What do Rocky Marciano, Mickey Mantle and Frank Sinatra have in Common?
Nellie the dolphin
Marciano left us in 1969, Mantle in 1995 and Sinatra in 1998.
Nellie was a bottle-nosed dolphin that passed away on May 1, 2014 at the tender age of 61.
She was the oldest dolphin in captivity, or as Marineland’s Dolphin Adventure prefer, “in human hands.” Nellie became an instant sensation when at the age of eight she starred in a Timex commercial featured on a Frank Sinatra special. The show aired on ABC-TV the evening of May 12, 1960 as “The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis,” and reportedly garnered some 67.7% of the total television audience of the day.
Why, you ask?
The King was inducted into the U.S. Army in March, 1958 and Frank’s show was not only his first televised appearance in three years, but also his first in three years since returning from his military service in Germany and on American soil, televised appearance.
Nellie’s timing was classic. Much like her sponsor’s brand.
Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, the “Switzerland of America,” 1854
The Waterbury Clock Company was established to mass produce affordable, quality clocks later wholesaled through a network of depots State-side, as well as London and Glasgow. In 1917 Waterbury re-engineered its ladies pocket watch into a soldier’s wristwatch for the first great war. In 1930 they teamed with Disney and created, then marketed a character product, the Mickey Mouse watch. Not to be deterred by World War II, Waterbury converted its manufacturing capability to produce more high quality “mechanically timed artillery and anti-aircraft fuses” than any other Ally. The Timex brand itself was first used in 1945, stamped on a shipment of nurses’ watches.
In 1995 Bill Gates of Microsoft fame used the Timex wireless watch with optical wireless data transmission to connect with a personal computer. Making it the first wireless watch to talk to a PC.
“It takes a licking and keeps on ticking”
In 1956 Timex initiated an instantly successful network television campaign, introducing the slick, licking-ticking campaign.
It called upon some of the most powerful celebrities to not only reinforce their message, but to demonstrate it. Among them were Nellie, Marciano and Mantle.
Balboa beware, there was another Rocky.
Saturday Evening Post ad featuring Rocky Marciano, June 1954. Source: The Pop History Dig.
“Amazing test by Mickey Mantle proves Timex watches are really rugged . . . .” 1953. Source: The Pop History Dig.
And the connection with Gravel Roads?
I cried when I lost my Timex watch. It was a birthday present. My very first watch. It had a shiny gold rim and a brown leather band with a wind-up mechanism.
The Rural Municipality of Kutawa No. 278 was building a gravel road to replace the dirt road which bordered our farm and on which we traveled to the village of Wishart for everyday needs such as groceries and gas. The construction was magnificent to me. There were bull-dozers and graders and gravel trucks and men waving signs occasionally. It was 1964 or so. Every day I’d drive my bike over just to watch them, for hours. On the way back for supper which was always at 6:00 p.m., I pulled my sleeve back to check for the time, and it was gone. My beautiful watch wasn’t there. I re-traveled my ruts and walked every furrow. It just wasn’t there.
I instantly flashed back to a year earlier when we made a trip to the town of Wynyard. We angle-parked on Bosworth Street in front of the Rexall Drug store, owned and managed by Dr. Forrest Pederson, PharmD. Mother and Dad immediately made their way to the front counter and elbowed every view I could possibly have, away. Later I learned the reason.
It was the Timex watch counter. Unbeknownst to me, there lay my sixth-year birthday present.
And now it was gone.
Rexall Drug Stores of America Christmas gift ad, circa 1962. The Rexall brand for Canada was acquired by an Edmonton, Alberta firm, the Katz Group of Companies in 1985. Today the brand is un-related to any of the U.S. store operations other than the distribution of supplements.
Driving it home
My mother softened my sadness and swept aside my tears with a mere, “Я люблю тебе” or I love you.
There were other Timex watches in my future. And many more losses of one kind or another. Though my Mother is long-gone, to this day I feel the brush of her touch and those comforting words she spoke to me “Я люблю тебе . . . . ”
Rest in peace, Nellie.
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