I couldn't think of any other blog title...this being Friday and the fact that I'm going to embed a television commercial for Flav-O-Rich by Ray Stevens. This commercial emerged on Ray's social media sites a couple of days ago but I'm just now getting it into a blog entry. Every so often Ray's social media sites spotlight his career selling Flav-O-Rich products...typically milk. The company was previously known as Farm Best. Ray's image appeared in print ads for the company and in regional television commercials. I don't think these commercials ever aired north of Kentucky or west of Tennessee but I'm sure they saturated the south/southeast market. In this commercial, from 1980, Ray and several others are promoting the company's new low fat brand of milk.
When you look upon Ray in the screen cap above or down below it's worth pointing out that he's wearing the Clyde the camel pinky ring. The commercial, being from the year 1980, also means that it was airing during the year of his induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and based on the time of year this commercial aired it was either before or after "Shriner's Convention" made it's debut. I think the commercial premiered in the middle or latter half of 1980...and if so it was definitely several months after "Shriner's Convention" which hit very early in 1980.
Ray Stevens for Flav-O-Rich; 1980
Ray remained a spokesman for Flav-O-Rich for much of the 1980s. This was a part of his career that I had no idea about until the early 2000s when I got on-line. When I did a Google newspaper archive search for Ray Stevens one of the results was a newspaper ad showing an image of Ray holding a carton of Flav-O-Rich milk. From that point forward I'd always been on the lookout for images of Ray promoting the company. It wasn't until fairly recently did his television commercials begin resurfacing through his YouTube channel. He's uploaded a number of those commercials but there's still a lot more that have yet to surface.
It's me once again! Earlier today Ray Stevens uploaded one of his mid 1980s television commercials for a local Toyota dealer in Nashville, TN. I don't know if the commercial is from 1985 or 1986...could be 1984 or 1987. One thing is certain: it's the mid 1980s. He uploaded another mid 1980s commercial he did for Nashville's Toyota not too long ago...but this one is officially referred to on YouTube as Toyota Commercial 2. Note the special guests that appear in the commercial playing the bouncers. They look like Wrestlers but I can't think of their names.
The one he uploaded back on May 1st is below...
The two commercials had originally appeared on YouTube 6 years ago in a single upload. As you can tell the previously uploaded commercials were re-uploaded, but this time, separately. Ray also uploaded a Flav-O-Rich television commercial from the early 1980s. It features another boy, this one with dark hair, acting as his son. In a previous upload a boy with lighter hair was acting as his son. The message in both of those commercials are largely the same...there's an abundance of saccharine in the presentation of the commercial as is typically the case when children take center stage in commercials. In a previous commercial Ray and the kid spoke of frozen cows...this time they discuss a busy cow...
It's nearing Christmas time...oh yes...hard to believe it'll be here in just five days from now! I guess the main reason why it seems as if it's sneaked up on so many is perhaps due to the unseasonable weather in most of the country. We've had our share of bitterly cold days but the lack of snow...and the fact that for the next several days it'll be in the upper 40s and low 50s...now, I'm not one to wish upon having snow and all of that simply because I'll have to drive in it to and from work...but getting to the reason for this blog entry in particular...
An upload in the form of a vintage Christmas commercial from Ray Stevens has emerged. The product advertised is Flav-O-Rich and in the commercial he's playing the role of Santa Claus.
Don't you just love those Flav-O-Rich commercials that Ray starred in?? If you're a frequent reader of this blog you'll know that I had no idea that Ray did commercials for that company until I stumbled across an advertisement in a vintage newspaper dated 1981 several years ago. I had been looking up vintage newspapers on-line and I was skimming through one and came across a photo of Ray pointing to a carton of milk. The photo included a quoted testimonial from Ray along with the catchphrase heard in the closing of the television commercials "freshness from our family to yours". However, at the time, I didn't know that Ray had been a spokesman for the company for a number of years and had recorded dozens of television commercials for them. Anyway...it wasn't too long ago that Ray's social media sites began uploading the regional commercials he did for the Flav-O-Rich company. I don't know when his involvement with the company began nor do I know when it ended. I know he was doing commercials for the company when it was called Farm Best and the relationship continued through the name change to Flav-O-Rich and through the very limited information available on-line it looks as if the relationship lasted at least a decade. If I had to put a time-line on it I'd say anywhere between the years 1976 through 1986...and that's an estimated guess.
Along the Christmas vein we also have a very lively performance of "Redneck Christmas" from Ray Stevens on an episode of CabaRay Nashville. There's a very popular music video of the song which has gotten millions of unique views since it's debut on YouTube in 2012 but this is a performance of the song from his television series and it's gotten over six thousand unique views in three days time...
