RALPH PROVES THE PUDDING

by Winifred Rosen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1972

Kalish's mod, animated-cartoon style is just right for this amiable put-down of TV commercials. Ralph, whose saucer-faced, sandy-haired informality designates ""cute American kid"" in comic-book shorthand, is discovered on a street corner and signed to do an ad for a ""great new chocolate-pudding type dessert."" (""What's better about it,"" the man explains, ""is that it tastes like chocolate pudding without actually being chocolate pudding."") After Ralph in three successive shots tells the cameras that the dessert tastes like (1) shoes, (2) something your mother says will make you feel better later on, and (3) wet brownies, the men give up and shoot the enthusiastic, smiling WOWs he delivers after sampling some strawberry ice cream. Later when Ralph sees the results on TV he wonders: ""What are people going to think when they find out their great new dessert tastes like shoes?"" If it gets other kids wondering too we're all for it, but what's better about this is the spoofy soft sell that subordinates the message to the fun.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1972

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1972

Categories: CHILDREN'S