I remember as a child in the early 60's the joy of getting a toy in each box. It was something you could actually play with, not throw away stuff like today. I miss those days, it was a magical time.
Let’s get one fact straight: NO corporate buyout owner changes a recipe unless it’s to rip off the consumer or save money. Rarely does it improve taste. Ever.
@xr6lad Indeed every time the founders sell the quality of the product suffers and greatly too... Freeto Lay is a tightwad outfit that skimps no matter which product they make.
Every. Single. Time. Cut quality. Cut the most expensive ingredients. Reduce size of package. Increase the price. The original founders/owners take personal pride in the product, whereas the MBAs at the purchasing corporation ONLY care about maximizing short-term profits.
Unless you had nut allergies, which for some reason was nowhere near as it is today. I have two kids with nut allergies, never remember anyone with them growing up. And yes the prize inside was a great idea.
@@captainamericaamerica8090 It was small junk then too. But it was sweet candy like treat and something they called a prize. A plastic ship or soldier that you would look at say cool and lose it 10 minutes later
My mom and dad would bring us kids boxes of Cracker Jack home from the grocery store when they went to town to shop for the week's groceries. It was fun to eat the popcorn and peanuts and work our way down to the prize inside. Thank you for the great memory!
Yep, Kathy! Such precious memories they are to they that have them. How sad it is that the present young ones will have only THIS PRESENT to recall. But . . . at least the misery will then be made equal, which is the goal. Obviously. 'Equality In Misery'
You aint seen nuthin' yet! Wait until "Global Amalgamated Incorporated" becomes reality. ("GAMALCOR" as they term it secretly.) Then you'll see REAL chinsey.
Aren’t kids now completely allergic to peanuts and having a peanut in anything is like having the plague. (Not sure when that happened/ just saying peanuts are Enemy1 now.)
@@noble604 Yep, in all my years going through school we never knew or even heard of anyone allergic to peanuts. It's got to be a fungus or a chemical they're treated with now.
I'd save the peanuts for last ,they were so good. They used to have cool little cars with trailers and other cool prizes until it just went to crappy paper crap. And the peanuts seemed to almost disappear completely.
@@harrybriscoe7948 kids old enough to eat popcorn and peanuts should know better than to try to eat the toys. Just stupid. I think it was most likely a cost measure. Paper stuff is cheaper than actual little toys.
@@su-rv2uq Exactly, the first thing I did was get the prize out just like opening up a box of cereal and getting out the toy. Which back in the day was pretty cool. I'm sure some people remember the dinosaurs and the Winnie the Pooh characters that you could put on your spoon or the Frito Lay eraser that looked like the Frito Bandito .
@@freedomring4813 i remember the Frito Bandito eraser , Now the song is coming back Ay yi yi yi , I am the Frito Bandito I love Fritos corn chips I love them I do . If you give me your Fritos I will be your friend .
I had a big glass jar on a lower kitchen shelf that I kept all my treasured and much loved Cracker Jack toys in. I would spread all those toys out on the living room rug and play with them for what seemed like hours. Such good childhood memories.
A concrete memory for me. I'm a child of the 50's and that was always a special treat for me. Glad I was an adult in the 60's when all the changes took place. I always remember how it just wasn't the same anymore. "More profit, less nuts" ! Too bad !
I Loved those snacks, a few months ago I bought 4 of the larger bags they make of them and their was not one peanut in any the bags. For me the peanut is what makes the product. I contacted them and all they did was apologize for the issue, I explained to them I wasn't trying to create an issue just wanted to let them know they have a problem with how they were packaging them and no peanuts were being put in the product when it was advertised as so. Like I said the peanuts makes the product.
I know what you mean. Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream is my all-time favorite ice cream/I’d eat a pint a day of it when it first came out. It was filled with rich chewy brownies added to the ice cream. For some time now, there’s hardly any brownie in it, to the point that I long ago stopped buying it because it’s basically just plain chocolate ice cream. I called B&J and asked where the brownies are. I’m guessing they’re the most expensive part of it (as peanuts are in most recipes and like how you get 4 tiny little shrimp placed on top of the pint box in takeout Shrimp Lo Mein Lol)
Born in '57, once the "hard to open" wax box was discontinued, the product suffered greatly. but it was magic till it happened! It was so worth the price, pure quality~!
yup frito lay used to be wampom chips...those were good thick downside if you put them in mouth wrong were the right width they got caught on the roof of your mouth...ahh good times
@@miguelcastaneda7236 Frito-Lay was never wampom chips they may have bought wampom chips. It began with Lays and they bought Frito and became Frito-Lay, over the years they bought out many companies.
@@packingten A Friend that went to the Plant to do a report on how they operated told me about the Copper Kettle and how a boat oar was used to mix the caramel and popcorn by hand. I have know this person for over 25 years.
I think Cracker Jack had an advantage in the South. In the summer the heat would melt chocolate candies. This was sweet and wouldn’t melt. Many local stores didn’t have air conditioning until the fifties.
These are all just done so well! THANK YOU for providing these for us to enjoy! Not only are they done well cinematographically, but they are very well researched.
Just once I'd like to see a product from my childhood stay "As Is" how sad my kids and Grandkids will not know how Crackerjack tastes with it's full measure of peanuts and popcorn and the delight of a ring or car you were wishing for, for a prize, I would not mind if they went back to how it was and charge a few more cents.
I'm 68. What I remember about Cracker Jack was that there was NEVER a simple way to open the box. It always involved trying to jam a finger through the side of the box and then tearing the top off. Unwrapping it - there was a cardboard box wrapped in a wax-paper wrapper - didn't help because the cardboard box was glued shut. For a little kid, this took some time getting the box open.
Could you please do a segment on the old "Chicken Delight? - Don't Cook Tonight Call Chicken Delight! Love Recollection Road! Wonderful old memories of a bygone era.
Congrats on (almost) 50K subs! I just wanted to say how much I love all your videos on this channel. They always feel nostalgic and relaxing. Keep them coming!
