Long before Bill Clinton made cigars sexy, Edie Adams did the same with a long-running series of TV commercials for Muriel Cigars, beginning in the late 50's. Her sultry voice asking men, "Why don't you pick one up and smoke it sometime?" along with her request, "Hey, big spender, spend a little dime with me," assured her place in TV commercial history.
An accomplished singer and Broadway and movie actress, she got her start in show business in 1951 as the straight man for Ernie Kovacs, the wildly innovative comic genius from the early days of television. They proved to be such a great team that they got married 3 years later, and remained married until Kovacks was killed in a car accident in 1962.
The video below is Edie Adams crooning "That's All." She sang it on the very last episode of "I Love Lucy" in 1957, and the fact that Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz filed for divorce the very next day made it a rather poignant (and ironic) tribute.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Obituary: Edie Adams (1927-2008)
Fizzies Are Back!
It's amazing how much fun you can have when you're a kid with really simple things. Like Fizzies. Throw a tablet into a glass of water, and watch with delight as it dissolves and becomes a delicious fruit drink. I was able to re-create that thrill to a lesser degree, later in life, whenever I had to down a glass of Alka-Seltzer after a night of drinking too much.
Incredibly popular in the 50's and 60's, Fizzies came in 7 different flavors and cost only 19 cents for 8 tablets. You just can't find bargains like that anymore.
Of course, that particular childhood pasttime came to a screeching halt when it was discovered that Fizzies used cyclamates, which turned out to cause cancer in lab rats and was banned in 1968. As a result, the company went out of business and Fizzies was no more.
But Fizzies are back! They made a triumphant return in 2006. And like just about everything else, you can now buy Fizzies Drink Tablets
