It’s the birthday of the Pillsbury Company, which was formed on this day in 1869. It would be decades before they put forth that giggling quisling, the Doughboy, as the company’s public face, and decided we would all be charmed by a capering piece of self-aware animate dough who wanted us to bake anything as long as it wasn’t him. It was a brilliant piece of marketing. If you remember the original commercials, he sprang from a cylinder of dough whacked against the counter, like Athena from Zeus’ brow, then ran around the kitchen gibbering his trademark giggle: a-heh-heh-heh! Add him to the list of mythological creatures Minnesota has given the world, like the Jolly Green Giant, and Sprout.

He may be one of the most successful spokescreatures in advertising history, but I wonder how he’d fare in a cage match with some other cooking-related mascots. I’d pay money to see him go up against the Hamburger Helper Hand, for example. In one corner, speed and agility; in the other, Crushing Power.

Fun irrelevant bonus fact: a local actor who voiced the Hamburger Helper Hand is currently directing a movie in Minneapolis. He’s a cool guy – and we’ll be reporting from the set here on buzz.mn in a few weeks. But that’s another story. For now: happy birthday, undead Doughthing.

Some Doughboy abuse from Youtube.

This one makes you wish he’d been in Ghostbusters:

(This led to your host wasting an hour on a YouTube spiral, downloading 70s commercials. You’ve been warned.)