Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Milton The Toaster

Who remembers the good old days
when Kellogg's Pop-Tarts had Milton the Toaster
as a pitchman?
watch the commercial here  and  here
I loved the idea that my toaster could talk to me 
and tell me how great Pop-Tarts are.
Milton was voiced by the talented
and fatherly William Schallert
from 1969-1979.
Milton was just so lovable you could just hug him.
(One of the reasons he was 
eventually dropped as a character...
kids shouldn't hug hot toasters)
In his heyday Milton could do anything,
just look at his little promo puzzles.
and Paper Premiums that came 
in the Pop-Tart boxes.
He was a very active, outgoing toaster.
Oh how I wanted a Milton in my home.
I missed out on the 1980 Milton
plastic bank mail-in promo.
image from Todd Franklin's Neto Coolville
Probably because we never had many
Pop-Tarts in the house when I was growing up.
Or perhaps because of this slightly
scary ad set to run in the Sunday comics 
on May 18, 1980.

Fast forward to 2012
I was be-bopping around the Internet 
and came upon a site called
and spied this photo ....
It was my old friend Milton,
 as a ceramic cookie jar!!!!
How did I not know about this???
I wanted one post haste!
Frantic googling for more info led me to this...
Back in 2005 Kelloggstore.com
Celebrated Kellogg's 100th anniversary 
with a few collectibles and Milton 
was one of the offerings...
image source more info here
A Milton plate $7.95, a Milton mug $7.95, and 
a Milton cookie jar $16.95
That was several years ago and there is
very little hope that they will
ever restock, even though the site
still says "notify me when in stock".  
My only hope now was Ebay!
That brings us to this Valentine's Day,
a little belated, but Sam was able to find
a "buy it now" Milton Cookie Jar on Ebay
for $45.00 and $11.90 shipping!
She bought it for me right then!
SQUEEEE!
A little pricey yes, but, there's one on there now 
for $75 and $15.00 shipping.
My Milton now happily resides in the 
Ozark cookie jar collection.
He brings back memories of Saturday
morning cartoon watching.
See his Kellogg's 100th Anniversary sticker?
Here's a closeup of his logo.
And a shot of his underside.
It says it right there...He's Vintage! 
I'll bet now we'll be tempted to eat more Pop-Tarts.
He just won't shut up about them, and they
do look awful tasty popping out of his top!

If you're in the mood for some
Milton the Toaster collectibles
Kelloggstore.com was offering this nifty
distressed compact lunch box for just $12.95
Or you can keep an eye open on Ebay
for another Milton to pop up!

Thanks for stopping by
and happy hunting!

2 comments:

  1. That is soooo cute! I ate plenty of pop-tarts as a kid. My Mom was always like...here eat this...and lets go! We never even got to toast them. I love them though. I don't remember Milton. But I'm glad you found one. Its fun to buy the things you wanted as a kid now that you are an adult. I always wanted a Koolaide pitcher with the big smile.

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