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11/25/2004: The 1987 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!

Just in the nick of time, here’s a look back at the 1987 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I was actually at this one live, but my best memories of it are being painfully cold and poorly dressed. Though not as jam-packed with strange cool shit as some of the previous parades I’ve reviewed, this one isn’t without its charms: California Raisins, Marvel Comics, Clifton Davis, need I, say more? Two page review with an additional two page look at many of the commercials that aired during the parade, along with dozens of video clips. Enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving, all! I’m off to stuff mushroom and sleep.


Posted by Matt. E-mail me!

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Discussion Thread: 127 comments

On second glance, I’m pretty sure that gorilla with a bra and the guy next to it are supposed to be from Cabaret.

Nothing says Thanksgiving more than a musical about sex and Nazis.

Ghosted by Gavok @ 11/25/2004 5:48 PM EST

I agree that the barbie Float/song were the most atrocious things I have seen in recent years. Ughh…

Ghosted by Cameron T. @ 11/25/2004 6:09 PM EST

i have an inflatable baby shamu thats like 6 feet long, its looks exactly like one in the parade except with handles attached to its head

Ghosted by Diarrhea Dave @ 11/25/2004 6:18 PM EST

New topic…what’s everyone’s alltime favorite Macy’s balloon? I think Matt has said his was Garfield (version 1. Even though I’m too young to have seen it first run, or even in syndication,
I always liked the Underdog balloon. I think it represents a time for me when the balloons were made because they were good characters and not just an advertisement for "____________ the Movie", coming to theatres this Winter.

Also another bit of bizareness in the Kermit clip…Casper and Richie Rich marching side by side…proving once and for all that Casper is NOT the ghost of Richie after he got crushed under a fresh truckload of thousand dollar bills.

Ghosted by Garrison @ 11/25/2004 6:56 PM EST

I’d have to say Snoopy’s my personal favorite. Garfield’s a close second, though.

Ghosted by Mr. Mr. Mr. @ 11/25/2004 6:58 PM EST

Matt next thnaksgiving i need you to do an article on the 1988 and 89 thanksgiving parade’s. Beacuse there were commercials i remember and there was something about Roger Rabbit in either one of those two parades.

Think you can do that next year. If it ’s not too much trouble? I want to see them and the commercials that aired. The years were different and so were the commercials. Just make a note of that for next year. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. if you do i hope you really do that! :)

Ghosted by Kevin @ 11/25/2004 7:17 PM EST

Ahh.. the old days where I watched the Thanksgiving Day parades every year… I miss it.

Though that Marvel float bit? That was so awful I simply couldn’t finish watching it. Im not sure if it was the cheese or the Back to the Future music, but I couldn’t take anymore of it…

Ghosted by Bloodcat @ 11/25/2004 7:23 PM EST

Wow,the parade today doesn’t even come close to the parades of the 80’s & 90’s. Back then the floats were mostly about…toys.Now there are 1 or 2 floats. Plus not even 1 toy commercial on the parade. Wow,I’ve really miss the days when the battleground for toy companies was the Macy’s parade.

I also want to see the 88 and 89 parade next year,if it’s possible. :)

Ghosted by Stargunner @ 11/25/2004 7:23 PM EST

Matt – thanks for the memories. Once again, you have produced the kind of content that makes this the best ‘nostalgia’ site on the internet. The comercials are what do it for me – I was 11 in 1987 and I remember all those the comercials – I can’t say I ever wanted an Atari XE though! NES forever, baby!

Ghosted by Jason @ 11/25/2004 7:24 PM EST

I can’t believe the marvel float used the BTTF theme! That had to of confused the people watching it!

Ghosted by Oobie-Doobie-Kenoobi @ 11/25/2004 7:48 PM EST

Thanks, Matt, now I’ll giggle hard when I hear the theme from "A Different World" now.
Best improv of theme lyrics ever.

Ghosted by AngeFaitore @ 11/25/2004 8:24 PM EST

Yeah,Robocop appeared on the Marvel float becuase his cartoon was made by the animation division Marvel had at the time.

I wouldn’t be suprised if the reason there aren’t any more toy-based floats in the Macy’s parade becuase some people were tired of it being turned into a huge toy commercial. Thus,no Bratz floats or anything like that in recent years. Just a hunch.