In the world of social media Ray Stevens has recently been a bit more active. There is almost always a new post on his Facebook page everyday or every other day but here recently there have been a couple of video clips that have been added to the social media contributions. On December 3rd Ray and Ralph Emery attended a 2 hour event in Dickson, Tennessee at Clement County's railroad museum. WSMV, a local television station in Nashville, aired brief footage of the two at the museum but unfortunately there wasn't any audio clips of either Ray Stevens or Ralph Emery but they appear several times in the camera footage. The anchor of the news not only referred to both of them as musicians but also said the two were "from Tennessee's past" but in reality only Ray is a musician...Ralph happened to be a radio broadcaster and television host...but I'd like to clarify that Ray is very active and performs concerts at his CabaRay showroom in West Nashville...and he's very modern and contemporary with his music productions. So, in my opinion, Ray is very much a part of Tennessee's present. Here is the video clip...
A couple of photos emerged on-line of Ray Stevens attending a cake cutting party backstage at the Grand Ole Opry celebrating the 5th anniversary membership of the group, Little Big Town. I'm not posting the photos but you can find the photos by searching Ray Stevens + Little Big Town + Instagram. Ray made a guest appearance at the Opry during the same night that the group was also appearing.
A new upload of a vintage television commercial for Flav-O-Rich that Ray Stevens did in the late 1970s appeared on-line several days ago. I don't know the year of this commercial but someone that replied to the video on YouTube guessed it had to have been taped at some point in 1977. I'd have to look up the specifics of when the Flav-O-Rich name came into existence. The company used to go by the name of Farm Best but the name was changed to Flav-O-Rich at some point in the late 1970s. Anyway, in this commercial Ray, clean-shaven, is shown exiting through a front door and onto a porch and then down to the yard where a dairy case filled with Flav-O-Rich products are on display. It's Christmas themed.
Speaking of Christmas...a video clip from 1989 surfaced on YouTube of Ray Stevens performing "Santa Claus is Watching You" and aided by a simian puppet. The performance comes from an episode of Nashville Now and at various moments within the performance it looks as if the simian comes alive and tugging at Ray's neck ferociously...it's a cute performance...
Staying in the Christmas vein...it's Christmas at the Ray Stevens CabaRay showroom all this month. A video clip promoting this came along on YouTube not too long ago. The number to call for tickets, of course, can be seen in the video clip as well as the website if you prefer to purchase tickets on the internet...
Hello once again...it's been awhile since I've posted a blog entry. I had decided to ease up on the blogging because I'd posted quite a few during the first half of the month but yet that's only due to how active Ray's been and how earlier this month practically everything was centered around CMA Fest 2019 of which he participated by giving an interview on the Close-Up Stage. In this blog entry I'll be embedding a second vintage Flav-O-Rich television commercial that Ray Stevens uploaded onto the social media sites. Last month (May 1st) an ice cream commercial was uploaded in which Ray appeared as a little boy...an effect accomplished, of course, with oversized props enabling him to look tiny. In this latest vintage commercial upload he's advertising milk...but he has to put up with a scene stealing co-star as you can see in the screen cap below. I'd say this commercial is very early '80s...the Flav-O-Rich name debuted in 1979 after having been known as Farm Best...and Ray was the spokesman in commercials before and after the change in company name. This means the commercial may have originally aired at some point between the years 1979 and 1985. I use that as a cut-off year because I think that's the final year he did local/regional commercials for the company...but I definitely think the commercial embedded below is from 1980/1981...
Hello all...yes, it's me posting a blog entry about Ray Stevens in the middle of the day!! This usually doesn't happen unless I find myself awake for some reason during daylight hours (being a night owl, third shift, overnight worker I'm not usually awake at 2:40pm). Anyway...I find myself awake and I decided to check the computer. I didn't have the computer on at all Wednesday due to severe storms that passed through here. I get onto the computer about 20 minutes ago and discover that Ray Stevens, yesterday, uploaded a vintage television commercial advertising Flav-O-Rich ice cream.
In blogs past I've written about Ray's former involvement with the dairy company and I've posted print advertisements from early 1980s newspapers that I'd come across on-line showing Ray endorsing the products but this is the first time the television commercials have been posted on-line. Well, just one commercial's been uploaded for now, but he did more...and hopefully some of the others will be posted at some point. I don't know the year that the commercial aired...I'm saying mid 1980s...perhaps as late as 1985? Also, I've never found out whether those commercials that aired on television were regional or national...I'm guessing the television commercials were regional/local while the print advertisements were national.
