Sonny the Cuckoo Bird

Sonny the Cuckoo Bird is the cartoon mascot for Cocoa Puffs, a General Mills-produced cereal. He often appears in its television commercials.

History

In the commercials, Sonny attempts to concentrate on a normal task and ends up coming across some reference to Cocoa Puffs themselves (usually described by the adjectives "munchy, crunchy, chocolatey") and bursts with enthusiasm, exclaiming, "I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!"

He was designed by Gene Cleaves in 1962, but a new design was chosen in 2004. The old design can be seen on many retro shirts sold in stores such as PacSun and Delia's. As of 1997, Sonny was voiced by Tex Brashear. He was formerly voiced by Larry Kenney, who voiced Lion-O in Thundercats. The legendary animation pioneer "Grim" Natwick, of Fleischers' Betty Boop history, appears to have contributed to the early images of Sonny & Gramps, according to then-contemporaries who collaborated with Natwick during his 100-year career. [1]

Sonny's name comes from the original format for the commercials, in which he was paired with his grandfather. Rather than proper names, they always referred to each other as "Gramps" and "Sonny." When the grandfather was dropped from the ads, "Sonny" remained as the character's name. In those original spots, both Sonny and Gramps were voiced by Chuck McCann. In 2010, Grandfather returned to the Cocoa Puffs ads.

External links

• Sonny and Gramps: 1960s Cocoa Puffs commercials on YouTube