Say Cheese!    

Some of those jingles from my childhood seem to have settled permanently in the crevices of my brain, such as the famous Alka Seltzer commercial — “Plop, plop, fizz fizz, oh, what a relief it is,” Folgers Coffee — “The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup,” Band-Aids — ‘’I am stuck on Band-Aids, cuz Band-Aid’s stuck on me,” and the unforgettable “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony / I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company….” Even insurance companies had a jingle — “And like a good neighbor, State Farm is there….”

The jingle genre wasn’t lost on Jewish marketers, and in the 70s and 80s, Jewish jingles started becoming popular — you could always hear them on the Art Raymond radio show on WEVD. The king of Jewish jingles was Martin Davidson (of Rechnitzer Rejects fame). His classic jingle for Haolam cheese, with the chorus, “When you’re trying to please, the whole world agrees, smile and say ‘cheese,’ with Haolam!” got constant airplay. And the famous Schmerling Chocolate ad he wrote, which got on our nerves at the time, today conjures up sweet memories. It went something like, “Schmerling, Schmerling, chocolate, chocolate — thank you for this present from the Swiss.”

Now, I know I’m dating myself here, but I can’t resist mentioning those classic WEVD “Yinglish” ads, such as “Iz ess kosher, iIz ess parve, far der gantzeh Mishpucha, Del Monte prune Juice,” and, “S’iz gut far de koiach, far der moiach un der boiach (stomach),” for Carnation evaporated “milich.”

Dov Shurin and Uncle Leibish used to have a radio program every Motzaei Shabbos and their number-one sponsor was Quality Carpet. When they first opened, Quality was located on Coney Island Avenue and Cortelyou Road, which at that time was considered really out in the boondocks. So, Dov Shurin came out with a jingle to the tune of “Those Were the Days,” and it went: “814-814 Coney Island Avenue, between Cortelyou and Ditmas Road.” That simple phrase stuck so securely in people’s minds that if anyone mentioned Quality Carpet, they knew exactly where it was located.