This ad used to freak me out.
Whatever happened to Noilly Prat? I haven’t seen it in donkey’s years. Which is just as well–it used to scare me.
Happily, I can now look upon it with unspoiled equanimity. Maybe Heidi was right: maybe the guy in the cloak is a French cop. (Doesn’t he look like Frankenstein? Square head, etc.)
All the same, better cross the street if you see him coming.
Among the more mystifying messages broadcast on black-and-white TV during my childhood was this: “Don’t stir without Noilly Prat.”
What in the world could it mean? There was this guy all dressed in black, with a cape, advancing on this lady. What was he going to do to her? What was he? I was too young to have any knowledge of vampires, but I think I would’ve agreed that this was one.
What kind of a name was “Noilly Prat”? Was it a person or a place? Probably it was the name of the man in black. And then there was something about “Vermouth.” We had Vermont Maid Maple Syrup with our pancakes. Could there be a similarity?
I used to shudder when I saw this ad. To this day, I get the willies whenever any man, dressed all in black, with a cape, and you never see his face, suddenly rises up before me and silently drifts toward me. It quite puts me off.