Because of the toy; eating a box of Cracker Jack (back then) was like opening a present on Christmas no matter what time of year. Happy to experience it when I used to be a child, but alas now, no more, no more.
I still love Cracker Jack. Now you're lucky to get even a few peanuts. The "prizes" are also a pathetic crock now. Cheapskates! I'd sure like to have those old baseball cards.
I remember a whistle, a compass, a plastic car, tatoos, and this one I'm not sure I'm remembering, but didn't they have Banana Splits stickers in about 1971?
@Daisy Fields Hi Daisy, I can see that. They were definitely weird. On more than one occasion adults have created shows for kids that were terrible. The adults who created them thought they were great, but they were trying to make money. Kids just didn't like those shows at all. The Banana Splits may have been one of them.
@Daisy Fields What was it about that guy? He was a little creepy. I remember that I liked that show, but I don't remember much about it. I liked Hobo Kelly, and Sheriff John too. ruclips.net/video/eKTDtHpyznI/видео.html
I ate a lot of Cracker Jack back during my childhood in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. It was never a favorite, but my mother loved it and always kept boxes of it in the pantry. The peanuts were my favorite part. I loved fresh caramel popcorn at fairs and amusement parks, though. Cracker Jack always had a sort of bitter, burnt taste to it that fresh caramel popcorn didn’t have. Our family got a microwave oven in 1973 and there wasn’t much you could do with it back then besides heat water or melt butter. We got a microwave cookbook that had a recipe for microwave caramel popcorn and it turned out to be a great recipe! We started making our own version of Cracker Jack with as many peanuts as we wanted. SO much better than the stuff in the box. I wish I still had that particular recipe. It worked perfectly every time. Of course, that recipe was made specifically for the Amana Radarange so it probably wouldn’t work the same way in a different microwave. Those Amana Radarange were like home thermonuclear accelerators…
I was a Child in the 70s to the 80s and I so remember Cracker Jacks:)!! The prizes back then were alright and we always enjoyed the surprise element, but I would LOVE to have had one of those 1912 animal figurines or better yet, a small Periclean Doll:)!! And although I do love Bears, the Sailor Jack with his Dog Bingo is just more adorable:)!! My Late Cat, Mr. Spratt was a Tuxedo Cat and he would have also made a very adorable pet on the box too:)!! Thank you for sharing this fun piece of Americana from the past and Cracker Jacks is so nostalgic for me too:)!!!
When I was a kid I remember good toys like whistles, toy cars, and yo yo's. Then they switched to cheap prizes like decals and tattoos. Popcorn and peanuts are good but without a good toy children have no reason to beg their parents to buy Cracker Jack.
A memory of growing up my dad bless his heart he would bring us cracker jack every week when he got paid we were happy to get one cuz what prize was inside we wondered what we got we would eat our CJ then see what we got as a surprise was fun opening them still a remembersnce of CJ & my Dad who I miss so much with ❤️ of A great memory
what i did a coupla times was buy a bag of peanuts and a coupla boxes of C jack and ate them together .. it was very satisfying but sad at the same time...lolz
A number of good things get worse over the years when Companies get different Leadership. Peanuts are expensive compared to Popcorn, so they cut the Peanuts down to make more profit, or they reduce the size of something, increasing the price, trying to deceive the public, kind of like when they changed a 3 Pound can of Coffee into 2 Pounds and so many ounces. They compromise the good reputation their products had for profit.
I have kept a tiny metal spoon, kissing dolls, and a small pocket knife from late 1950s boxes my parents bought me when I was a kid. The Cracker Jacks tasted great.
As a boomer, tricked into buying a current box to relive my childhood, I was sorely disappointed that the new version did not match my youthful experience with Cracker Jacks.
I loved this as a kid. My favorite prize was the little storybooks. I didn’t like peanuts when I was young so I would give them to my brother who was happy to get the extra peanuts. I don’t know if anyone else remembers campfire marshmallows that came in a small single use package. We used to get them at a picnic grounds we used to frequent where they had grill set-ups and wooden picnic tables.
How exciting to get a box of Cracker Jack when we were kids!!! I can remember a lot of the prizes but one of my favorites was the magnifying glass. Held just right in the sunlight I would be able to burn holes in dried leaves. We would write our names or make a design out of the burn marks. The tattoos were cool too. Just lick your arm and slap the tattoo on! Life was good...
I had my first box of CJ in 1964 (I was 5 years old)..I still have some vintage prizes from CJ..a tin whistle..a plastic whistle..a spin top..& a mini word puzzle..
I was born in 1950.Cracker jacks were great.In early 2000s I bought 2 boxes. They both had for a prize, a little sticker about the size of a stamp,&one peanut per box.That was it for me.
I don't remember ever eating them as a child but I do remember my step-grandfather loving him and had a big giant glass bowl full of the toys that came in it
Cracker Jack was still good when i was a kid in the 70's and the prizes were so much better than they are today(my favorite prizes were the fake tattoos and magnifying glass). I rarely eat cracker jack now. In my teen/young adult yrs(80's) i started eating crunch-n-munch and from the 90's onward i only eat poppycock(my favorite flavor is caramel/cashews)
As a kid in the 60's, and the 70's, I remember the Cracker Jack prizes as being pretty darned cool, and so were cereal box prizes! Later, in the 80's, they got lame! LOL Oh, and as a side note, I was in the Navy in the 80's, and want to tell you, Girls LOVED our "Cracker Jack" Uniforms, both Dress Blues, and Dress Whites! :)
@@freedomring4813 I was in the Navy from 1986-89 and the girls on Westpac(mainly Australia) loved our cracker jacks. The girls wanted our dixie cups the most.
@@elwin38 yeah they go ape s*** over our Dixie cups in France too, on the French Riviera and a few other places in the Mediterranean, throw a Dixie cup, they'll flash their boobs! 😎👍
I remember looking forward to getting cool prizes. Now all we get is some cheap paper not worth keeping. Life back then was better. Had more stuff for the price and better quality. Now they give you much less and charge you much more.
