Visit the IIIF page to learn more. And so he says, 'Ok fine. If I tell everybody some fictitious story about you know, Chicken Little, right now to you, they might know it in Madera by 2 o'clock. I don't like raisins. SW: The raisins dance around on the lid of his grand piano while he belts out the band's catchphrase: AD SIX: Oh I heard it through the grapevine! It had sold more than 500,000 copies. Characters Steve and Roger go into a mall representing 1980s culture where they meet the Raisins who proclaim that they are "cursed to live forever. Price: 16.01. Thanks to everyone who left us voicemails and shared their memories of the California Raisins in our Facebook group. Photos not available for this variation. SW: That's another thing that makes the raisin industry different. SW: Remember, these were Fresno guys, not big city ad men. WERNER: 'Our thanks again on behalf of Paul McCartney. If you have any issues please contact me before leaving negative response I will always do my best make it right! I Heard It Through The Grapevine - California Raisins. From Performing Songwriter Issue 111, July/Aug 2008. November 12, 1986 SW: You guys, it's from Paul McCartney's manager. Lots of brands tested the limits of this rule, including Sunmaid: BK: I got permission from the manager to create a claymation ad where I had the Dancing Raisins singing to the Sunmaid girl. WERNER: So I just went to him one day and said 'can I have something of my own to work on? A series of weather-related disasters during the '70s had thrown the price of raisins completely out of whack. And they were hearing from those ingredient customers that they had an issue with the ads: BK: Some large customers felt they were paying for it. SW: So are the California Raisins coming back, do you thinkthe Dancing California Raisins? SW: In the end, the ad went to air. They weren't in the shelf. THE THROWBACK MACHINE: Going for the gold, but coming up blonde. But that wasn't the story around town. SW: He just turned 82, and for the last few decades, he's been privy to almost every dispute in raisin land, and lots of them have landed on his desk. TikTok video from Shug (@sonyastanford2). 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. BK: If you're one of the largest ingredient buyers for bread or cereal or something, then really you're paying for it, right? [1] The California Raisins were popular in the mid-to-late 1980s through claymation TV commercials and animated specials, winning an Emmy Award and one nomination.[2][3]. Although Vinton made one last Claymation TV movie about the Raisins in 1990, the end of the '80s brought a decline in the Raisinss popularity. HO: Well there's there's definitely 12:02 some discussion about that I mean in its infancy right now. HO: Oh, there's definitely hope. AD ONE: Lay some happiness on me, give me raisins and I'll be. Javascript is required to view shouts on this page. They all want to have them back [sigh] I don't know if it's just because they love the dancing raisins, or I think more than that, is they just want a powerful campaign, you know, backing up California raisins. RAISINS SHOW: You might have heard about us through the old grapevine. But how did a bunch of dried grapes, burdened with the reputationof being a mediocre, boring snack, become synonymous with swagger? The ad was fun, but, to quote The Fruits of Their Labors again, it "made no effort to sell raisins. In 2010, claymation versions of the California Raisins were featured in the special Christmas episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "A Very Sunny Christmas". Web. CH: We're back. These days, some growers are abandoning ship entirely, ripping out their vineyards and planting almonds instead. I heard it through the grapevine. Born in 1987, Birthplace: Television, Best Known As: Fruity TV advertising stars of the 1980s. There was 19 of us at Sunnyside country club sitting in a circle in the main dining room, and we all voted. They filed a petition, and that's it! So, growers and packers paid a tax on every ton of raisins they produced. CH: We're back. Hey. My girl!BK: Yeeeeah the marketing guys at Del Monte filed a complaint with the Department of Food and Agriculture over it. KB: I'll never forget, he was a handsome guy, had white shoes on, no socks, had an earring in this ear, he had the ghetto blaster up on his shoulders, and he turns it on and it's "Heard It Through the Grapevine.". WERNER: 'Dear NBC, After weeks of trying to find out who to congratulate on a recent national ad, I came up with nothing. Playlist, Written by: Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, Lyrics Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Tratore. But as that money flowed back into CALRAB's coffers, the disagreements became more serious. You don't, right? If you have a question relating to the museum's collections, please first check our Collections FAQ. Between 12th and 14th Streets While the songs popularized the phrase, they inspired the hit kids cartoon series "The California Raisins" in the 1990s. Packers sort the raisins by size, rinse out sand and dirt, control for quality, and pack them all up in boxes. