One of my earliest monster memories was taking Monster Multiple Vitamins. Every morning for a few years there were usually a couple of these weird shaped creatures on the table next to my bowl of cereal. Since I was wild about monsters, Mom knew these were the only vitamins I would take.
Half the time I ended up playing with them on the table before eating them. Of course every morning these little monsters died a horrible death as I played that I was a giant monster eating them. Fee Fi Fo Fun I smell the blood of a Monster Vitamin! The monsters disappeared replaced with the Flintstones and I didn’t see my monster pals again until earlier this year.
For years I’d been wanting to add a box to my collection, but since they went out of production in the mid to late 70's they’re more rare than Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster put together. This year I finally found a box with an unused bottle still inside. If I want to be transported to simpler times all I need to do is open the bottle and take a big whiff and POW, I’m back there again. I’m amazed that the bottle is still potent with that sharp vitamin smell of childhood nirvana!
Here’s a photo of a box and bottle along with a animation cel from the TV commercial(does anyone have the commercial?) and a magazine ad with Vincent Price. These are from my collection.
The next set of photos come from the collection of Dan Goodsell.
This magazine ad comes from Allen with the very popular flickr photostream Roadsidepictures.
The Bristol-Myers Company produced Monster Vitamins between the years 1972 to 1978. I did find the patents for the shapes of the vitamins with artwork for each monster vitamin. The links are below.
Patent 01
Patent 02
Patent 03
Patent 04
Patent 05
Patent 06
Patent 07
That takes me back. Great post. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI remember those! I wonder if anyone has a rip of the Monster Vitamins record?
ReplyDeleteHoly crap those are cool. All we had was Flintstones chewables. I wonder if they smell the same. I can still imagine that smell. If only adult vitamins smelled and tasted the same. I'm with Reggaexx - what the heck is on that record?!
ReplyDeleteI don think I have ever listened to the record - I will try to find it and get an MP3 of it
ReplyDeleteDan - That would be great!
ReplyDeletewhat were the names of the monsters? Was one Screaming Mimi? BB Bat?
ReplyDeleteMy Uncle created the advertisements and logos for Monster Vitamins!!!! It's so cool to see fans of this stuff....I hope to be as successful as my Uncle Godfrey :) (The artist's name was Warren Godfrey, in case you were wondering). Just felt like sharing!
ReplyDeleteRussell - Thanks so much for adding your comment!
ReplyDeleteThen a big thanks to your Uncle Warren for creating Monster Vitamins. I'm very happy to learn his name! I would love to hear more about your Uncle and the creation of Monster Vitamins. I can be reached at neatocoolvill@sbcglobal.net.
Again, thanks for sharing!
Wow! These were my vitamins of choice....along with Flintstones....I remember Screaming Mimi the best (because I called my grandmom "mimi") but as Gerry S said, "BB Bat" that brought back more memories!
ReplyDeleteWow I just found this post this year (2010) and am blown away because it made me remember that I LOVED THESE THINGS!
ReplyDeleteIt's always a pleasant surprise to have a blogger jog my memory and help me remember some scary-monster-thing from when I was a kid.
THANK YOU!
So glad to have found this! We used to take these when I was a kid. My brother sometimes had night terrors and we would call them Screamin' Mimis (after the vitamin character). Each morning after he'd have a "screaming mimi" he'd find a vitamin shaped like her and chomp it up to get back at her for the previous night's dream. As I write this, it sounds really sad, but we'd always giggle while he chomped!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know a link to the TV commercial?