Retrophilia: Sunbeam Shirley
retrophilia (ret troh FEE lee uh) n. 1 An intense attraction for things of the past. 2 a weekly series for popsucker wherin the irrepressible Wootini reveals the horrors of the past to the present to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
Anyone who dreamed of riding around in a psychedelic bus with their family and singing upbeat pop song all over the country would recognize the smiling visage of one Shirley Partridge, Shirley Jones herself. But why was this venerable TV icon so excited and gleeful back in 1977?
I'll give you a hint. Music isn't involved. At all. Make the jump to see if you're right! (bet you're not, though!)
Okay, first of all, I don't believe that Shirley Jones has ever made a crepe in her life. She might order one in a restaurant, but I just can't picture her in a kitchen. And certainly not with her fancy new electric Sunbeam Crepemaker. (It doubles as a frying pan if you turn it over, but that's not as healthy as fresh fruit, so it just gets a little inset) And are the quote marks around each of the sections of copy supposed to make us believe she's actually saying them? Right. Oh, and how many recipes for crepes can there be to fill a 48-page cookbook?
But the thing I love about this ad is the insane look in her eyes. And the tilt to her head makes it look like they just pasted her face onto another model's body. It doesn't even look attached. Her pose is actually slightly more awkward than her expression.
Seriously, I feel like if I don't drop by my appliance dealer right now, the Shirley Jones Stepford Wife will come to my house and bludgeon me with a tiny little frying pan...
Wootini
Posted to Hot Stuff, Retrophilia on 3 December 2007
Other stuff like this: ad, crepemaker, crepes, retrophilia, shirley jones, sunbeam
