Friday, January 27, 2012

Clanky the Chocolate Syrup Spaceman

The space race of the 1950s and '60s resulted in all sorts of fabulous interstellar themed products for children ranging from toys to snack foods, including some like Clanky that were a little bit of both.  

Clanky Chocolate Flavor Syrup debuted in 1963, with a bizarre but catchy commercial (see it by clicking here.)

From the commercial, Clanky's theme song:

"We love Clanky, Clanky the Spaceman.
 He can do a lot of things nobody else can!
 We just squeeze him,
 (bloop, bloop, bloop)
 And he makes our milk all chocolatey.
 Chocolatey!"













Clanky's ingredients: a little bit of stardust and a whole lot of sugar.
The 9 1/2 inch plastic Clanky the spaceman came filled
with chocolate syrup that could be stirred into milk,
poured onto ice cream, or simply squirted directly into your
mouth if your mom wasn't watching. Once all the chocolate was gone (and, presumably, mom had thoroughly rinsed him out)
Clanky could be used as a toy, a sort of large scale action figure
(minus the action features).

Today Clanky serves as a great example of vintage space race product tie-ins, and he looks fab smiling from a shelf full of related toys.

7 comments:

  1. Nice collectible! I don't remember Clanky. It was a hair before my time, but no too much. Great design. BTW - does Pokey know that Gumby will be heading to space soon with his astronaut helmet?

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  2. I missed out on Clanky too by a few years, but no more!

    I've been considering breaking open the sealed package behind Gumby so Pokey can have his own helmet...

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  3. We had a Clanky in the toy box at my grandparents' house! I had completely forgotten about him until I stumbled across this photo and your post! Thank you for sharing!

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  4. I grew up with Clanky, my dad worked for the food company as a cocoa buyer. I wish I still had a bottle for nostalgia sake. Who knew 50 years later I would be searching for this on the web.

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  5. What's the green thing on the left on top of cardboard box?

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  6. That's the bottom portion of a Kozmic Kiddle spaceship. See here for details: https://wizzley.com/cool-vintage-toys-kozmic-kiddles/

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