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During the weekend of St-Patrick's Day, my mind wanders off to all things green and Irish.
Growing up, Saturday morning cartoons were only bested by Saturday morning cartoon characters from cereal commercials.
That is where the Character "Lucky The Leprechaun" mascot of the Lucky Charms Cereal would present his adventures of trying to run and hide from kids (the Lucky Charms Gang) who were after his cereal.
Lucky Charms is a brand of cereal produced by the General Mills food company since 1964. The cereal consists of toasted oat pieces and multicolour marshmallow shapes ("marbits" or marshmallow bits). Lucky Charms was created in 1962 by John Holahan
Frosted Lucky Charms,
They're magically delicious!
On the left is a collection of the Lucky Charms commercials over the years showcasing all the changes.
The marshmallows are meant to represent Lucky's magical charms, each with their own special meaning or "power." The following are explanations of the permanent marshmallows:[12]
- Hearts - power to bring things to life
- Shooting Stars - power to fly
- Horseshoes - power to speed things up
- Clovers - luck, but you will never know what kind of luck you'll get
- Blue Moons - power of invisibility
- Rainbows - instantaneous travel from place to place
- Balloons - power to make things float
- Hourglass - power to control time
Arthur Anderson, starting working in 1963 as the voice of the General Mills Lucky Charms mascot Lucky the Leprechaun, continuing the character for 29 years even though he is not Irish. In 2005, he recalled:
People have expectations. I just have an Irish-sounding name. I have reason to celebrate. I had the luck of the Irish to get that part. I never got free cereal, but they gave me lots of green money. And it was a fun character to play. Hardly a day goes by when somebody doesn't ask me to sing the Lucky Charms jingle, and I'm proud of that
As a kid that always felt sorry that Lucky was always on the run (after all, the other kids were ALWAYS trying to STEAL his lucky charms), I want to thank you for leading your voice to such an iconic character trademark that made a mark on my childhood.
THANK YOU ARTHUR ANDERSON and Good bye.