Commercial Reel: Theatrical Chiquita Banana Spots

Description

Originally called “Miss Chiquita”, the character mascot for Chiquita Bananas was designed in 1944 by cartoonist Dik Brown, creator of the “Hagar the Horrible” comic strip. Patterned after singer Carmen Miranda, the character was intended to introduce the exotic tropical fruit to the American public. The jingle, written by ad agency executives Garth Montgomery and Len MacKenzie is among the most popular commercial jingles of all time.

This reel of theatrical Chiquita Banana commercials came to me as something of a mystery. It surfaced with a film collector who didn’t know what studio produced it. All he knew was the date- 1947. I’ve since been told that these shorts were the work of the John Sutherland studio. The animation, backgrounds and color styling in these theatrical commercials are first rate.