Farfel the Dog

Farfel the Dog was a hound dog puppet that appeared in commercials for Nestlé's Quik from 1953 to 1965. Farfel, with assistance from ventriloquist Jimmy Nelson and fellow puppet Danny O'Day sang "N-e-s-t-l-e-s, Nestlé's makes the very best, chocolate."

:Danny sang: "N-e-s-t-l-e-s, Nestlé's makes the very best...:Farfel sang: Chawk-lit!

Jimmy Nelson tells the story that he was nervous when he performed for the Nestle's sponsors in the audition and his finger slipped off the control for Farfel's mouth which caused it to shut with a loud "clap". When he did the song for them again he was careful not to let his finger slip and was told they liked the version with the clap at the end and was asked to leave it in.

Farfel made numerous television appearances during his heyday in the early sixties. One of his most favorite haunts happened to be the set of the Mike Douglas Show. On one particular Cleveland performance (The Mike Douglas Show first began its production in Cleveland, Ohio, eventually syndicating and relocating to the larger Philadelphia market.) Farfel, O'Day and Nelson drew such a multitude of studio audience hopefuls to Channel 3 that extra folding chairs were provided to seat the overflow. The chairs were lined up along the wall, running from the studios' bleachers to the stage where Mike interviewed his guests. At one point in the televised segment Nelson brought Farfel out to meet some children who were seated with their mother nearby. A three-and-half-year-old boy was invited to give Farfel a kiss. He was expected by the talk show host and his human celebrity guest to follow the lead of his older sister, who had just planted one on the floppy-eared puppet. This young man sized up the situation though; the phony dogs' head did not present itself with the appeal of a flesh, fur and blood puppy, nor did it possess the sight and smells of a particularly sanitary show-biz prop, the kid declined, the dog went unkissed by him. That precocious half-pint would grow up to be the jazz artist Lenny Toots Hoffman.

External links

* [http://www.talkingcomedy.com/SI-Vent-2005/legends-siVENT05/JN-LGND-siVENT05.html/ Profile Article for Jimmy Nelson]