1872 wow ! Cracker Jack, everybody liked Cracker Jack... yes, and that little prize, oh my. It was good all the way around. Haven't had it in years. thank you!
My favorite prizes were the whistle and the plastic magnifying glass. On the show Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius, Jimmy's dad's favorite soda is a Purple Flurp. The writers must have seen the old Cracker Jack commercial where a trio of witches are making up a batch of the treat. One ingredient is a purple Flurp. I was about five or six when that commercial aired. When I heard the purple Flurp line on Jimmy Neutron, it made me laugh, and think of my childhood days.
Man I feel old now. I grew up having this all the time as a kid. You weren't cool unless you had these, sunflower seeds or candy cigarettes during practice. Great memories.
In honor of Mother's Day, mine would like it when we saved her some of the peanuts out of our boxes we got on Saturday night to snack on while watching Big Time Wrestling and other shows!
My brothers and sisters and I were treated to Cracker Jack every weekend. We then gathered around the TV to watch Gilligan's Island. It's one of my most favorite memories of childhood and family. My Dad always made sure to get some at the store.
I remember visiting my grandpa and nana, back in the 50's. They had a curio cabinet full of prizes from Cracked Jacks. They always amazed me. I think because over time the prizes really changed. Nothing like the ones they collected. There's were very nice and unique. I've often wondered whatever happened to them.
They're being sold on EBay for serious $$, that's what happened to them. The good ones, anyway. I've bought a few myself. Little metal airplanes, little metal railroad locomotives.
...how my dad loved this growing up and still back when it was at least edible with throw away paper prize...wish I coulda showed him this video as he finally passed in ‘19. Got him a cool looking Cracker Jack sailor Christmas ornament even!!
My friend got a miniature record as a Cracker Jack prize. He put it on a turntable; put the needle on, and intelligible sound actually came out of the speaker. As I recall it was a short song to the effect, " I kiss your hand, madam."
Should have had at least a mention of Carey Cloud, an Indiana native and artist, who designed hundreds of the Cracker Jack toys. Born in 1899 in Whistleville (seriously!), Indiana. I met him in the early 70's while helping with a feature piece for an Indianapolis TV station I was working for. The reporter was also an Indiana native who knew about him and at the time, I had no idea who Cloud was. The trip to Brown County and subsequent interview was fascinating. Wish I'd kept all the toys I got as a child from eating Cracker Jacks.
Dad loved cracker jack dad ring the great depression mom n dad were walking down the street they found a dime dad said let's save it mom said we have 7dollars so we're ok so y don't u go n the store n get some crackerjacks dad loved crackerjacks so he did and the prize was a plastic ring so right there in front of the store and people walking about he got on one knee and proposed people all around urged her to say yes she did and they found a magistrate who married them, about 1975 we all went together and bought a gold band for mom she was livid she said take it back I have a real wedding ring worth more than gold it's made of love and when I'm dead it better b on my hand and it was, thank you for bringing mom and together god bless you
My mother, born 1925, told me about getting a real Kodak camera in a box of Cracker Jacks. She took photos with the camera and when all the film was spent, the entire camera was returned, with a dime, to have the film developed and prints made - the camera was not returned. With the prints and negatives was a coupon for a discount price on a Kodak camera - probably a 'brownie' style Kodak.
I was born in 1964 even though I liked Cracker Jacks growing up my parents both said how much better it was before 1964 which until this video I had no idea what they meant. it was just a coincidence that it was sold and I was born in 64 but I was like WTF? lol
I just tried a bag recently. This was not the CJ of my youth. Instead of the candy coating the popcorn, it was just drizzled on, there were only two peanuts in the whole bag, and the "prize" was this tiny little half-inch sticker.
I don't know about you, but I gave up on Cracker Jack when Borden bought the company, the price went up and the peanut count went down. Nowadays there are all kinds of gourmet flavored popcorns out there. I think many of those companies started because the demand for quality wasn't being met by chintzy Cracker Jack. It was an American icon wasted by corporate greed once the founders sold the company.
The real reason that the quality went down is the inflation of the dollar. Look at what used to be a two-quart container of ice cream. Those containers are no longer two quarts to keep the price steady. When Cracker Jack was introduced in the late 1800s, there was nothing else like it. There was a product that came on the market in the 70s called Fiddle Faddle., and I'm sure others as well that were gourmet. Cracker Jack can't compete except for nostalgia and it is only a shadow of what it once was. I'm surprised it is still being sold. Maybe baseball parks are their nitch market.
Here's another fond memory from my childhood... back when my teeth could actually handle some Cracker Jack's! Getting to the bottom of the box to reveal the "BIG little PRIZE" was a treat in itself.
I have always enjoyed them when our mom brought them home after work. I was even more excited about what I was going to get out of the box,and wow how happy I was being the youngest of two older siblings and I was definitely spoiled...I still love them and others alike them.
Loved these since I was a kid (still do) I actually worked @ Minute Maid Ball Park in Houston, TX 2012-2020. I loved stocking & handing these out. During Take me out to the ball game. song 97th inning stretch) During the Cracker Jack part. I was armed with several bags I'd "hurl" to the crowd! I miss those times.
And if you own one of those baseball cards from 1914 or 1915 today, you can buy a whole boatload of Cracker Jack. Seems we hear this line quite a bit in your vids, "In (year), (original company) was sold to (bigger company) and the quality of the product (went to seed)."...
@@luisreyes1963 Nowadays we're too afraid that children won't be able to tell the difference between the food and the toy and choke to death trying to eat the toy.
My aunt was a Cracker Jack freak! She always kept it around up until her death at 90. She had saved the prizes from the early days (back to the 20's) when they were still made of metal. She would pull them out and show us from time to time, she had about 60 or so, some of which were valued around $200-$300 each. We never knew exactly where she hid them and searched all over for them after she passed away but never did find them.
