Back in the day, the California Raisins were awesome. I recorded the commercials, I got the Hardee’s toys (both the small plastic toys and the much larger felt dolls with wires in the arms) I bought the cassette tapes (and still have them stored away somewhere) and even had a promotional poster that came with one of the albums that hung on the wall next to my MUSCLEs poster. There was also various TV specials, including Meet the Raisins and the sequel The Raisins Sell Out that we taped off of tv (oddly enough, I now own both of the specials on VHS tapes I got at goodwill stores recently for $1) they also lead to a cartoon series on saturday mornings for one season. Eventually, the California Raisins died down and faded away, despite a brief attempt to bring them back in 2002 or so. But I will always fondly remember them. And thus, I found an article on AnimateClay.com where the author got some of the original puppets used in the claymation specials. As that was over a decade ago, the puppets were in bad shape. In fact, they look downright creepy. But it is interesting to read about how they were created, how they were built, and how they were animated. There is some cool background information here, and if you are into that or just like seeing creepy decayed puppets, check it out!
