The Buckets by Greg Cravens for September 27, 2020

I like PB. I eat a lot of it. But none of the commercial brands, nor most of the store brands. They add sugar. Why? To appeal to kids merely because it’s extra sweet, and get them hooked on it.

Go for the 100% peanuts stuff, with no hydrogenated fats. It’s actually nutritionally healthy.

But it’s interesting to learn the back-story to the name. I had a good friend around 5-7 grades who went by the nickname “Skippy.” So I’ve always associated the brand with him, or someone else with that moniker.

Skippy was a youthful sailor that after achieving his Captaincy rating mistakenly hired Gilligan to help crew his boat. Both later vanished while taking passengers on a 3-hour sightseeing cruise.

Then there’s JIF brand. Originally called GIF, nobody was sure how to pronounce it so they changed the name. It’s TRUE! You can look it up!

[snerk]

And so it begins . .

The Skippy comic strip from 1933 is here on GoComics, if you weren’t already aware. And if you lookup “Skippy trademark war” you’ll find the interesting history about the author’s battle with Skippy peanut butter. Google the author, Percy Crosby, for his interesting but sad life story.

Thanks Greg for helping publicize the Skippy comic. It needs more viewers.

We’ll switch in a Jif.

JIF is not named after GIF and people don’t argue about the pronunciation.

I don’t know who made it but I will say the C Ration can of peanut butter was very good tasting. It was simply marked Peanut Butter…..with the Grape Jelly squeeze pack and the original canned crackers I felt like I was home…..just with live mortar rounds, bullets, and the smell of unwashed masses huddled about a dim light bulb. The best of times the worse of times…..doesn’t matter the brand….peanut butter good….unless you are allergic!xD

… I thought of trying to work ‘Buster Brown’ shoes into the gag somehow, but after kicking this thing around for years, it’s all about the peanut butter characters. Plus, I don’t personally know anyone who remembers ‘Buster Brown’ shoes any more, and I have to go to cartoonists conventions to find anyone who cares that there was a ‘Buster Brown’ comic strip the shoes were named for.

Annette Funicello advertised for Skippy so it always was, and still is, my favorite. At that time Skippy had less sugar than Peter Pan and that was her selling point.

I know Skippy sells well, at least in our store

Ive only been back to stocking on the grocery side of the store a few months, but I’ve seen more Skippy come through than any other 2 brands combined

To save you looking it up

Skippy was an American comic strip written and drawn by Percy Crosby that was published from 1923 to 1945. A highly popular, acclaimed and influential feature about rambunctious fifth-grader Skippy Skinner, his friends and his enemies, it was adapted into movies, a novel and a radio show. It was commemorated on a 1997 U.S. Postal Service stamp and was the basis for a wide range of merchandising that includes Skippy peanut butter.

Skippy is the best peanut butter. I like the Super Chunk!

There are three ways to get old-fashioned peanut butter off the roof of your mouth…..One of the greatest commercials ever.

Since Peter Pan originated in a play by James M. Barrie so he’s actually more of a dramatic character. Barrie was also an author of “My Lady Nicotina”, an homage to the genteel art of pipe smoking.

If “Buster Brown” (and his dog Tige) remind you of peanut butter, you have a worse problem than cartooning :)…

Publix makes peanut butter in the stores here. It’s quite good but varies a bit from store to store.