Ghosted by Overlord @ 11/25/2004 9:04 PM EST

My take on the Macy’s parade, not any specific one just in general.

Ghosted by Jason @ 11/25/2004 9:42 PM EST

Most Macy’s balloons and floats are bought corporate space now, and that’s why 75% of them are based on characters no one has heard of until that point. It’s never been more blatantly obvious, with this year’s features of the Barbie song coincidentally based on the new video, and a Tutenstein float(you watch Tutenstein, right? Right? though we got to hear "walk like an Egyptian" again, which was cool). Ditto with the musical guests hired. I have a feeling the record companies paid to get them in, not the other way around. "And on this float is teen singing sensation TODD ZAKEIFQJA!!" Oh wow, it’s really HIM!

Ghosted by Mars @ 11/25/2004 9:46 PM EST

First of all, happy Thanksgiving Day to all American bloggers (and belated Thankgiving to the Canadians). Like last year, I hope everyone else still had as much fun with these parade reviews as I did.

I’m afraid the Marvel Comics float wouldn’t have been impressive to me in ‘87 (when I would have been about 8) or now. I’m more of a DC Comics person – seeing Superman made me happier. Being a girl, Barbie and the Cabbies were also interesting, and the Peanuts float ranks as a "nice try," even if I agree that the suits came out scary.

The only commercials mentioned that I remember are the sentimental McDs classics, especially the one involving the teacher. Yes, I cried at it. I’ve always been a fool for sentiment.

I may have seen bits and pieces of this in passing, but as a kid, I also swore by the Philly parade. As I live in Southern New Jersey, they made more use of familiar local personalities and it just made more sense to support your local Boscov’s. The Philly parades haven’t been nearly as fun in the past decade, though, hense my switch to the Macy’s parade.

Oh, yes, and I DID actually get to see most of the parade this year. There were some nifty floats, especially the two that revolved around animals, but I agree with Matt that the "Barbie’s Princess and the Pauper" number was excruciating. Overall, I had far more fun this Thanksgiving than last year – my brother and I just spent the afternoon between parade and dinner playing Nintendo Game Cube.

Ghosted by starwenn @ 11/25/2004 9:55 PM EST

Nice. Very nice.

Ghosted by Dixon Deeper @ 11/25/2004 10:07 PM EST

Was I hallucinating, or did John (Cougar) Mellencamp sing during one of the football games halftimes? I swear I saw his snubbed nose and floppy brow. The tv sound wasn’t on, so I have no idea if it was actually him by hearing his singing voice.

But, i gotta say, watching football w/ the sound turned off is a lot better than watching Bill Gaither and the Gaitherettes sing non-secular music in accapello for the 9th year in a row.

Ghosted by trajeal @ 11/25/2004 10:37 PM EST

You’re damn right it was cold, I was in Arizona for Thanksgiving in 87 and it fuggin’ SNOWED. Unless someone was playing a rather elaborate joke on me.

Ghosted by EvilTheMime @ 11/26/2004 12:29 PM EST

Another great parade article and another great batch of commercials.

Damn, the Atari XE Flight Simulator II, from back in the era when the series was being produced by a company called SubLogic (before Bruce Artwick gave the copyright to Microsoft for Flight Simulator 3.0), sucked, and I don’t mean compared to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, or, for that matter, even, say, MSFS 4.0, I mean compared to the PC version of FS II. I mean, okay, the PC version only had undetailed outlines of the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center and maybe the Chrysler Building for all of Manhattan back then too, but it was running a couple of frames a second. What’s that frame rate on the XE… 1 frame every 2 seconds?

I’m a little disturbed by that McDonald’s commercial… the bit when everyone raises their hands looks kinda like the zombie hands on the posters for Shaun of the Dead.

And it seems that Pierce Brosnan’s agents were already beginning to prime him to play Bond eight years before Goldeneye hit theatre screens.

By the way, even though I’m Canadian and, to me, Thanksgiving was a month and a half ago, I actually did watch most of this year’s Macy parade, with the main coverage on NBC and the alternate coverage (with Broadway show tunes!) on CBS, usually switching to the show tunes every time NBC had one of those abhorrently wholesome pop acts pop up, which seemed like every two minutes or so this year. They also had a puppet from Avenue Q, the adult Sesame Street spoof, but they didn’t perform any of the great songs like "The Internet is for Porn", for some reason. And they had the Kermit balloon this year too, but no Jim Henson. :’( I appreciated seeing the 1987 footage of him.