Cracker Jack's were part of my childhood. My dad used to buy me a box, everyday, after picking me up from kindergarten, back in 1974-75. I used to collect the prizes. I'd get a box, here and there, up to the early 80's. After that, I never had another box ever again.
what an interesting and fun article about Cracker jacks. I remember getting a tin whistle one time in a box. the fun snack with a prize inside was always special to me as a child. Great Memories of long ago.
Cracker Jack was better in the 1960’s. It tasted better, and had real prizes. Now you just get digital codes. What’s so special about that? You can get digital codes anywhere. If you buy a Disney movie on DVD, there’s a digital code inside.
I love cracker Jacks. When I was a kid we would wake up on Sunday morning and find a box of them by my pillow, my dad would always bring us some on sundays. It was a lot better when you actually had a real prize inside. A tiny car, a ring, etc. I still buy cracker Jacks when I can find them but it’s sad that they don’t have toys in them anymore.
I remember as a child in the early 60's the joy of getting a toy in each box. It was something you could actually play with, not throw away stuff like today. I miss those days, it was a magical time.
I don't even bother to open the surprise package anymore. I just throw it out.
Me too, in the Thirties and Forties. I remember those crickets toys made from metal and not those cheap paper stickies that came later on.
For me it was the 70s but yes I remember too.....
I was there too...
@@dinoferrante1718 I don't even bother to buy it any more.
Let’s get one fact straight: NO corporate buyout owner changes a recipe unless it’s to rip off the consumer or save money. Rarely does it improve taste. Ever.
I do agree. The C.E.O. and multiple vice presidents need all the profit just to eke out a living.
They also cut down on the product amount thinking most people won't notice. And they fill much of the package with air.
@xr6lad
Indeed every time the founders sell the quality of the product suffers and greatly too...
Freeto Lay is a tightwad outfit that skimps no matter which product they make.
Every. Single. Time. Cut quality. Cut the most expensive ingredients. Reduce size of package. Increase the price. The original founders/owners take personal pride in the product, whereas the MBAs at the purchasing corporation ONLY care about maximizing short-term profits.
You got that right xr6lad!
It's not the same without the actual toy prize.
I agree they never should have gotten rid of the toy prizes.
Yeah that cheap excuse for a toy now isn’t cutting it
@@robertzacharias6815 It's sad.
not the ones now..its piece of paper with a riddle..or crappy wanna be tattoe
@@miguelcastaneda7236 They don't even have that anymore. Its a digital code.
I think we can all agree that Cracker Jack was an integral part of our collective childhoods.
Unless you had nut allergies, which for some reason was nowhere near as it is today. I have two kids with nut allergies, never remember anyone with them growing up.
And yes the prize inside was a great idea.
Even as late as the 70's they were. I was born in 71, and definitely ate them as a boy.
@@captainamericaamerica8090
It was small junk then too. But it was sweet candy like treat and something they called a prize. A plastic ship or soldier that you would look at say cool and lose it 10 minutes later
Mike Hughes...yessir!!
I liked the tattoos lol...
My mom and dad would bring us kids boxes of Cracker Jack home from the grocery store when they went to town to shop for the week's groceries. It was fun to eat the popcorn and peanuts and work our way down to the prize inside. Thank you for the great memory!
Heck the toy came first for me!
Gary Chany. ...I would open the bottom of the box first.
Couldn't wait to get to the prize ..
It was so simple back in the 50s,60s.you played outside until dark. Watched tv until nine. The biggest thrill ,the drive in and Cracker Jack's ❤️
Yep, Kathy! Such precious memories they are to they that have them.
How sad it is that the present young ones will have only THIS PRESENT to recall.
But . . . at least the misery will then be made equal, which is the goal. Obviously.
'Equality In Misery'
@@pamelajordan2890 Yep, and no locked doors during the day. Free-ranging kids -- "be HOME by dark!" OK! OK!
And now? Ha!
I knew as soon a large company got involved they would start short changing the customer.Funny how some things dont change.
A greedy bunch indeed!
Mom & Pop business is 'real' America.
Corporations always destroy that intimacy between you and the product.
Not worth buying cheap popcorn with a half a peanut in the box!
The last time I purchased Cracker Jack, I found one peanut in the box. Do they think customers wouldn’t notice?
You aint seen nuthin' yet!
Wait until "Global Amalgamated Incorporated" becomes reality. ("GAMALCOR" as they term it secretly.) Then you'll see REAL chinsey.
Too bad the old-fashioned Cracker Jack is just a memory.
Everything I knew is just about gone now!!! Life is just a dream🌏👥⏳⌛
They're still out there.
@@EggersEggers-pd6te yes, but not same toys… old days toys are akind of metal and good item to deal with other kids…
@@artherr2843 Yeah those were the days.
I remember digging deep down to the bottom of the box to find the prize... now, kids dig deep down to the bottom of the box... to find a peanut.
The peanuts was the best part.
Aren’t kids now completely allergic to peanuts and having a peanut in anything is like having the plague. (Not sure when that happened/ just saying peanuts are Enemy1 now.)
@@noble604 Yep, in all my years going through school we never knew or even heard of anyone allergic to peanuts. It's got to be a fungus or a chemical they're treated with now.
But they only find disappointment 😞
Cracker Jack's with peanuts and a prize were fun. Peanuts added to the fkavor.. A kid getting a baseball card was fun. Or a little prize.
I'd save the peanuts for last ,they were so good. They used to have cool little cars with trailers and other cool prizes until it just went to crappy paper crap. And the peanuts seemed to almost disappear completely.
Part of the reason was Darwinism . Kids choking on the toys , then of course lawyers.
My thoughts exactly. The peanuts were delicious, and back then, they did used to have cool prizes.
@@harrybriscoe7948 kids old enough to eat popcorn and peanuts should know better than to try to eat the toys. Just stupid. I think it was most likely a cost measure. Paper stuff is cheaper than actual little toys.
