Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Jack in the Box Revisited
This animated Jack in the Box commercial is from 1970. I just watched it for the first time in about 36 years.
While Jack in the Box's cartoon characters never gained the same traction as kiddie fast food icons like Ronald McDonald, I never could get that last frame of the Jack in the Box sign spinning around with birds chirping in the background out of my mind.
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5 comments:
Jack in the Box in the 1970s was exciting. The Jack-shaped drive-through ordering boxes (Old Jack, a scary evil clown to an impressionable elementary-school kid, as compared to the New Jack who I don't believe would scare anbyody). I didn't get taken to fast food places much because of my 70s, Hobbit Hole, homemade yogurt making, health-food mom, so it was doubly exciting. If I recall my 1970s urban legends, though, the wormburger scare of around 1976-77 had a particularly bad impact on Jack in the Box, such that by the early 80s they were in full swing, trying to reformulate themselves as something other than just a burger place. In fact, I can recall some funky, semi-formalish complete dinners, with a meat and two vegetable sides, that they offered for a few years around 81-83. Ultimately, though, they never changed the most important feature -- the deep-fried, dogfood tacos, which I still love. Sadly, there are no Jacks in my corner of North Carolina.
Terence
It didn't help that JITB was owned by Ralston-Purina for several years in the Seventies. They even had Ralston's "checkerboard" logo on the lower right corner of the french fry wrappers.
I remember those dinners. I think they were called "Dinner in a Box." They came with an entree such as chicken strips or popcorn shrimp and were accompanied by wedge fries, garlic toast and a pathetic salad. I also remember "Frings," which gave diners french fries and onion rings in the same bag. I wish they'd bring that back.
Dude. Once again, your rarified level of American junk food trivia makes me feel so inadequate. I truly bow before your example, knowing that it was hard-won knowledge on the battlefield of Pancho's.
Terence
Ah, how I loved 'Dinner in a Box' from Jack in the Box! Other than the chicken strips and shrimp that Greg mentioned, the third offering was a strip steak, which was my favorite. The dinner in a box was served in a rectangular cardboard box, which (in the case of the steak meal) had the little four ounce steak sitting on a piece of buttered and grilled garlic bread, with another piece beside (presumably so you could eat it like a sandwich). The wedge cut fries were nice and thick, with the skin on, and the salad was served in a small styrofoam container with a plastic lid...basically lettuce, a few carrot shreds and cheese. But the meals were a 'dipper's delight' in that they were served with plenty of sauces. Ketchup for the fries, a selection of salad dressings for the little salad, and steak sauce for the steak. I always loved how after I got the meal home, the 'juice' from the steak had drizzled into the garlic toast that it sat on, giving the piece of bread a wonderful flavor. Truly miss this little treat.
Chris
Yes dinner in a box was great! I wish they would bring it back. I would pay 8 or 9 dollars for it now. True about the sauces too - they made it great.
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