Ghosted by Steve Brandon @ 11/26/2004 12:41 PM EST

Turkey Fact #12:
Turkeys are filled with enough L-tryptophan to knock you on your sorry
Thanksgiving ass.

Ghosted by Luap @ 11/26/2004 1:33 AM EST

A selection from The Hooples’ Horrible Holiday, by Stephen Manes, copyright Avon Camelot, 1986:

Annie piped down and turned toward the screen, where floats and balloons and bands and majorettes were marching along. Not-so-famous television stars described the action as if nothing so important, astonishing, and amazing had ever taken place in the history of the universe.
Then came some singers. "Hey, they’re not really singing!" Annie cried. "They’re just moving their mouths!"
"That’s for sure," said Alvin. The singers were so phony, so obvious about mouthing the words to something they’d recorded long before, that even a two-year-old would have noticed. It wasn’t even in sync. "Look at that guy. Words are coming out of his mouth even when it’s closed. Next thing you know the balloons will start singing."
The big helium-filled balloons of cartoon characters didn’t sing, which was probably just as well. But the commmercial jingles more than made up for them. There were ads for candy and cereals like the ones on the weekend-morning shows. But mostly there were toy commercials.
It seemed to Alvin that three minutes couldn’t go by without a bunch of commercials for a bunch of new toys or new accessories for old toys. Even with the remote control, he couldn’t change channels to avoid them, because all three stations ran their commercials at the same time. There were commercials for dolls, there were commercials for toy cars, there were commercials for robots, and there were commercials for games. And Annie claimed she wanted every single thing she saw.
"You don’t want a dump truck that can run over other dump trucks," said Alvin.
"Yes, I do," said Annie.
"You don’t want a stuffed pig that comes with its own birth certificate," said Alvin.
"Yes, I do," said Annie.
It didn’t matter what it was: Annie said she wanted it, and that was that. Alvin remembered when he was Annie’s age and wanted everything, too. He wondered how his parents could have stood it.
"That’s what I want most of all!" Annie cried, pointing to one of the little pictures in the corner of the screen. "Change the channel!"
"Don’t be silly, Annie."
"Change it!" she shrieked in a voice so loud it made Gramps stick his nose in the door and say, "Simmer down in there."
Alvin changed the channel, but he knew what he was going to hear. The one toy Annie wanted most in the whole world, next to a Carly Cutie doll, was a FuzzBot. It was a giant stuffed robot that could turn into half a dozen different kinds of furry animals. Alvin thought it was the stupidest toy he’d ever seen. And by now he knew the jingle by heart, since Annie had heard it on all the Saturday-morning cartoon shows for weeks and sang it almost every chance she got.

FuzzBots are tough with a hide of fur,
FuzzBots are fun for him and for her.
FuzzBots can be anything you please,
FuzzBots are lots of fun to squeeze.
FuzzBots are cute,
FuzzBots are hot,
So get yourself
Your own FuzzBot.

"FuzzBots by ToyBotics," said the announcer. "Clothes and accessories sold separately."
"That’s my favorite toy in the whole world," said Annie.
"That’s the dumbest toy in the whole world," said Alvin. "Who ever heard of a fuzzy robot? It’s just stupid, that’s all."
"It certainly is," said a silly voice at the door.
"Is not," said Annie.
She and Alvin turned toward the voice. It was coming from a tall grown-up in a curly green wig, a big plastic nose, a bushy fake moustache and eyebrows, and glasses with windshield wipers on them. There was snow all over this person’s fur coat. "It is too stupid," the comical figure said, "and I should know."

–

To read more of this classic story of 1980s Thanksgivings, you can buy the book!

Ghosted by G'Tron @ 11/26/2004 2:16 AM EST

I thought the Barbie Princess and the Pauper float was pretty bad. And there was way too much Raven. She was in the parade and then she was doing some kind of half-time segemnt on the CBS game. There were hardly any toy Commercials on and the ones that were on were mostly for preschool toys. Did they retire the Cheeros bee,Arthur, and Snoopy ballons?

Ghosted by pikachulover @ 11/26/2004 2:36 AM EST

Happy Thanksgiving. :P

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/OhGodtheRats/turkeystufflowqualsmall.jpg

From my psyche.

