Esso - Commercial (1930's)

[anangrygoldfish]

You know that Benito Mussolini was hanged outside an Esso station, right?

[sulmann26]

0:41 People dancing :/

[196863lt]

Not boring anymore! It's cool and it's funny!!!! XDDDDDDDDDD

[196863lt]

Really boring. -_-

[TheTERMlNAT0R]

I agree what a creepy face

[23zoid]

That face at the end was creepy

[reevedavey]

great.send the black kid on a hyper sugar fuelled killing frenzy.

[reevedavey]

@GMLMG11.meanwhile on planet earth th BBC stopped broadcasting at the outbreak of WW2 and restarted in 1946.

[GMLMG11]

There was no such thing as TV in the 30s. It came out in the late 40s.

[elliottrawr]

Id like to no how they did the face at the end giving its time. i mean its not like they popped down the shops to get sony vegas. how did they do it :/ ?

[jdrukman]

@elliottrawr good old-fashioned hand-drawn cel animation.

[torerik1234]

They always had to make an "music video-like" commercial back then.

[artsygirl181]

This commercial couldn't have been from the 1930's. The first ever T.V. commercial was for Bulova Watch, which didn't ever air until July 1st, 1941.

[BobWXXI]

Don't think this is as early as 1938. The car shown looks like the back of a 1946-47 Caddy, and the pumps look postwar as well. If I had to guess this is a very early postwar TV commercial, from the time when advertisers bought 90 second or even 2 minute spots to get their money's worth reaching the relatively small number of viewers who were out there in a handful of cities with TV (NYC, Albany, Philly, Chicago, Detroit, Washington, Baltimore, St. Louis, LA, Milwaukee) by the end of 1947.

[SinbladeZen]

"The butcher throws in an extra bone for the bow-wow" xD that made me laugh

[frednora]

0:06 sounds almost like "butt-hole" lol

[trollope4lyf2k8]

wonder if the petrol back then was of good enough quality to run the cars of nowadays

[1276epr]

@trollope4lyf2k8 As far as quality in general, I have read that as automobiles soared in popularity in the late 'teens-early '20s, the quality of gas went down, which caused the Ford Motor Company to repeatedly lower compression in the Model "T" during those years. What occurred to raise quality and subsequently motor compression in the late '20s, I suspect was the invention of lead tetraethyl into the gas.

[sneakers55]

@trollope4lyf2k8 If you look carefully, the gas pumps have the vintage "CONTAINS LEAD" warning placard. Very illegal for a vehicle in this millennium.

[Gamaman705]

i was forced to watch this as an assignment

[WhenToysSpeak]

This is bullshit! Black kids didn't have rights back then!

[dudemantwo]

It is interesting that they show an African American kid...

Is this a sign of tolerance in the 1930's?

[geoffolehane]

For 1938, using an African-American child (0:22) in a non-stereotypical way in an ad is quite revolutionary.

[margotdarby]

@geoffolehane Not really. They had negro children in the Our Gang comedies. You've been propagandized that they didn't have this sort of thing, but it just wasn't true!

[freshair3451]

@geoffolehane ...and only because they knew black people bought gas.

[dulzura06]

i think its a cute commercial :)

[MrNudlauge]

stop at 1:00 lol!!!

[Icemoney22]

commercials back then were boring with the talking in the background. But its interesting

[jaychristy01]

wow is it me or was that Don Willsons voice he has a good clear voice hes on alott of these old commercials Im enjoying listening to these thanks for posting them.

[fromthesidelines]

This was seen in various movie theaters, circa 1938 (but the genesis of the modern TV commercial is evident here). On radio at the time, Esso sponsored a local newscast in several communities known as "YOUR ESSO REPORTER"- hence, the use of the title in this "theatrical advertisement".

[BroccoliVoccu]

That face in the end is scary