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 30 of those and you have a second of the commercial. BARRY KRIEBEL: Well that's the problem with the advertising! And, when it went down, so did the Dancing California Raisins. If you have more stories to share, call us anytime. In The Simpsons episode "'Tis the Fifteenth Season", The California Raisins were spoofed as The California Prunes, on a special entitled Christmas with the California Prunes. I mean, you can imagine that! They all watched as Seth walked in and took the floor. I Heard It Through the Grapevine features a clip the movie The Big Chill where a group of teenagers in a library who are listening to the song through headphones which leads them to dance . The Raisins released numerous studio albums in the 1980s, starred in a cartoon series, and were nominated for an Emmy for their 1988 "Meet the Raisins" mockumentary. Eligibility determined at checkout. MM: Obviously raisin growers and packers, they compete with each other. Okay? [4] To their surprise, the commercial became wildly popular, paving the way for several future commercials and opportunities through other media. Watch the video for I Heard It Through the Grapevine from California Raisins's Sing The Hit Songs for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. Like, growing up, we had this little figurine in our doll house, and my parents dressed up as them one year for Halloween. But back in 1994, almost ten years after the first dancing raisins ad aired, that good feeling was nowhere to be found. in 1988. Strong came up with the idea and asked Motown writers Holland-Dozier-Holland to work on it with him. CALRAB, the organization who made the campaign, was also closed on July 31, 1994, due to disagreements with raisin producers over the fairness of required payments to the organization. And he made it very clear to me right off the bat that no one, him included, would be interested in talking about the New York Times story I'd read. Sales of raisins themselves increased 20 percent after the first commercial. To make sense of that storyto understand where the dancing raisins came from, and how they disappearedeveryone told me I needed to talk to this guy. RV: I think within 4-5 months it was platinum! Between 12th and 14th Streets Most of the time when we buy raisins, we have no idea where they came from. SW: Let me explain. It also gave the band members individual names and roles: A.C. (vocals), Beebop (drums), Stretch (bass), and Red (guitar/piano).[7]. Will Vinton. WERNER: We went there because we had to meet the growers, and so we would drive, what was it, an hour, 90 minutes to Fresno from San Francisco, and the account people were all nervous on the way there like 'what are we going to do?'. America's favorite raisin. Post's Raisin Bran cereal took advantage of the increasingly popular dried fruit and teamed up with the Raisins to help promote their boxed cereal, and fast food chain Hardees bought a license to produce the incredibly popular collectible Raisins figurines. SW: Before long, a claymation Ray Charles joined the bunch. Right or wrong, It depends on wherever the votes are. The face took up most of the raisin's body MB: And then there was little wrinkles here and there, but the more you emphasize that, the more it looked, you know, kind of like a weird prune. With lead vocals by former Jimi Hendrix and Electric Flag drummer Buddy Miles, the Raisins put out two platinum albums, and spun out a Michael Jackson soundalike ad as well as a spot voiced by the real Ray Charles. They needed to be the life of the snack bar. Jackson, who agreed to do his commercial for free (and on the condition that he only work with Vinton, who he knew from their Captain EO project with Disney), helped create his own Claymation raisin with his signature single white glove, fedora, and pelvic-thrusting dance moves. SW: When the Dancing Raisins ad stopped airing, Sunmaid's share of direct raisin saleslike in boxes on grocery store shelvesactually increased. Potato head, but a raisin. It lost message. It's hurting from some bad weather trends. KB: Heard it through the grapevine! Costume, Occasion & Specialized Clothing, Shoes & Accessories, Mobile Phones, Smart Watches, Accessories & Communication, Bathroom Fixtures, Accessories & Supplies, Industrial Printing & Graphic Arts Equipment, Shaving & Hair Removal Products & Equipment, The California Raisi - I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Used Vinyl - E8100A, eBay (UK) Limited is an appointed representative of, Learn more about Product Partnerships Limited - opens in a new window or tab. SW: This is what raisin packing sounds like. They have two big jobs. And then I remember hearing like the Marvin Gaye version of that, and I was like 'why is he doing a California Raisins song?' Jun 1, 2013 - Explore The Goodwill Geek's board "Heard it Through the Grapevine.", followed by 362 people on Pinterest. Start the wiki. In 2015, it was announced that a live-action/CGI reboot of the California Raisins would be produced, with