November 12, 2020 (Thursday)
The year was around 1937 and as a little boy I looked up into the sky one day and, lo and behold, there was an airplane writing in the sky. I continued to watch until he completed his message: “Pepsi Cola.” I was spellbound. I had never seen anything like that in my life.
Pepsi Cola had a terrific jingle that empasized the selling point of a lot of good stuff for your money. Only a nickel! Here’s the jingle. It was on the radio. No TV yet.(12 seconds)
Then came television and the jingle still lived (1 min)
“Twice as much for a nickel, too” was part of the song. And it was (almost) true. Of course, soon there were many brands and most had large bottles, too.
Coca Cola has always been a favorite. R.C. Cola ranked right up there with the best sellers. They went by their own names: “Coke” and “RC.” Of course, Pepsi Cola went by “Pepsi.” I suppose those were the big three. Root Beer was popular, but it was usually sold in frosty mugs with foam on top at drive-in eateries. “Grapette” came along as a rarity, because it used such a small bottle–designed, I suppose, to give the illusion that it was grape juice. But it was very good. After a while, you could find whatever you wanted, and, if you could afford it you could have strawberry (Big Red), Orange, Seven-up, Cream soda, you name it.
As far as I know, none of them had jingles and certainly no writing in the sky.
Ain’t it funny that when you are pushing toward 90 years of age, you get to thinking about when you were only 9 years old or even younger. Old people love to reminisce about “the good old days.”
Sad to say, back in those days until I was eleven years old, I never went to church and did not know much about the Lord. But neighbors took me to church during a revival meeting, and I accepted Christ and was baptized. Living with grandparents, step parents, etc. in three different homes sort of put the church on the back burner until I was almost 17 and went back to church. The summer of 1948 was the summer my life changed. From then on it was all about the Lord. So when I talk about the good days, I’d say they began when Jesus became my Lord. That was 72 years ago.
I have no jingle for that, but back when I got saved at eleven years of age, I was put up in front of the church with other kids. We grabbed the elbow of the person in front of us, pretended to be a train, and sang, “I am traveling on the Hallelujah line on the good old gospel train. I am on the right track and I never shall go back to the station of sin again. I need no fare, I’m riding on a pass — tis the Lamb for Sinners slain. I am traveling on the Hallelujah line, on the good old gospel train.”
The Good Old Gospel Train that I sang back then: (35 seconds)
You might like other songs about the gospel train, like this one.(3 min)
Or this one(2 1/2 min)
The following video is a story about a sky writer for Pepsi Cola back in the “good old days.” (4 min)