Ghosted by OhGodtheRats @ 11/26/2004 9:14 AM EST

Ahhh. Gotta say, I had a good night’s sleep last night on account of the tryptophan OD. The only thing that woulda made the meal better was some champagne instead of Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider. Not that the latter isn’t good, it’s just that I prefer champagne. Hmm. Maybe I’ll pick up some today for a post-Thanksgiving celebration.

Anyway, I feel great this morning. I hope all of you feel the same.

Ghosted by Nate @ 11/26/2004 10:47 AM EST

re:luap
Crow, no!

Ghosted by kingklash @ 11/26/2004 12:10 PM EST

Matt- Thanks for all the hard work. You rock.

Ghosted by Muppet Baby @ 11/26/2004 1:26 PM EST

Don’t remind me about the damned Barbie float. It sucked bad and the song and float memory will be stuck in my head forever.

Ghosted by AngeFaitore @ 11/26/2004 1:35 PM EST

Barbie Float?
You take one scoop of vanilla ice cream, one Barbie, and some Giant Ape Juice……

Ghosted by kingklash @ 11/26/2004 3:47 PM EST

Sadly, Mary Hart passed away a year later from her shame. Now she’s hosting Entetainment Tonight in Hell for all eternity. Delicious buns you have Matt, by the way.

Ghosted by Shroudie @ 11/26/2004 3:48 PM EST

Mary Hart was alive in 1988 and is still alive today.

Ghosted by Mars @ 11/26/2004 4:08 PM EST

If you can call what she does "living." She used to co-host an afternoon talk show here in the Thooner Thtate back in the late 70’s-early 80’s. Now she fights encroaching age and sends people into fits with the mighty power of her voice.

Ghosted by kingklash @ 11/26/2004 5:00 PM EST

Dear Matt,
I love you.

Ghosted by Rainbowfeet @ 11/26/2004 5:21 PM EST

That Barbie float… thank the gods I have sons and absofreakinlutely no reason to pay attention to that crap. Not that I’ll be able to scrub that image from my brain any time soon.

On another note, ABC here in St Louis played the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special last night. I had completely forgotten it until I saw your review, and then, there it is. Coincidence? I think not.

Ghosted by deus-ex-maria @ 11/26/2004 7:12 PM EST

It just occurred to me the Matt ended the intial entry with the phrase "I’m off to stuff Mushroom". Not Mushrooms. But 1 large mushroom.

Is this the new slang all the kids are using these days for sex or something?
"Hey baby, let’s go stuff mushroom, eh?"

Ghosted by OhgodtheRats @ 11/26/2004 9:14 PM EST

Heck, if you can get another one in in the next few days, I don’t think we’ll quibble much. I hear a Sonic the Hedgehog balloon tore down a lamppost in a 1990’s parade. Do that one.

Ghosted by mtvcdm @ 11/27/2004 12:30 PM EST

excellent Seinfeld reference, kingklash!

Ghosted by Jason @ 11/27/2004 12:42 PM EST

It’s kind of interesting, this whole Thanksgiving thing. I had three thanksgiving dinners, and I was thankful for still being alive after that third helping of yams and Giant Ape Juice, which was something like Grape. A fuzzy grape, with big teeth. I hope everyone had a good one, even though this is one evening late, but you know, I passed out. Giant ape juice, giant ape juice, giant ape juice. I bid ye farewell in some foriegn language.

Ghosted by Legenerale @ 11/27/2004 1:07 AM EST

Well Thanksgiving has passed and now I’m being annoyed by Christmas commercials. Pretty much all commercials are annoying, especially Old Navy. Makes me want to kill. Anyways, had some good grub this thanksgiving, and got upgraded to a wireless network so my laptop can be used on my lap :)

Ghosted by heeloyd @ 11/27/2004 3:13 AM EST

Also, I noticed a lot of the old favorites are still in the macy’s parade this year: Kermit, Garfield, Ronald, and Spidey! And the new favorite: Spongebob! :D

Ghosted by heeloyd @ 11/27/2004 3:16 AM EST

Hmmm. Matt must really be workin on that new X-mas layout. I most certainly can’t wait to see it. I’m also looking forward to the new Playmobil calendar. In fact, I may go looking for one today just because they’re so retarded yet so cool. I’m wondering if they’re even available here in Canada. How much are they?

