The California Raisins

Last updated

The California Raisins
California Raisin claymation.jpg
First appearanceJune 19, 1986
Last appearanceJuly 31, 2002
Created by California Raisin Advisory Board Foote, Cone & Belding
In-universe information
AliasThe Singin' Dancin' California Raisins
NicknameThe Vine-Yls ( Meet the Raisins! )
NationalityAmerican

The California Raisins were a fictional rhythm and blues animated musical group as well as advertising and merchandising characters composed of anthropomorphized raisins. Lead vocals were sung by musician Buddy Miles. [1] The California Raisins were popular from 1986 to 2002 through claymation TV commercials and animated specials, winning an Emmy Award and one nomination. [2] [3]

Contents

History

The concept was originally created by advertising firm Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB) for a 1986 Sun-Maid commercial on behalf of the California Raisin Advisory Board when one of the writers, Seth Werner (at the time with FCB in San Francisco) came up with an idea for the new raisin commercial, saying, "We have tried everything but dancing raisins singing 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine'" (the 1968 song popularized separately by Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight and the Pips and Creedence Clearwater Revival). [4] To their surprise, the commercial became wildly popular, paving the way for several future commercials and opportunities through other media. The commercials were produced by Vinton Studios using their claymation technique, with character designs by Michael Brunsfeld. [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".

The California Raisins released four studio albums on Warner Bros. Records, Priority Records, BMG, and ZTT Records between 1987 and 2002, and their signature song, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", landed on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 84. [6] For three of the four albums the group issued, they were a consistent vocal group, with Buddy Miles handling most of the lead vocals; Ellis Hall and Niki Haris sang occasional leads, and backing vocals were by Howard McCrary, Howard Smith, and Leslie Smith. (One album, Meet The Raisins!, featured completely different vocal performers.) 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.

On November 4, 1988, CBS aired a primetime television special called Meet the Raisins! The musical mockumentary was again created by Vinton Studios, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. It also gave the band members individual names and roles: A.C. (vocals), Beebop (drums), Stretch (bass), and Red (guitar/piano). [7]

A Saturday morning cartoon series, The California Raisin Show , debuted the following year, but lasted only 13 episodes. [8] While cel animated by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, it maintained Will Vinton's creative direction. A sequel to the original CBS special aired in 1990 under the title The Raisins: Sold Out! - The California Raisins II. This special saw the Raisins hiring a new manager with the goal of making a comeback before The California Raisins 2000.

The Raisins were discontinued July 31, 2002, with the collapse of the California Raisin Advisory Board; members of the grape farming industry were growing alarmed at the increased fees, driven by an ever-escalating amount of money being spent on the California Raisins campaign. [9] [10] The structure of the campaign had resulted in all of the profits from the campaign being funneled back to Foote, Cone & Belding for more commercials and merchandise, creating a vicious cycle. [4]

Merchandise

Many of the items created for the campaign have become part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Merchandise sales included toys and Raisins images on nearly every conceivable medium: lunch boxes, notebooks, clothing, posters, bedsheets, and even a Halloween costume, just to name a few. A California Raisins Fan Club began in 1987, which included a Grapevine Gazette newsletter and various memorabilia. [11] Blackthorne Publishing also released a six-issue comic book series entitled The California Raisins 3-D which included 3D glasses; these would later be re-released in the Ultimate Collection trade paperback.

Several California Raisins music albums were also released, featuring classic Motown and rock standards. These albums were included in the Smithsonian collection and were illustrated and art-directed by Helane Freeman, who later became famous for her work on Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody , among other Disney programs.

Perhaps the most memorable piece of California Raisins merchandise, however, came in the form of small, non-poseable California Raisins figures. The Hardee's restaurant chain offered these as part of a promotion for its Cinnamon 'N' Raisin biscuits. [12] Different collections were produced in 1987, 1988, 1991, and finally in 2001 (the latter adding Carl's Jr. due to their late '90s acquisition of Hardee's) for their new stylization. This latest incarnation can still be seen on the California Raisin Marketing Board website. [13]

In the early 1990s, Capcom produced a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) titled The California Raisins: The Grape Escape , [14] in which the player controlled a California Raisin through five side-scrolling levels battling various evil fruit and vegetable characters that have stolen the Raisins' music. The game was completed and several video game critics reviewed it, but it was never released on the open market.

