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Circus Nuts (1967)

A Brief Introduction - Who doesn't love nuts at least as much as chocolate covered raisins? How about nuts from the 1960s? If you were around in the 60s you've probably heard of Circus brand nuts. Not to be confused with the generic candy of a similar name, these were a variety of nuts vacuum sealed to make the package "rock hard" and sold for only 5 cents a bag (peanuts) or in cans! If you weren't around or don't remember, check out this video to watch the freshest nuts in town tumble out of the package.

Well, I guess "tastes fine" isn't really the same as "oh, the freshest nuts in town"... but it's amazing they don't taste rancid!

For those of you that do remember these nuts, you'll probably remember Art Linkletter and his daughter, Diane, talking about these on television.

Mel Brooks & Dick Cavett - It turns out that in 1967 Mel Brooks recorded a series of radio commercials for Circus Nuts where he voiced famous personas in history interviewed by Dick Cavett a time traveling reporter. If you are fan of the 2000 Year Old Man you'll get a kick out of these. The recordings below are courtesy of Sally Tobin whose late husband Richard acquired these records while working at the advertising agency of West, Weird & Bartel. Thanks for sending me the records Sally!

Update: Shortly after poking around a bit on the web I've made contact with someone very close to the production of these radio spots. When I've got some more information I'll post it in the news section with a link to this page. In the mean time, enjoy!

• 60 Second Jingle

• Cut 1 - Caesar
• Cut 2 - Psychiatrist
• Cut 3 - Attila
• Cut 4 - Mark Anthony
• Cut 5 - Marshall Earp
• Cut 6 - Napolean

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