Crispy Critters was a breakfast cereal manufactured by Post Cereals starting in 1963. The sweetened cereal, made of oats, consisted of animal-shaped pieces similar to animal crackers. Television commercials featured a cartoon lion, Linus the Lionhearted, voiced by Sheldon Leonard, with the slogan "The one and only cereal that comes in the shape of animals.",[1] sung to the tune of "Trepak" from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker ballet. The next year, Linus was spun off into a Saturday-morning cartoon show, which ran for two years on the CBS network, then rerun on the ABC network for three more until 1969. After a decline in popularity, the cereal was discontinued.
Post made an unsuccessful revival attempt of the cereal in 1987.[2] This time, the commercials featured a puppet mascot named "Crispy" with pom-pom antennae, a pom-pom tail and a furry yellow body, resembling a moose. Crispy used an impersonation of Jimmy Durante (provided by Rich Little) [3] including the nonsense phrase "Ah-cha-cha-cha". This puppet interacted with a child actor and was accompanied by smaller puppets that resembled the individual pieces of cereal. Together, these puppets spoke the cereal's tagline: "It's indubitably delicious."
See also
References
- Topher's Breakfast Cereal Character Guide - Post^
- X-entertainment article retrieved 2013-02-09^
- Phillip Dougherty. Advertising; Dispelling Doubts for Post Cereal July 31, 1987, retrieved 10 October 2025^