president of The Actors Hall of Fame Foundation, Rusty Citron, as one of the people behind the project. CH: This episode was reported and produced by Sarah Wyman, with Julia Press and me, Charlie Herman. But, that's not where this story ends. We may update this record based on further research and review. MM: At every industry meeting I go to, it seems like someone's asking, some raisin grower's asking 'are you ever going to bring the raisin, dancing raisins back?' Check mate. Is it that people remember it? Because that's a whole market supply and demand on both the national and international basis. The comedy podcast Felix Navipod features discussion of the California Raisins on all 166 episodes of its run. California Raisins poster vintage 1987 Heard it Through The Grapevine. et Cie, S.C.A. And call them nature's candy. And then they called me and they said, 'you know what it's platinum in Canada too!' A sequel to the original CBS special aired in 1990 under the title The Raisins: Sold Out! The show would have animated raisins acting as rockstars, and the song, "I heard it through the grapevine," was the California Raisins number-one single. Almost like you can hear the band warming up "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" in the distance. They were the California Raisins. ', SW: Barry Kriebel was president of Sunmaid at the time. [6] However, the Raisins would continue to make their strongest impression through animated endeavors, and the characters proved popular enough that they were used to endorse Post Raisin Bran cereal. MM: We have to work together because we're competing against great forces worldwide for raisin production. Will Vinton told Seth the hardest part was getting his nose right. KB: Vine doesn't know who it belongs to. Little disagreements surfaced. BK: You gotta have consensus. Vintage California Raisins Posable, Puppets, Bank, Wind up toy. I mean, we didn't do anything short of that. Everyone is hungering for unity again, they just have to find something to unify around. So, CALRAB proposed this big advertising campaign, with national TV commercials. Or did the dancing California raisins cause more trouble than they were worth? [20], In 2016, the California Raisins made an appearance in the cartoon show American Dad. [16], In 2002, the Food Network program Unwrapped featured a segment on The California Raisins featuring interviews with Will Vinton, David Altschul, and Mark Gustafson of Vinton Studios. KB: Raisin processor for many years in different facilities. But of course, that was not really the end of it. Very serious-like. SW: Back in Fresno, the raisin growers and packers watched with amazement as the Dancing Raisins turned into superstars. McCartney. But thanks to the California Raisins, its now commonplace to see ads that include anthropomorphized food or candy. Oh, that's sweet. So when his friends were like WERNER: 'What are you gonna do with that? 1 Mar. He writes: "The thirty seconds of this commercial seemed like an eternity. SW: His boss had him working mostly on trade adsstuff for industry publications not the kind of campaigns you or I would ever see in a commercial or on a billboard. I heard it through the grapevine Not much longer would you be mine baby I know a man ain't supposed to cry But these tears I can't hold inside Losin' you would end my life you see 'Cause you mean that much to me You could have told me yourself That you loved some one else Instead I heard it through the grapevine Not much longer would you be mine The California Raisins were a fictional R&B group created in the mid-1980s for a commercial produced by the California Raisin Advisory. SPEAKER THREE: The one song I remember them doing all the time was "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" To the point where I was a kid and I hadn't, I don't think it really clicked to me that that was like a real song. If you have a question relating to the museum's collections, please first check our Collections FAQ. The California Dancing Raisins ad has been called one of the best of all time. Or, as they saw it, for Sunmaid's good. It wasn't at The Fillmore in San Francisco or the Troubadour in LA. SW: Between 1986 and 1992, the Dancing Raisins raked in more than 7 million dollars in licensing fees. RV: I said, 'I think that's a great idea.' The California Raisins were the product of an exacerbated ad team, a few broken rules, and the execution of a fascinating visual art form. SW: The ad agency hired a guy named Will Vinton and his team to take the animated mockup of the ad and turn it into clay animationor, claymation. Vocals were sung by musician Buddy Miles. RAISINS: Oooh I heard it through the grapevine, raised in the California sunshine. California RaisinsSing The Hit Songs 1987 Priority Records, LLCReleased on: 1987-01-01Associated Performer, Background Vocalist: Howard SmithAssociated Performer, Background Vocalist: Leslie SmithAssociated Performer, Background Vocalist: Howard MccraryAssociated Performer, Keyboards, Synthesizer, Co- Arranger: Ed GrengaAssociated Performer, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar: Pat KellyAssociated Performer, Bass Guitar: Dave MarottaAssociated Performer, Drums, Percussion: David StefanelliAssociated Performer, Saxophones: David WoodfordProducer, Associated Performer, Co- Arranger: Ross VannelliAssociated Performer, Vocalist: Buddy MilesComposer Lyricist: Barrett StrongComposer Lyricist: Norman WhitfieldAuto-generated by YouTube. Artist. Like, who was allowed to borrow the actual dancing raisins costume CALRAB had? SW: Almost as soon as it disbanded CALRAB, the raisin industry got to work developing another agency to take its place. 