Fifties Television: Classic Commercial for "Bobbi" (1950's Hair-Care Product)

[MattTheSaiyan]

I find it amazing that the guy at the end of this commercial is still alive. His name is Tony Martin and he was born 1912. He married a beautiful dancer named Cyd Charisse in 1948, and they remained married until her death in 2008 (aged 86).

[RetroToledo]

@MattTheSaiyan At least he got to live a good life.

[Methoswicca]

The 50s were so great...if you were a rich,white and male.

[MattTheSaiyan]

@Methoswicca Middle-class people living in the suburbs are not "rich". It seems like 48% of people idealise the decade too much, and 48% of people hate the decade as if it ran over their pet dog. The remaining 4% are indifferent.

[RetroToledo]

@MattTheSaiyan Seems that way.

[TheBrendaWenda]

Oh how i love the old days(: i wish one penny now was worth alot!

[Blankchilde88]

Can you imagine living in this era where America had values and black people weren't scary?

[parchementandquills]

@Blankchilde88 yeah of course. segregation and chauvinistic attitudes were just the greatest.

[TheDellanator]

@Blankchilde88 hshhahaha so damn true

[JiggyMonster98]

I should be 75 :( Then I would have looked like this back then and had fun! I want to see the 50's soooo bad.

[planetery]

I'd pin her curls.

[josephineee92]

ohhhhhh i love this song!!!

[lowenklee]

Man I wish cars still looked like that...girl's quite pretty as well.

[GAMINDORE]

one hadnt internet, cell phones, Digital TV n stuff, sylicon implants, but people were really really happier.

[Papillonmuscogee]

@acehasreturned14 yep you heard right! Wow. Some of us don't even have to work that hard at this one, haha.

[ftsjr]

I wonder if Tony Martin was embarrassed to sing that jingle.

[ljbimoore]

@ftsjr he should have been.  LOL!

[Sweetcaramel591]

arent these just called "bobbi pins" now.. the ones that every woman in america uses!?

[JudgeJulieLit]

@Sweetcaramel591 Yes . . . and were so called in the '50s. You're witnessing the birth of the bobbi brand!

[Cheekeau]

You just can't get a tight kinky girl with a bobbi!

[MrFukinfantastic]

Wow her hair was kinky.

[PoutinePete]

I hate the fact that I liked that Tool's version of: "The Bobbi" song. I'd love to see him sing that to the boys on the construction site where I work.

[pinkerton3gg]

BOBBI PINS! I GET IT!!!

[lstash]

How high up the Billboard chart did Tony Martin's Bobbi Pin Curl song go?

[altairPWK]

Wow amazing commercial...I want a Bobbi now...love the hair too.

[Tinymoezzy]

VA VA VOOM what a looker... that man can style my hair any day

[DinahoftheRailroad]

The fifties was such a wonderful era... I would have loved to have been born back then :(

[MattTheSaiyan]

@DinahoftheRailroad Not sure if I'd call it "wonderful", though it certainly was a whole lot better than the 30s/40s.

[jaemel1]

@MattTheSaiyan Also better than the 80's & 90's and...



[RetroToledo]

@MattTheSaiyan It certainly was a notch upwards a bit. My mom grew up in that era herself though I recall she was quite poor anyway.

[MattTheSaiyan]

@RetroToledo My grandmother was quite poor in the 1950s as well. To her, it was a decade...she has no complaints about the decade, but doesn't actively try to relive it. Actually, she seems to have been fine with most of the decades she has lived through (though oddly, she prefers the 90s over the 80s, which is unexpected!)

[Asperuaca]

@DinahoftheRailroad I guess it would be a great time for a white person. Get real.

[Bluebelle9289]

@DinahoftheRailroad

It was wonderful if you liked legalized domestic violence and glorified racism and sexism.

[brownies4you]

@DinahoftheRailroad It's now considered "politically incorrect" to enjoy different aspects of the 1950s...pretty soon the mass media will try to make American senior citizens feel guilty for their private good memories of that decade or for young people for enjoying 1950s music, cars, clothes etc. Pathetic, huh?

[mmclean007]

THE GUY AT THE END WAS TONY MARTIN;A POPULAR SINGER OF THE ERA

[MattTheSaiyan]

@mmclean007 and amazingly, he's still alive.

[ShinbiBelldandy]

I miss old commercials with music & fun! Even if the product wasnt something I could use, the commercial would make me want to buy it!!

[Sheri451]

Oh Yeah! Bobbi curls! I bet it stank to high heaven too. Ha Ha, everytime I go to get a hair cut, old women are always getting a perm.Why do old ladies like perms?

[Brianeddie666]

@Sheri451 Because they look a HECK of alot better than with strait hair!

[ginasurin]

Women were allowed to drive back then?

[MattTheSaiyan]

@ginasurin In the United States, yes.

