Mack
From Muppet Wiki
Mack was a humanoid Muppet character who appeared in some of Jim Henson's commercials in the mid 1960's. In some of these commercials, he had a violent, adversarial relationship with Kermit, which mirrors the relationship between Wilkins and Wontkins in the mid-50's Wilkins Coffee ads.
Henson moved away from producing TV commercials in mid-1969, when production started on Sesame Street. Mack was retired at that point, and he hasn't been seen since.
Claussen's Bakery
Mack first appeared in ads for Claussen's Bakery in 1964.
In one of the ads, Kermit approaches Mack, who's munching on a sandwich:
- Kermit: "Whatcha eating?"
- Mack: "A sandwich made with Claussen's Bread! Wanna bite?"
- Kermit: "Sure!"
- Mack lunges over, and chomps on Kermit's shoulder with a horrifying crunch. Kermit yelps.
- Kermit: "Aaaaaa! He's a sharp salesman."
As the commercial ends, Kermit frowns and rubs his shoulder as Mack happily returns to his sandwich.
McGarry's Sausage
The contract with Claussen's only lasted a year, and then the pair starred in a series of ads for McGarry's Sausage from 1965 - 1968.
One of the McGarry's ads was a remake of the Claussen's ad quoted above, with Mack eating "savory, succulent McGarry's Sausages" instead of Claussen's Bread.
As evidenced in another McGarry's ad, the combative relationship between Kermit and Mack remained in the new commercials.
- Kermit: "Help! Save me!"
- Mack appears at the window, and asks:
- Mack: "Do you buy McGarry's Sausages?"
- Kermit: "No!"
- Mack slams the window down on Kermit's fingers, and he lets go. There's a whistling sound as Kermit falls to the ground below. Mack opens the window again and calls down:
- Mack: "Why don't you drop down to the store for some?"
- SPLAT.
- And then a shot of the product.
On Cor
Mack was also renamed "Onky" in three ads produced in 1962 for On-Cor Frozen Foods.
Mack and Suzy
Mack was paired with Suzy, a young girl character, in ads for C & P Telephone Co. of VA (1965-1968) and Southern Bell Telephone (1966-1968). In these ads, the roles were reversed, as Mack would get the short end of the deal, except in one commercial, where he did what Suzy told him to do.
In one Southern Bell ad, Suzy approaches as Mack is dialing the phone.
- Suzy: "Whatcha doin'?"
- Mack: "I'm dialing long distance."
- Suzy: "Didja dial 1 first?"
- Mack: "No!"
- Then a huge long-nosed monster (Big V) appears, and swallows Mack whole. The monster chews as Suzy calmly explains:
- Suzy: "Strange things happen to people who don't dial 1."