@@su-rv2uq Exactly, the first thing I did was get the prize out just like opening up a box of cereal and getting out the toy. Which back in the day was pretty cool. I'm sure some people remember the dinosaurs and the Winnie the Pooh characters that you could put on your spoon or the Frito Lay eraser that looked like the Frito Bandito .
@@freedomring4813 i remember the Frito Bandito eraser , Now the song is coming back Ay yi yi yi , I am the Frito Bandito I love Fritos corn chips I love them I do . If you give me your Fritos I will be your friend .
I had a big glass jar on a lower kitchen shelf that I kept all my treasured and much loved Cracker Jack toys in. I would spread all those toys out on the living room rug and play with them for what seemed like hours. Such good childhood memories.
Take me back to my childhood Cracker Jack Days, those were the best of Cracker Jack
No. Thanks. Was. Very. Nice
I remember the ads with Jack Gilford. Iconic.
I’m going to look up here on YT, their commercials.
And they're right up on RUclips, and have been for years
As Iconic as a '59 Invicta! - LOL I'm a Buick guy (My first car, 1950 Super to my current 2011 Lucerne). 👍😊👍
Isn't he the Good & Plenty Man?
A concrete memory for me. I'm a child of the 50's and that was always a special treat for me. Glad I was an adult in the 60's when all the changes took place. I always remember how it just wasn't the same anymore. "More profit, less nuts" ! Too bad !
Exactly
Also, the prizes weren't as nice.
I Loved those snacks, a few months ago I bought 4 of the larger bags they make of them and their was not one peanut in any the bags. For me the peanut is what makes the product. I contacted them and all they did was apologize for the issue, I explained to them I wasn't trying to create an issue just wanted to let them know they have a problem with how they were packaging them and no peanuts were being put in the product when it was advertised as so. Like I said the peanuts makes the product.
I know what you mean. Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream is my all-time favorite ice cream/I’d eat a pint a day of it when it first came out. It was filled with rich chewy brownies added to the ice cream. For some time now, there’s hardly any brownie in it, to the point that I long ago stopped buying it because it’s basically just plain chocolate ice cream. I called B&J and asked where the brownies are. I’m guessing they’re the most expensive part of it (as peanuts are in most recipes and like how you get 4 tiny little shrimp placed on top of the pint box in takeout Shrimp Lo Mein Lol)
Doc Brown Some packaging line manager got a sweet bonus when the bosses found out the peanuts are MIA.
Yes they do
Born in '57, once the "hard to open" wax box was discontinued, the product suffered greatly. but it was magic till it happened! It was so worth the price, pure quality~!
Remember the jingle?! "Candy-coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize, that's what you get in Cracker Jack!"!
You call that kid a Cracker Jack! Lol!
Trudy Trudy Trudy
@@Damone7653 😀
Yes I remember that.
Yep!
I was a child in the 60's and 70's.
I do remember the jingle.
Sailor Jack and HisJack terrier Bingo was and still is an iconic symbol.
never thought of that sailor .. my dad was a sailor 1942 ww2 south pacific ..U.S Navy
@@mgn5667 Yip mine too USS Mertz DD691.
I still have Sailor Jack Toy i got in my cracker jack box so many moons ago !!!
When frito-lay got Cracker Jack They found a new way to make it and that ruined it.
yup frito lay used to be wampom chips...those were good thick downside if you put them in mouth wrong were the right width they got caught on the roof of your mouth...ahh good times
@@miguelcastaneda7236 Frito-Lay was never wampom chips they may have bought wampom chips. It began with Lays and they bought Frito and became Frito-Lay, over the years they bought out many companies.
They need to bring back the big copper kettle that Cracker Jacks were made in.
@@Robin-oo5il I doubt they were ever made in a copper kettle Robin😊,They lie ya can't believe them.
@@packingten A Friend that went to the Plant to do a report on how they operated told me about the Copper Kettle and how a boat oar was used to mix the caramel and popcorn by hand. I have know this person for over 25 years.
I remember my dad shouting out of the car window "Did you get your license out of a cracker jack box"
Who knows, the answer might be Yes!
One of my favorite sayings.
Yeah me too😅
I think Cracker Jack had an advantage in the South. In the summer the heat would melt chocolate candies. This was sweet and wouldn’t melt. Many local stores didn’t have air conditioning until the fifties.
What about M&Ms? They were supposed to melt in your mouth, not in your hand?!
@@trudygreer2491 m&m did not exist in 40’s and 50’s…
@@artherr2843 Actually, Mr. Art, M&Ms just celebrated its (their?) 80th anniversary on September 10th! The peanut ones came out in 1954..
Trudy's a candy knowin ninja 👍🏴☠️👍
@@tashuntka Thanks! but I'm actually just a Wikipedia-usin' ninja..
These are all just done so well! THANK YOU for providing these for us to enjoy! Not only are they done well cinematographically, but they are very well researched.
Just once I'd like to see a product from my childhood stay "As Is" how sad my kids and Grandkids will not know how Crackerjack tastes with it's full measure of peanuts and popcorn and the delight of a ring or car you were wishing for, for a prize, I would not mind if they went back to how it was and charge a few more cents.
I'm 68. What I remember about Cracker Jack was that there was NEVER a simple way to open the box. It always involved trying to jam a finger through the side of the box and then tearing the top off. Unwrapping it - there was a cardboard box wrapped in a wax-paper wrapper - didn't help because the cardboard box was glued shut. For a little kid, this took some time getting the box open.
Yes, It was like trying to open up a box of powdered laundry soap when they made it. Today it's all liquid.
I used to get in trouble with my mom or aunt for pouring out the caramel corn onto the kitchen table just to get to the Prize! What a memory!
There is NOTHING like the ORIGINAL!!
Give me some peanuts and crackerjacks, I don’t care if I ever get back🎵🎼🎶
Peanuts sold separately! LOL
Yeah, take me out to the ball game😅
As a kid in the 70s, Cracker Jacks were my favorite. For a few decades, I had a box of the prizes I had accumulated.