Box Office Software produced a different, unrelated California Raisins computer game in 1988 for the Apple II, Commodore 64, and PC compatibles. The plot of the game involved Tiny Goodbite having to rescue his friends who have been kidnapped and held in a cereal factory. [15]

Post-popularity and legacy

On March 28, 1997 Entertainment Weekly published "The 50 Best Commercials of All Time" as its cover story. The article ranked The California Raisins' premiere advertisement, "Lunchbox", at #15 with comments by ad agency executive Claude Jacques and described the Raisins as "The coolest wrinkled musicians this side of the Stones." [16]

The vast amount of California Raisins merchandise has made for a substantial collectors' market. It even led to an unauthorized collectibles guide published in 1998, cataloging the many items based on the clay characters. [17]

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. Concept illustrations of the Raisins were also featured as interviewees discussed the characters' creation. [18]

An article published by AnimateClay.com in the late 2000s details the whereabouts of the original claymation sculptures used by Vinton Studios. The figures were kept in a box for several years and headed for the trash before being obtained by Webster Colcord, a former employee of Vinton. Several photos were taken providing a close look at the Raisins' internal armatures and detailing their extremely poor condition, including the absence of the A.C. puppet's head. [19]

As of the 2010s, packages of Sun-Maid Natural California Raisins still feature an updated California Raisin character. This figure is also included on CalRaisins.org.

In 2014, new commercials were made and used in Japan featuring an updated California Raisin character. As of 2024 these commercials are still being produced and aired. [20] [21]

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. [22]

Discography

Albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stop motion</span> Animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own

Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames is played back. Any kind of object can thus be animated, but puppets with movable joints or plasticine figures are most commonly used. Puppets, models or clay figures built around an armature are used in model animation. Stop motion with live actors is often referred to as pixilation. Stop motion of flat materials such as paper, fabrics or photographs is usually called cutout animation.

Aardman Animations Limited is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England. It is known for films and television series made using stop-motion and clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring its plasticine characters from Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, and Morph. After some experimental computer-animated short films during the late 1990s, beginning with Owzat (1997), Aardman entered the computer animation market with Flushed Away (2006). As of February 2020, it had earned $1.1 billion worldwide, with an average $135.6 million per film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Will Vinton</span> American animator (1947-2018)

William Gale Vinton was an American animator and filmmaker. Vinton was best known for his Claymation work, alongside creating iconic characters such as The California Raisins. He won an Oscar for his work alongside several Emmy Awards and Clio Awards for his studio's work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alvin and the Chipmunks</span> Virtual band and media franchise

Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks and billed for their first two decades as the Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks named Alvin, Simon, and Theodore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claymation</span> Stop-motion animation made using malleable clay models

Claymation, sometimes called clay animation or plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay.

José Cuauhtémoc "Bill" Melendez was an American animator, director, producer, and voice actor. Melendez is known for working on the Peanuts animated specials, as well as providing the voices of Snoopy and Woodstock. Before Peanuts, he previously worked as an animator for Walt Disney Productions, Warner Bros. Cartoons, and UPA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warner Bros. Animation</span> American animation studio owned by Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios, a division of Warner Bros., which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery and serves as the animation division and label of Warner Bros.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Heard It Through the Grapevine</span> 1966 song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966. The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Whitfield for Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a single in September 1967. It went to number one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and number two on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and shortly became the biggest selling Motown single up to that time.

<i>A Claymation Christmas Celebration</i> 1987 American television Christmas special

Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas Celebration is an animated Christmas television special originally broadcast on the American CBS TV network on December 21, 1987. The special featured stop motion clay animation and was produced and directed by Will Vinton. The special debuted alongside A Garfield Christmas and the two continued to be aired back to back in subsequent years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jurassic Park (song)</span> 1993 song by "Weird Al" Yankovic

"Jurassic Park" is a parody of Richard Harris's version of Jimmy Webb's song "MacArthur Park", written and performed by "Weird Al" Yankovic; it was released both as a single and as part of Yankovic's Alapalooza album in October 1993. "Jurassic Park" was penned by Yankovic after he remembered the enjoyment he had when he combined a classic rock track with a recent movie theme with his 1985 song "Yoda". Yankovic decided to combine the plot of the recent movie Jurassic Park—a film about a park on a fictional island where geneticists have succeeded in cloning dinosaurs—with the classic Richard Harris track "MacArthur Park".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Chiodo Brothers</span> American puppeteers and special effects artists

The Chiodo Brothers are an American trio of sibling special effects artists, specializing in clay modeling, creature creation, stop motion and animatronics. Known for their film Killer Klowns from Outer Space and creating puppets and effects for films such as Critters, Ernest Scared Stupid, and Team America: World Police, the Chiodo brothers created the claymation sequence for the Large Marge scene from Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and the stop-motion elements in the North Pole scenes from Elf. They also created the mouse dioramas featured in the 2010 film Dinner for Schmucks, as well as the stop-motion Stone Age creatures in the Cup Noodles ads from the mid-90s and were puppeteers on The Thundermans. In addition, they produced a puppet segment for the episode of The Simpsons, "The Fight Before Christmas" (2010). The band Chiodos was originally named "The Chiodos Bros." after them, before modifying their title slightly.

The California Raisin Show is a 1989 American animated television series based on the claymation advertising characters The California Raisins. The show is based on the claymation special, Meet the Raisins!, which originally aired on CBS in 1988. After the show's 13-episode run, a sequel to the original special, Raisins: Sold Out!: The California Raisins II, aired in 1990.

