Monday, October 08, 2012

31 Days of Dracula | Count Chocula (1971)



With the monster-nostalgia craze still going into the early '70s, it was inevitable that cereal makers would want to get in on the action. General Mills came out with two monster-themed cereals in '71: Count Chocula and Franken Berry. Boo Berry didn't come along until 1973 and Fruit Brute followed in '74. Fruit Brute was cancelled in '83 and replaced with the short-lived Yummy Mummy. Unfortunately, most stores only order them around Halloween, but the scarcity has made them even more popular and a vital part of a lot of Halloween seasons.

With his accent and turned up collar, Chocula is heavily inspired by Bela Lugosi's Dracula. I actually prefer to eat Franken Berry and Boo Berry - just because chocolate cereal is so easy to get the rest of the year - but it's not Halloween until we've polished off a box of the Count's flavor too.

5 comments:

Austin Gorton said...

I too much prefer both the berries Franken and Boo to Count Chocula, for the reasons you mention. I really wish grocery stores would carry them year round...

Austin Gorton said...

Also, I wasn't aware of Yummy Mummy; what flavor were they going for with that one?

Wings1295 said...

All great flavors. They should bring back Yummy Mummy or Fruit Brute, as well, since they only make them once a year now, anyways!

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

I never had these cereals growing up, but I have seen them in the grocery store every now and then.

I do like the starkness of the original boxes, white, with just the mascot and the cereal. No distractions, just what mattered, I like that.

Theres a blog called "Cereal Killers" that dreams up some monster cereals of their own, some actually look pretty good, like "Post Moder-MMMs"

Michael May said...

Teebore, if memory serves, Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy were generic "fruit" flavor, sort of like Fruit Loops or Trix. That's probably why they didn't do so well.

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