Could you please do a segment on the old "Chicken Delight? - Don't Cook Tonight Call Chicken Delight! Love Recollection Road! Wonderful old memories of a bygone era.
I remember that. Good stuff.
Weren't they one of the very first food -
deliveries ?
There was a franchise on Utica Avenue in Brooklyn NY....
Pizza man, he delivers!
We had one a cpl blocks from home GREAT Pizzas&food!,,Now that beautiful area is DANGEROUS!, Taken over by thugs...You know the poor..Uhh yeah..
Congrats on (almost) 50K subs! I just wanted to say how much I love all your videos on this channel. They always feel nostalgic and relaxing. Keep them coming!
I was born in 1962. this brings back a lot of good memories. Thank you!
Because of the toy; eating a box of Cracker Jack (back then) was like opening a present on Christmas no matter what time of year. Happy to experience it when I used to be a child, but alas now, no more, no more.
I still love Cracker Jack. Now you're lucky to get even a few peanuts. The "prizes" are also a pathetic crock now. Cheapskates! I'd sure like to have those old baseball cards.
I remember a whistle, a compass, a plastic car, tatoos, and this one I'm not sure I'm remembering, but didn't they have Banana Splits stickers in about 1971?
I actually got a (plastic) magnifying glass. It was too small to start fires, much to my disappointment.
Who even remembers the Banana Splits? They would drive around in those cool six wheel buggies.
@Daisy Fields Hi Daisy, I can see that. They were definitely weird. On more than one occasion adults have created shows for kids that were terrible. The adults who created them thought they were great, but they were trying to make money. Kids just didn't like those shows at all. The Banana Splits may have been one of them.
@Daisy Fields What was it about that guy? He was a little creepy. I remember that I liked that show, but I don't remember much about it. I liked Hobo Kelly, and Sheriff John too.
ruclips.net/video/eKTDtHpyznI/видео.html
@@steveinla8963 They were Amphicats
I ate a lot of Cracker Jack back during my childhood in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. It was never a favorite, but my mother loved it and always kept boxes of it in the pantry. The peanuts were my favorite part. I loved fresh caramel popcorn at fairs and amusement parks, though. Cracker Jack always had a sort of bitter, burnt taste to it that fresh caramel popcorn didn’t have.
Our family got a microwave oven in 1973 and there wasn’t much you could do with it back then besides heat water or melt butter. We got a microwave cookbook that had a recipe for microwave caramel popcorn and it turned out to be a great recipe! We started making our own version of Cracker Jack with as many peanuts as we wanted. SO much better than the stuff in the box. I wish I still had that particular recipe. It worked perfectly every time. Of course, that recipe was made specifically for the Amana Radarange so it probably wouldn’t work the same way in a different microwave. Those Amana Radarange were like home thermonuclear accelerators…
I was a Child in the 70s to the 80s and I so remember Cracker Jacks:)!! The prizes back then were alright and we always enjoyed the surprise element, but I would LOVE to have had one of those 1912 animal figurines or better yet, a small Periclean Doll:)!! And although I do love Bears, the Sailor Jack with his Dog Bingo is just more adorable:)!! My Late Cat, Mr. Spratt was a Tuxedo Cat and he would have also made a very adorable pet on the box too:)!! Thank you for sharing this fun piece of Americana from the past and Cracker Jacks is so nostalgic for me too:)!!!
When I was a kid I remember good toys like whistles, toy cars, and yo yo's. Then they switched to cheap prizes like decals and tattoos. Popcorn and peanuts are good but without a good toy children have no reason to beg their parents to buy Cracker Jack.
Exactly!
It was the same with the cereal. Good stuff back in the day, crap now. If any companies even still put prizes in their product anymore.
There were YO-YOs in Cracker Jack boxes????????????
My mind is completely blown LOL
But people would just sue now if their kid got Hurt with or chocked on the toy.
A memory of growing up my dad bless his heart he would bring us cracker jack every week when he got paid we were happy to get one cuz what prize was inside we wondered what we got we would eat our CJ then see what we got as a surprise was fun opening them still a remembersnce of CJ & my Dad who I miss so much with ❤️ of A great memory
I stopped eating Cracker Jack years ago because of the lack of peanuts.
I swear that there were more peanuts in Cracker Jacks in the 1960's.
DITTO
One and a half peanuts isn't enough?
what i did a coupla times was buy a bag of peanuts and a coupla boxes of C jack and ate them together .. it was very satisfying but sad at the same time...lolz
A number of good things get worse over the years when Companies get different Leadership. Peanuts are expensive compared to Popcorn, so they cut the Peanuts down to make more profit, or they reduce the size of something, increasing the price, trying to deceive the public, kind of like when they changed a 3 Pound can of Coffee into 2 Pounds and so many ounces. They compromise the good reputation their products had for profit.
Those were the days with half of it peanuts!
I have kept a tiny metal spoon, kissing dolls, and a small pocket knife from late 1950s boxes my parents bought me when I was a kid. The Cracker Jacks tasted great.
As a boomer, tricked into buying a current box to relive my childhood, I was sorely disappointed that the new version did not match my youthful experience with Cracker Jacks.
Yep ,,, my childhood was way more awesome that I remember it being !!!!!
In the sixties and seventies whenever we visited our Grandma's house we always got a box of Cracker Jack. Just something you never forget....
My grandma always had Pine Brothers cherry cough drops.... we would "cough" and get a whole box all to ourselves... YEEHAAA...
Same here. I’d spend my summers in NYC with my grandparents and my grandma bought us Cracker Jack.
I loved this as a kid. My favorite prize was the little storybooks. I didn’t like peanuts when I was young so I would give them to my brother who was happy to get the extra peanuts. I don’t know if anyone else remembers campfire marshmallows that came in a small single use package. We used to get them at a picnic grounds we used to frequent where they had grill set-ups and wooden picnic tables.
