from accounting, so you've gotta do something to counter your poor decision to have the Onion Rings for lunch. I don't care how bad her daddy issues are, if you still have rotten breath in a few hours, she's gonna say "no thanks" to the lip embrace.

Here, have some of these:

Image by Jason Liebig

Dynamints came in several different flavors: Peppermint, Spearmint, Regular, Fruit, Lemon Lime.....probably a few more that I'm forgetting too. Each plastic container contained 40 mints (and with your onion ring breath I'd suggest sucking on 39).

Image by Gregg Koenig

Image From Grickly

So thanks to Jason Liebig for reminding me of these Tic Tac wannabes. I wish I had some of these right now, I pick up Tina at 7:30. And I just ate an entire Bloomin' Onion. Damn you Outback!!!!

Happy Holidays from Gone But Not Forgotten Groceries!!!

Attention Shoppers: We will be closed for the Holidays so our employees can spend time with their families. And Open Presents. And drink large amounts of Eggnog (and beer.....and Gin......and Rum......and wine.......).

Thanks for your Patronage in 2012, and we are looking forward to bringing you even more extinct favorites from your past in 2013!

Now I'm gonna go and hook up my betamax and enjoy the classic 1982 Menudo Holiday special.

Feliz navidad from Gone But Not Forgotten Groceries!!!!

From the Cereal Aisle: WWF Superstars

WWF Superstars Cereal
Company: Ralston-Purina
Years: 1991-?

Photo by poptartsbox

Now entering the ring, from Ralston-Purina, weighing in at 14.25 oz....no, you aren't imagining things, it really did happen, the Cereal that turns heads and puts the "Stare" back into "Steroids" (yeah, yeah, I know.....), its WWF SUPERSTARS CEREAAAAAALLLLLL!

Back in the early 90's Ralston-Purina and WWF teamed up to bring the smack-down to your mouth with their new cereal, WWF Superstars. It was available in 4 certain to make your parents wonder what is wrong with you collectors boxes including The Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, and the Legion of Doom. The cereal itself was lightly sweetened star shapes that I swear was used in about 4 other cereals and just repurposed for this short lived money-making adventure. Children loved the WWF. Parents love their children. Children beg parents to get the cereal with the oiled up half naked men with face paint/bondage gear on the front. Parents think "Sure, why not?" Children spend hours on therapist couch some 20 years later trying to figure it all out.

Look, I'm not saying Superstars cereal or WWF is to blame for us 30+ year olds that have messed up lives. I watched WWF through most of the 80's, stopped for a while, then picked it up again from about 96-2001 (though I haven't watched it since). But I am saying that we can't talk about WWF Superstars cereal without doing a "Where are they now" on the cover models. Here's the cliffs notes version:
Hogan just had a sex tape leaked, Warrior changed his legal name to "Warrior" (just Warrior...like Sting, or Madanna) and is now a conservative speaker denouncing left wing politics ("Queering doesn't make the world work" is one of his gems), and if I'm not mistaken, one of the guys from Legion of Doom had a serious drug and alcohol problem and died at a young age of a heart attack.

Exactly the people I want my kids to be staring at every morning while they get their breakfast on.

But hey, I grew up watching them, and I turned out alright. Or at least that's what my therapist tells me.

Here's a fun game! What other WWF wrestlers who wrestled in the 80's/90's and went on to have tragic lives could have also been on the boxes of WWF Superstars? Benoit? Owen Hart? In an industry that turns out so many broken lives and shattered dreams, the possibilites must be endless! Post your ideas below! And if you're an angry WWF/WWE fan who thinks I shouldn't be making fun of them, your opinions matter to me! Please email me at WWFisAwesome1981@compuserve.com.