Ghosted by Nate @ 11/27/2004 9:14 AM EST

‘these otherwise deadly robot folks belted out a tune that’d make Fierstein himself sit up and shout "GAY."’

Ghosted by dfgfdg @ 11/27/2004 10:27 AM EST

OMIGOD!!

Okay, has anyone else seen the Charlie Brown live action and animation TV movie thing with Snoopy’s brother Spike called something along the lines of "It’s the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown"?!

Doesn’t Jill Schultz look like the girl in the red truck? AHH! I have to go find the tape I have that on. I haven’t watched that in years.

Ghosted by Nikkii @ 11/27/2004 11:45 AM EST

I forgot in all my Girl in the Red Truck excitement…

…HOW MUCH I HATE BARBIE AND THE ROCKERS!! I’m so incensed by their appearance in TWO parades, especially during the years that Jem and the Holograms were having their heyday. Jem was fifty times cooler than the stupid Rockers…she deserved a float in the parade, not that bitch Barbie. Not only are Barbie and the Rockers a complete ripoff of Jem and the Holograms, but Barbie’s outfit in this parade is way too close to Jem’s signature dress. God I hate you Barbie.

It’s Barbie’s fault the Jem dolls didn’t last as long as they should have, because no parent wanted to buy clothes and accessories for two different doll sizes. And now Mattel has the gall to release 11.5" dolls itself? Barbie, you suck.

Ghosted by Nikkii @ 11/27/2004 11:58 AM EST

According to Ken, Bqrbie does indeed suck, but not very well.
Here is a question very much in the style of our fearless leader: Is there a local ad that you wait for, whose appearance means the true start of the Christmas season for you? Here in the State Shaped Like a Meat Cleaver, there is a jewelry store that was founded right before X-mas and so their anniversary sale kicks in right about now. It is announced with a jingle that is known to all those within earshot, and even displaced Okies will have in-state relatives record the song off of TV or radio just so they can hear it where-ever they are. Funny thing, the first line is, "Jewelry is the gift to give/’cause it’s the gift that’ll live and live." In these here parts, that’s all it takes for folk to get all warm ‘n’ fuzzy inside. Closest thing for comparison I can find is the old Norelco commercials with Santa zipping about in a shaving head. Only in America!

Ghosted by kingklash @ 11/27/2004 2:13 PM EST

Now that it’s the Christmas season, I’m getting a bit curious. Since Matt’s a big Christmas fan, the well of Christmas-based articles (that aren’t action figure-based) is drying up. I’m confident that he’s got plenty of good stuff ready for review, though.

Still, I can only hope that The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus gets reviewed one of these years. Or as I call it, Santa’s Incredibly Fucked Up Origin Story with the Worst Theme Song Ever Created.

Ghosted by Gavok @ 11/27/2004 2:34 PM EST

I didn’t know they made new playmobil stuff. I saw a commercial the other day and it caught me off guard. Guess i just don’t pay enough attention…

kevin

Ghosted by phunqsauce @ 11/27/2004 3:20 PM EST

Is "stuffing mushroom" a term for making love?

Ghosted by ChloeT.O. @ 11/27/2004 3:25 PM EST

I wouldn’t worry much about there being enough Christmas content on the site. I live for Christmas. We’re well prepared. :) You can’t expect the same kind of full-length article runs that I’ve been able to do in previous years, but fortunately I’ve had enough time to figure out how much time/energy I’ll have and how to get the maximum holiday fun out of it. We start, as always, on December 1st.

Ghosted by Matt @ 11/27/2004 4:48 PM EST

Chloe-Oh thanks a lot! I just really love thinking of having sex as "stuffing a mushroom." Thanks to you, the next I bang my girl, I’ll be sure to envision her hoo haa as a mushroom and my little soldiers as the stuffing. Gross! (umm..how do you do that "sick" smiley thing)

Ghosted by Nate @ 11/27/2004 5:11 PM EST

Chloe-Sorry, it was actually OhGodTheRats who initially brought up that sort of imagery. Actually, it was Matt, because he was the one who said he had "to go stuff mushrrom." My God, Matt! I don’t want that kind of imagery!!! But I do want x-mas articles. You go, Matt! :)

Ghosted by Nate @ 11/27/2004 5:17 PM EST

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