How exciting to get a box of Cracker Jack when we were kids!!! I can remember a lot of the prizes but one of my favorites was the magnifying glass. Held just right in the sunlight I would be able to burn holes in dried leaves. We would write our names or make a design out of the burn marks. The tattoos were cool too. Just lick your arm and slap the tattoo on! Life was good...
I had my first box of CJ in 1964 (I was 5 years old)..I still have some vintage prizes from CJ..a tin whistle..a plastic whistle..a spin top..& a mini word puzzle..
Can you do a video about TANG???
I was born in 1950.Cracker jacks were great.In early 2000s I bought 2 boxes. They both had for a prize, a little sticker about the size of a stamp,&one peanut per box.That was it for me.
BRING THE ORIGINAL BACK!!
I don't remember ever eating them as a child but I do remember my step-grandfather loving him and had a big giant glass bowl full of the toys that came in it
Only the people that grew up in the 50's and 60's can relate to this channel.
And the early 1970s!!! They still had decent toys inside in the 1970s
@@Mark.G475 Things changed by then bro!.
70's kids too! '74 baby that loves this Chanel here! ❤
The good days for sure
@@theoneleggedchef I agree!
If you remember Cracker Jack and the prize inside, then you are a great person. You come from a great era.
Cracker Jack was still good when i was a kid in the 70's and the prizes were so much better than they are today(my favorite prizes were the fake tattoos and magnifying glass). I rarely eat cracker jack now. In my teen/young adult yrs(80's) i started eating crunch-n-munch and from the 90's onward i only eat poppycock(my favorite flavor is caramel/cashews)
Poppycock is the bomb!
The lack of peanuts is what I began to hate about the new Cracker Jacks.
yes, the peanuts disappeared sometime in the earlty to mid 1970s
Less caramel on the popcorn too.😢
As a kid in the 60's, and the 70's, I remember the Cracker Jack prizes as being pretty darned cool, and so were cereal box prizes! Later, in the 80's, they got lame! LOL
Oh, and as a side note, I was in the Navy in the 80's, and want to tell you, Girls LOVED our "Cracker Jack" Uniforms, both Dress Blues, and Dress Whites! :)
I was in the Seabees 78-83 and we had the crappy uniforms. But I joined the reserves after I got out and they just went back to the old style uniform.
@@freedomring4813 I was in the Navy from 1986-89 and the girls on Westpac(mainly Australia) loved our cracker jacks. The girls wanted our dixie cups the most.
@@elwin38 Question, I spent 9 months in the Philippines. Did you make it there ?
@@freedomring4813 I've been there a couple three times I loved it there seriously!!!!!! 😎👍
@@elwin38 yeah they go ape s*** over our Dixie cups in France too, on the French Riviera and a few other places in the Mediterranean, throw a Dixie cup, they'll flash their boobs! 😎👍
I remember looking forward to getting cool prizes. Now all we get is some cheap paper not worth keeping. Life back then was better. Had more stuff for the price and better quality. Now they give you much less and charge you much more.
And that's why there are so many folks my age that were Jack Guilford fans!
Those commercials are so vivid.
1872 wow ! Cracker Jack, everybody liked Cracker Jack... yes, and that little prize, oh my. It was good all the way around. Haven't had it in years. thank you!
My favorite prizes were the whistle and the plastic magnifying glass.
On the show Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius, Jimmy's dad's favorite soda is a Purple Flurp. The writers must have seen the old Cracker Jack commercial where a trio of witches are making up a batch of the treat. One ingredient is a purple Flurp. I was about five or six when that commercial aired. When I heard the purple Flurp line on Jimmy Neutron, it made me laugh, and think of my childhood days.
I love vintage advertising and commercials, especially Halloween and Christmas.
Man I feel old now. I grew up having this all the time as a kid. You weren't cool unless you had these, sunflower seeds or candy cigarettes during practice. Great memories.
In honor of Mother's Day, mine would like it when we saved her some of the peanuts out of our boxes we got on Saturday night to snack on while watching Big Time Wrestling and other shows!
My brothers and sisters and I were treated to Cracker Jack every weekend. We then gathered around the TV to watch Gilligan's Island. It's one of my most favorite memories of childhood and family. My Dad always made sure to get some at the store.
I loved the little fortunes that used to be printed on the prize packets. I miss them almost as much as the peanuts.
I remember visiting my grandpa and nana, back in the 50's. They had a curio cabinet full of prizes from Cracked Jacks. They always amazed me. I think because over time the prizes really changed. Nothing like the ones they collected. There's were very nice and unique. I've often wondered whatever happened to them.
They're being sold on EBay for serious $$, that's what happened to them. The good ones, anyway. I've bought a few myself. Little metal airplanes, little metal railroad locomotives.
what a great little documentary. thanks. :)
...how my dad loved this growing up and still back when it was at least edible with throw away paper prize...wish I coulda showed him this video as he finally passed in ‘19. Got him a cool looking Cracker Jack sailor Christmas ornament even!!
My friend got a miniature record as a Cracker Jack prize. He put it on a turntable; put the needle on, and intelligible sound actually came out of the speaker. As I recall it was a short song to the effect, " I kiss your hand, madam."
awesome
for some reason the music makes me yearn to go back in time to hug my loved ones.
Awesome video, thank you for the memories
Now days the prize would be considered a " Choking hazard".
Should have had at least a mention of Carey Cloud, an Indiana native and artist, who designed hundreds of the Cracker Jack toys. Born in 1899 in Whistleville (seriously!), Indiana. I met him in the early 70's while helping with a feature piece for an Indianapolis TV station I was working for. The reporter was also an Indiana native who knew about him and at the time, I had no idea who Cloud was. The trip to Brown County and subsequent interview was fascinating. Wish I'd kept all the toys I got as a child from eating Cracker Jacks.