[c64c64c64]

well, if you look closely, she doesnt actually drive..and the "husband" pretty much gives her the look, as if to say "get out of the car bitch...your the passenger"

[tracytcb111111111111]

@ginasurin with husbans permission of corse dont forget our role was to look good for husban do house work in high heels be at husbans every beck and call and dont forget raise the kids

[MattTheSaiyan]

@tracytcb111111111111 Even in the 1950s, many women started to reconsider what "women's roles" in life were. Not every body lived the same, even back then.

[ferociousgumby]

I have a couple of questions: what's "tight" and "kinky" supposed to mean? Anything subliminal going on? And what about "a new body" and "in to stay"?

[fromthesidelines]

The Toni Company manufactured "Bobbi"; they also sold "Toni" and "Prom" Home Permanent as well...

[iAmTheSpaceGirl]

would someone please give me a time machine i want to live on the 50's

[c64c64c64]

@iAmTheSpaceGirl so do I :)

even the outward sexism and racism is nicer then

[rollipolioli]

i cant believe people actually had that hair... its fkn weird

[ShitFromShinolla]

Wow that was some doo on that gal. I wanna do that doo on my dog's head. She's a long haired Collie.

[MillBelater]

1. Put car in gear. 2. look in purse. 3 Keys? 4. Fail.

[KerChoo]

Someone needs to make a hair tutorial for that girls hair!

[digitalbots]

that guy looked mad

[MattTheSaiyan]

You mean the guy at the end? He was doing a commercial for a hair-care product and he was a famous pop singer .l hence why he was mad.

[jaguarjaguarjaguarja]

If I get married, I really want my wife to have that hairstyle.

[AngieeBabyy81]

Woah I had no idea I commented this four months ago lmfao.

[ftsjr]

I wonder if Tony Martin was embarrassed to sing that jingle. I'm sure I would have been.

[jenzeppelin]

@ftsjr It probably would have been more befitting for a woman to sing the word "feminine" like that.

[melbournaut]

soft naturel wave thats here to stay. Prediction fail

[AngieeBabyy81]

Wow, the commericals back then actually had original songs.

[JudgeJulieLit]

@AngieeBabyy81 Yes. . .like "You can always tell a Ha-lo [shampoo] Girl -- You can tell, by the shine of her haair !" And "You'll won-der where, the yel-low went / When you brush your teeth with Pepsodent!" And deodorant soap:) "She likes people, People like her; And people / Who like people like Dial!" (candy:) "Good And Plenty goes a long, long way -- If you have one head, it lasts all day!"

[JudgeJulieLit]

@AngieeBabyy81 (cont., 1950s commercials' original songs:) Correction . . . that last jingle was for a taffy, "Bit O'Honey." And (amusement park:) "Mommy and Daddy, take my hand, Take me down to FreedomLand; $2.98 is all you pay, for FreedomLand all day!" And (before alcohol tv ads were banned, this genial l waltz:) "My beer is Rheingold, the dry beer; /Think of Rheingold whenever you try beer!" It's not bitter, not sweet, extra dry, What a treat -- Which is why you should try Rheingold beer!"

[Juliaflo]

@JudgeJulieLit Shut the Front Door! Thank you for paying homage to all of my favorite jingles. They bring back the finest memories.

Don't try to figure out my age, LOLOLOLOL.

[movielover1954]

Just noticed the model is Sally Fraser from the late fifties films "Giant From The Unknown," "It Conquered The World," "Earth Vs. The Spider," of course here in 1954 her hair looks less blond.

[goshnessmaggy]

ok i need to buy those, xD i can't seem to get my hair that way it just stays straight

[ladydreamer08]

wow watching this commercial really wants to make me buy it 80's and 90's commercials where so much better and right to the point and now they over do it with all this tech stuff and everything has to be so sexual

[TheDellanator]

@ladydreamer08 Last thing you said was stupid. Most commercials these days are NOT sexual at all unless its selling a sex product. Most adds arn't sexual what so ever. The only difference in commercial wise was that the 50's had commercials that would make you want to buy it. Nowadays they're not so influencing

[ArtyomLastLight]

@TheDellanator

The commercials are promoting an ideal. That is, if you buy this product you'll look beautiful, successful, intelligent. Although our standards of beauty have radically shifted you can still see that the people in these commercials are not bad looking people.

[fromthesidelines]

That's Tony Martin delivering a jingle for "Bobbi" at the end, as his weekly 15 minute musical interlude {airing at 7:30pm(et), just before John Cameron Swayze's "CAMEL NEWS CARAVAN" on NBC Monday nights} was sponsored by the makers of "Bobbi" home permanent...

[apachette07]

This makes me want to get a Bobbi!

[lizztheshizz1994]

same here! is that why they call bobby pins bobby pins? am i even spelling it right??? i love the fifties...

[PearlRoads]

Gosh, I wish I lived in those time. *sigh* (But, I'm glad I'm around now :))