57

by

So Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion, the 1955 Charlton comic book adaptation of the television show:


…had both a regular newsstand edition and a “Heinz Foods Premium” edition, which featured the Heinz emblem on the certificate on the back cover:


…and had a listing of the 57 varieties of Heinz products on the inside back cover:


Heinz was a sponsor of the TV show, hence this tie-in comic, though I couldn’t find any video or images of Buster Crabbe juggling bottles of Heinz whilst espousing their fine qualities.
 
 
 
 

images from this eBay auction — also, a happy day to my birthday brother pal Andrew

19 thoughts on “57”

  1. What kid didn’t think about joining the Foreign Legion?

    Heinz was one of the two famous migrants from my home region of Palatinate in Germany, the other one we are not so proud of.

    That dehydrated horse radish sounds tempting.

  2. 1. Happy birthday, Mike! And many more!

    2. Wow. They really did not understand advertising in 1955, did they? A complete list of “those good 57 varieties” is not exactly compelling storytelling. I guess that’s what Mad Men is about.

  4. Three things stick out to me:

    1.They really DID have 57 varieties, growing up in the 70’s-80’s I only saw the ketchup, mustard, pickles, relish, and of course the 57 sauce.

    2. As someone who became a vegetarian in the mid-90’s and has seen plant based alternatives become popular beyond my wildest expectations, I’m amazed and heartened that they offered vegetarian soup in 1955. Good on them!

    3. That second photo of the Captain looks like he’s suffering from “Liefeld’s disease” because of all the lines on his face. Was he in fact a revivified mummy?

  5. Oh and happy birthday Mike and Andrew!

    It’s our 22’nd wedding anniversary. The occasional Friday the 13th always makes it a little more interesting.

    Cheers!

  7. LouReedRichards: Even when they started using that slogan, Heniz already sold over 60 products. They supposedly just picked that number because the owner liked it.

  10. Heinz has never had 57 varieties.

    57 wsa HJ Heinz’s favorite number.

    “But there’s a list right here of 57 varieties!”

    Look at #27: Heinz Ready-to-Serve Soups. Do you think they had just one variety of such soups? Of course not, if that were the case, it would be “soup”, singular. 45 and 46 are similar. They manipulated the list so that it would come to 57. 57 was a goal, not a count.

  11. Matthew Murray: Thanks for the info. That helps explain the randomness of “57.”

    Nat Gertler: I’m offended that you think advertisers would manipulate the truth just to sell products!
    I’m not sure “meats” and “desserts” are all that similar, but hey, you do you.

    Now excuse me while I go have a nice bowl of tasty Singular soup.

  14. “Meats” and “desserts” being similar utterly destroys Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall (past two)”.

  15. Happy Birthday!

    “3. That second photo of the Captain looks like he’s suffering from “Liefeld’s disease” because of all the lines on his face. Was he in fact a revivified mummy?”

    Probably all that sun exposure,

  16. Mike is obviously sending us a secret message: 57 is his “inflated” birthday age; his true age is actually the real number of Heinz products.

    But earlier comments about Heinz actually having 60 products is deeply worrying. Perhaps he should post a copy of his birth certificate? Was Mike actually born in Kenya, which would explain the captain Gallant reference.

  17. Happy 57 plus 1 on Pi Day.

    My Dad’s family lived in Kentucky. Growing up, at what amounted to the general store, I was surprised a shelf of Heinz products. One of the bottle had what looked like spices. It was “fly powder”. At BBQs, you’d sprinkle it on your food and flies wouldn’t come near it.

    Now can we talk about Ronco’s Steam-Away?

  18. Happy birthday, Mike! I was going to celebrate with processed dill pickles, but I think I’ll splurge and get some genuine dill pickles just this once.

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