My Facebook Match Game Super Match post for January 26, 2012 was:[1]
I wasn’t surprised at such perennial responses as “Mother,” or millennial ones as “Grey.” [2]
But I was nonplussed that not a single friend from childhood (or who happened to be in California in the 1970s) had posted what I thought was the clear “era” answer:
And it wasn’t because they were not participating. Out the nine unique friends who posted responses, seven of them fit the aforementioned category. [3]
So at 3:04 pm I posted this clue:
Hint: potato chips…
But the only response I got from that was:
Fried?
So I wrote:
California kids – you’ll be smacking your heads at the $250 answer…
Back in the mid–70s, at least in California, Granny Goose Potato Chips were neck and neck with Laura Scudders:
And to a lesser extent, Bell:
Lays were special-occasion chips, but I’m thinking they weren’t on sale very often. My mom usually chose the chips by their price.
And before they started showing cartoon PSAs on the USDA’s Basic Four Food Groups, such as this one:
httpv://youtu.be/CGd_9UiMeBE
Potato chips played the central role in my “basic three” lunch food groups (cookies and to a lesser extent, the sandwich were the other two).
In any event, an elementary school friend finally came up with the desired response:
I was stumped, but thanks to Google (and no thanks to my awesome but flawed long term memory), I got the “Granny”.
I felt pretty full of myself – how could these people forget Granny Goose? – until a bit after I posted the answer photo at the end of the day:
Then another friend commented on the answers photo:
What is Granny’s secret? She-ee won’t say. How she makes her potato chips CRUNCH that way.
I don’t remember that jingle. At all. I didn’t even have a reaction of, “Oh, yeah, that’s right!” It’s nowhere to be found among the many jingles and catchphrases from that time period still extant, including:
Oscar Mayer:
Life Cereal:
And, of course, Big Mac:
It’s possible that few others remember it for the same reasons I didn’t (possible reasons: regional brand that couldn’t afford as many TV spots, lack of strong melody, no surprise at the end of the 30-second clip), but there you go…
Potato chip bag photos courtesy of JasonLiebig on Flickr.
Check out Jason’s blog Collecting Candy – it’s great fun both for candy and nostalgia lovers!
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I’ve been posting Match Game Super Match audience match questions on Facebook five days a week since late November (with a big gap over the holidays). ↩
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Unless they were familiar with Lead Belly’s song “Grey Goose…” ↩
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Because, really, who else would be playing? I remember my niece playing once, but beyond that, everyone else who plays are, um, over the age of 39… ↩
Granny Goose chips… something tells me they were served with grilled cheese at lunch.
I will be back in the US next week and will sing it to you. Maybe the tune will will remind you…
I look forward to that. I’ll print more money in the meantime…
After doing some quick research I found out that the jingle was by Bob Arbogast and according to another blog, the words were:
“What is Granny’s Secret?””I won’t say!””How she makes her corn chips””FRESH THAT WAY”!
I was close…
Can you put those links into the comments? That would be awesome!