1950's TV WESTERNS - EVEN A RATINGS FAILURE HAD CANDY ENDORSEMENTS - BUFFALO BILL JR. FOR MILKY WAY CANDY
Buffalo Bill Jr. was a TV western, which was made a few years before the heyday of TV westerns. The show was on the air for two seasons with 42 episodes being produced. Dickie Jones played the title character role of Buffalo Bill Jr.
The show aired during the 1955 & '56 seasons. Two years later, five westerns were in the top 10. The following year, seven westerns were in the top 10. Possibly Buffalo Bill Jr. would have been successful if it had produced a few years later. A possible case of bad timing.
Even tho the program wasn't super successful, Dickie Jones, the star of the program, was asked to promote Milky Way candy bars. In those days, ratings were a group number and were not broken up into different demographic audience groups. Milky Way / Mars Candy knew that kids loved the show, and the biggest customer of Milky Way candy bars were kids. A match made in TV heaven.
I have posted a magazine ad of Dickie Jones promoting a Buffalo Bill Jr. belt mailaway premium. The belt premium was a tie-in promotion with Mars / Milky Way. For 25ยข and three Milky Way wrappers, you could be the proud owner of a Buffalo Bill Jr. belt. Hopefully, the belt arrived prior to the cancelation of the TV western.
You can't make the other school kids jealous by showing off a belt, with the name of a canceled TV hero imprinted on it. The other kids would drop their Hopalong Cassidy lunchboxes and laugh their heads off.
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The show aired during the 1955 & '56 seasons. Two years later, five westerns were in the top 10. The following year, seven westerns were in the top 10. Possibly Buffalo Bill Jr. would have been successful if it had produced a few years later. A possible case of bad timing.
Even tho the program wasn't super successful, Dickie Jones, the star of the program, was asked to promote Milky Way candy bars. In those days, ratings were a group number and were not broken up into different demographic audience groups. Milky Way / Mars Candy knew that kids loved the show, and the biggest customer of Milky Way candy bars were kids. A match made in TV heaven.
I have posted a magazine ad of Dickie Jones promoting a Buffalo Bill Jr. belt mailaway premium. The belt premium was a tie-in promotion with Mars / Milky Way. For 25ยข and three Milky Way wrappers, you could be the proud owner of a Buffalo Bill Jr. belt. Hopefully, the belt arrived prior to the cancelation of the TV western.
You can't make the other school kids jealous by showing off a belt, with the name of a canceled TV hero imprinted on it. The other kids would drop their Hopalong Cassidy lunchboxes and laugh their heads off.
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