Fantastic Animation Festival is a package film of animation segments, set mostly to music and released in theaters in 1977. It was one of the earliest of the sort of collections typified by Computer Animation Festival and Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Harrod</span> American film director

Paul Harrod is an American animation director, production designer, and art director with a special emphasis on stop motion.

Mark Watters is an American composer of music for film and television.

<i>Meet the Raisins!</i> 1988 claymation television special

Meet the Raisins! is a 1988 claymation television special directed by Barry Bruce, featuring the advertising characters The California Raisins. The show was broadcast November 4, 1988, on the U.S. television network CBS during primetime. It was the Raisins' second appearance in a primetime special and their first dedicated feature. Meet the Raisins! was followed by a sequel in 1990, Raisins: Sold Out! This special premiered after one of the This Is America, Charlie Brown specials.

Joan Carol Gratz is an American artist, animator, and filmmaker who specializes in clay painting. Gratz is best known for her 1992 Oscar-winning animated short film Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Not Another Christmas Song</span> 2019 single by Blink-182

"Not Another Christmas Song" is a song recorded by American rock band Blink-182. The song was released on December 6, 2019 through Columbia Records. The song is a downbeat objection to the Christmas and holiday season, lyrically examining the passage of time and a disintegrating relationship. It was written by bassist Mark Hoppus, guitarist Matt Skiba, drummer Travis Barker, who also produced the song. Additional songwriting was handled by Matt Malpass, Aaron Puckett, JP Clark, and Mike Skwark. The song was the final release by the band to feature Skiba, who was unable to perform on the following single "Quarantine" and later departed from the band following the return of founding guitarist Tom DeLonge in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Shadburne</span>

Susan Carol Shadburne was an American screenwriter, director, producer, and filmmaker, best known for her collaborations with her husband, claymation animator Will Vinton. She wrote the screenplay for The Adventures of Mark Twain (1985), directed by Vinton, and wrote and directed the supernatural thriller film Shadow Play (1986). In addition to feature films, Shadburne wrote and directed several short films. Two of the short films Shadburne wrote that Vinton directed—Rip Van Winkle (1978) and The Great Cognito (1983) –were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

References

  1. ↑ Pareles, Jon (February 28, 2008). "Buddy Miles, Hendrix Drummer, Dies". The New York Times .
  2. ↑ "TV Review; 'Claymation Christmas,' On CBS". The New York Times. December 21, 1987. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
  3. ↑ "On View: A Feat of Clay: The Creator of California Raisins Molds an Animated Easter Special". Los Angeles Times . April 12, 1992. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Stardom Is Feat Of Clay For California Raisins". Orlando Sentinel . January 25, 1988. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
  5. ↑ Corliss, Richard (September 22, 2016). "Bad 25: Spike Lee Brings Michael Jackson Back to Thrilling Life". Time .
  6. ↑ "The California Raisins – Billboard Hot 100 History". Billboard.com. Archived from the original on May 25, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  7. ↑ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 171–172. ISBN   978-1476665993.
  8. ↑ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 104. ISBN   978-1538103739.
  9. ↑ Perry, Charles (July 28, 1994). "Something We Ate: Used to Hear It Through the Grapevine". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 27, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  10. ↑ "The Raisin Situation". The New York Times. April 27, 2019. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  11. ↑ "California Raisins Collectibles". Wharble.com. Archived from the original on February 16, 2011. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
  12. ↑ "The Hardee's Story". Hardee's. Archived from the original on July 6, 2010. Retrieved June 22, 2010.
  13. ↑ "CalRaisins.org".
  14. ↑ Nintendo Power Staff (November–December 1989). "Pak Watch". Nintendo Power . No. #9. Nintendo. p. 95.
  15. ↑ "The California Raisins for Commodore 64 (1988)". MobyGames.
  16. ↑ "The 50 Best Commercials of All Time". Entertainment Weekly . March 28, 1997. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
  17. ↑ Curran, Pamela Duvall; Curran, George (December 23, 1997). Collectible California Raisins: An Unauthorized Guide With Values. Schiffer Publishing, Limited. ISBN   076430433X.
  18. ↑ "The California Raisins". Unwrapped. Retrieved June 22, 2010– via YouTube.
  19. ↑ Spess, Marc (April 18, 2010). "California Raisin Raisin Puppets: Late 80s – Early 90s". AnimateClay.com. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
  20. ↑ "【ズンちゃん】ズンちゃん、それはボクのことズン". YouTube .
  21. ↑ "カリフォルニア･レーズン協会 - YouTube". YouTube .
  22. ↑ "California Raisins Set for Comeback in Live-Action Feature". Cartoon Brew.com. March 19, 2015. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  23. ↑ "Top Pop Albums". Billboard . January 23, 1988. p. 80.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.