July 23, 2013

"Chock Full o’Nuts is that heavenly coffee".. and the lady who sang that tune now drinks her coffee in heaven.

Page Morton Black was 97.
Mrs. Black, the widow of William Black, the founder of the Chock Full o’Nuts company, curtailed her singing career after their marriage. But her voice lived on in the jingle, which was broadcast for more than 20 years....

The jingle’s original last line, “Better coffee Rockefeller’s money can’t buy,” was changed in 1957, after John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his family complained.
The line became "Better coffee a millionaire’s money can’t buy." Today, they've changed the word to "billionaires."

I wish I could find my favorite old Chock Full o'Nuts commercial — the one with the line "many times, in many suitcases," which became an all-purpose catchphrase for years with me and RLC (who emailed me the link above). Instead, I'll have to give you this a dreadful old commercial, in which Page Morton Black appears dressed up, atrociously, as Snow White.

ADDED: RLC emails to say thanks, "But for the life of me I can't see why you didn't use" the joke he'd suggested: "The Chock Full o'Nuts girl has gone to meet her coffee-maker!"