16:20 How do you distinguish your raisin bagel from my field to your field? The briefthe goal of the campaignwas to come up with a commercial that would make customers see raisins differently. SW: Paul. Required fields are marked *. The California Raisins are often accompanied by a soundtrack of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," originally popularized by singer Marvin Gaye. They grow grapes in the beautiful California sunshine and turn them into raisins. "Picture cover". I treat my vines as if they were my children. Almost across the board, everyone I spoke to had good things to say about the ad itself. SW: Seth has a whole scrapbook of these letters. But he told me something else too, something he says a lot of reporters like mewho fly into Fresno from the big city to cover the dramaoften miss: MM: We're all families here and so, everybody's really close, everybody knows each other, I mean, a lot of them are related to each other, they marry in, and so they're very tight SW: And that big family, with lots of opinions, is where some of that drama comes from. You know, what kind of legs does he have so he could do a dance appropriately, does he have oversized shoes, you know, what do they look like? As of the 2010s, packages of Sun-Maid Natural California Raisins still feature an updated California Raisin character. I Heard It Through the Grapevine. First aired on September 14, 1986, Werner's idea for a 30-second television commercial introduced audiences to The California Raisins, a group of anthropomorphized raisins with expressive. Deathly silence filled the Board room for what was probably only another thirty seconds, but seemed much longer. The California Raisins released four studio albums in 1987 and 1988, and their trademark, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," was on the Billboard Hot 100. Entdecke The California Raisi - I Heard It Through The Grapevine - gebrauchtes Vinyl - E8100A in groer Auswahl Vergleichen Angebote und Preise Online kaufen bei eBay Kostenlose Lieferung fr viele Artikel! (of Suite D2 Josephs Well, Hanover Walk, Leeds LS3 1AB) which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (with firm reference number 626349). But that little piece of fruit is anything but dry and boring. It would go on to produce the Dancing Raisins ad. He just wanted to make an ad he thought was cool. Bill Moss is our sound engineer. It's that simple. And maybe some people are pessimistic about it, I don't know, maybe people are tired of just the lack of unity. It taxed both growers and packers. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. DH: And it turns out, the dancing raisins were especially popular with moms! This is Brought to you by Brands you know, stories you don't. SPEAKER ONE: Like obviously, they're raisins, but it just didn't occur to me that like this was a tool to get you to eat like what you see in boxes of raisins. Then in 1989, a 13-episode Saturday Morning Cartoon show calledThe California Raisin Show aired. You're making us put up $32.50 for generic advertising, and Sunmaid's getting the benefit of it. The California Raisins were a fictional R&B group created in the mid-1980s for a commercial produced by the California Raisin Advisory. Our editor is Micaela Blei. The California Raisins, Michael Jackson, and more Creedence Clearwater Revival - I Heard It Through The Grapevine (Official Music Video) Creedence Clearwater Revival 36M views some 80s music. [5] The following year, the Raisins appeared in the Emmy Award-winning A Claymation Christmas Celebration, singing the Christmas carol "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". Today, it would go viral. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it. The California Raisins released four studio albums on Priority Records, BMG, and ZTT Records between 1987 to 1994, and their signature song, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", landed on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 84 or 85. If they were worth was 19 of us at Sunnyside country club sitting in a circle in cartoon... Troubadour in LA group created in the California raisin show aired that good feeling nowhere. Went down, so did the Dancing Raisins were especially popular with moms and when! Up toy an appearance in the California Raisins where this story ends from my field to your field gold but... Raisin processor for many years in different facilities Dancing Raisins ad to produce the Dancing Raisins. 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