Dad loved cracker jack dad ring the great depression mom n dad were walking down the street they found a dime dad said let's save it mom said we have 7dollars so we're ok so y don't u go n the store n get some crackerjacks dad loved crackerjacks so he did and the prize was a plastic ring so right there in front of the store and people walking about he got on one knee and proposed people all around urged her to say yes she did and they found a magistrate who married them, about 1975 we all went together and bought a gold band for mom she was livid she said take it back I have a real wedding ring worth more than gold it's made of love and when I'm dead it better b on my hand and it was, thank you for bringing mom and together god bless you
My mother, born 1925, told me about getting a real Kodak camera in a box of Cracker Jacks. She took photos with the camera and when all the film was spent, the entire camera was returned, with a dime, to have the film developed and prints made - the camera was not returned. With the prints and negatives was a coupon for a discount price on a Kodak camera - probably a 'brownie' style Kodak.
I was born in 1964 even though I liked Cracker Jacks growing up my parents both said how much better it was before 1964 which until this video I had no idea what they meant. it was just a coincidence that it was sold and I was born in 64 but I was like WTF? lol
I just tried a bag recently. This was not the CJ of my youth. Instead of the candy coating the popcorn, it was just drizzled on, there were only two peanuts in the whole bag, and the "prize" was this tiny little half-inch sticker.
i remember there used to be great prizes...compass..working watches..tiny camera ..key chain puzzles
I haven't had them in decades. They changed everything and got cheaper and cheaper except for the price. It was a go to candy in the 50s and 60s.
I remember the toy was temporary tattoos when I was young in the early 70’s
I don’t miss the excess peanuts, but I do miss those wonderful prizes. I grew up in the ‘70s. RIP Jack Gilford.
I don't know about you, but I gave up on Cracker Jack when Borden bought the company, the price went up and the peanut count went down. Nowadays there are all kinds of gourmet flavored popcorns out there. I think many of those companies started because the demand for quality wasn't being met by chintzy Cracker Jack. It was an American icon wasted by corporate greed once the founders sold the company.
The real reason that the quality went down is the inflation of the dollar. Look at what used to be a two-quart container of ice cream. Those containers are no longer two quarts to keep the price steady. When Cracker Jack was introduced in the late 1800s, there was nothing else like it. There was a product that came on the market in the 70s called Fiddle Faddle., and I'm sure others as well that were gourmet. Cracker Jack can't compete except for nostalgia and it is only a shadow of what it once was. I'm surprised it is still being sold. Maybe baseball parks are their nitch market.
Oh! Thanks for that info.
@@nancypatricia511 I haven't seen Fiddle Faddle in ages.
What a great historical overview! Very well done, sir!
Here's another fond memory from my childhood... back when my teeth could actually handle some Cracker Jack's! Getting to the bottom of the box to reveal the "BIG little PRIZE" was a treat in itself.
I have always enjoyed them when our mom brought them home after work. I was even more excited about what I was going to get out of the box,and wow how happy I was being the youngest of two older siblings and I was definitely spoiled...I still love them and others alike them.
Where did you get your drivers license? Out of a box of Cracker Jacks!
In the 60s and 70s Cracker Jacks had much better toys, not any more.
That's what we still say locally to a BAD DRIVER (even today's bags are large enough for 'em).
Loved these since I was a kid (still do) I actually worked @ Minute Maid Ball Park in Houston, TX 2012-2020. I loved stocking & handing these out. During Take me out to the ball game. song 97th inning stretch) During the Cracker Jack part. I was armed with several bags I'd "hurl" to the crowd! I miss those times.
And if you own one of those baseball cards from 1914 or 1915 today, you can buy a whole boatload of Cracker Jack.
Seems we hear this line quite a bit in your vids, "In (year), (original company) was sold to (bigger company) and the quality of the product (went to seed)."...
I used to get really cool things in there. Good days indeed. In the late 60s and early 70s.
Surprise no prize inside 😥 maybe the peanut is the prize
These days, the "prize" is a digital one you have to get from their website.
@@luisreyes1963
Oh really?
It's been awhile since I had cracker Jack's.
@@luisreyes1963 Nowadays we're too afraid that children won't be able to tell the difference between the food and the toy and choke to death trying to eat the toy.
I love the fact that you show the original packaging for Cracker Jack. It’s interesting to see how things were packaged 150 or so years ago.
I used to open the down side of the box just to get to the prize faster.
My aunt was a Cracker Jack freak! She always kept it around up until her death at 90. She had saved the prizes from the early days (back to the 20's) when they were still made of metal. She would pull them out and show us from time to time, she had about 60 or so, some of which were valued around $200-$300 each. We never knew exactly where she hid them and searched all over for them after she passed away but never did find them.
My mom absolutely hated the whistle I don't understand why😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
Cracker Jack's were part of my childhood. My dad used to buy me a box, everyday, after picking me up from kindergarten, back in 1974-75. I used to collect the prizes. I'd get a box, here and there, up to the early 80's. After that, I never had another box ever again.
I remember pre-64 when us kids all got 25 peanuts per box!!!😅
what an interesting and fun article about Cracker jacks. I remember getting a tin whistle one time in a box. the fun snack with a prize inside was always special to me as a child. Great Memories of long ago.
Cracker Jack was better in the 1960’s. It tasted better, and had real prizes. Now you just get digital codes. What’s so special about that? You can get digital codes anywhere. If you buy a Disney movie on DVD, there’s a digital code inside.
*I've noticed for many years, 64 and a New Yorker, that product went the way of the Do-do-bird, and I loved it!* 💖
Iconic product. We always ate the box of Cracker Jacks from the bottom. We'd open the box...get the prize first. We were hedonists. Life.😎👍👍
👍 !
I love cracker Jacks. When I was a kid we would wake up on Sunday morning and find a box of them by my pillow, my dad would always bring us some on sundays.
It was a lot better when you actually had a real prize inside. A tiny car, a ring, etc. I still buy cracker Jacks when I can find them but it’s sad that they don’t have toys in them anymore.
Fiddle Faddle is much better these days than what is currently sold as Cracker Jack.
If they added real prizes they'd be so popular with kids.
Jeff, you are doing an excellent job... keep it going great memories