expo 67 lounge

Mid-century fashion, vintage pop culture and retro cool... from Expo 67 and beyond.

20 July 2006

Madge the Manicurist

I grew up watching soap operas with my mom as a kid. Real gems, too, like Search for Tomorrow and Another World...

I also grew up with Madge the Manicurist.

Madge appeared in Palmolive commercials during these daytime shows. Working at the "Salon East Beauty Parlor", she would secretly soak her customer's hands in the famous green dishwashing liquid, while telling them about Palmolive dish soap for at home.

The customer was usually shocked to find out that their hands were actually soaking in that very same dishwashing liquid for their manicure. "You're soaking in it!" Madge would reveal slyly, followed up by "Palmolive softens hands while you do dishes", to soothe her customer's qualms...

Madge the Manicurist was created in 1966 by the Ted Bates Ad Agency, for the Colgate-Palmolive company. Jan Miner was the actress who portrayed Madge for almost 30 years, until 1992.

Jan Miner was constantly stopped in airports, Madge was known all across the world: in France her name was Françoise, the Germans called her Tilly, while the Finnish knew her as Marissa. International Palmolive commercials were never dubbed, Jan Miner actually read all the lines phonetically!




images: myspace.com and flickr.com

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5 Comments:

Blogger stinkypaw said...

There was something about Madge that was very soothing, she really impersonated, to me, what a beautician ought to be: Chit-chating, gossipy kind of feel... Ahh! the memories!

12:53 am  
Blogger Jason Stockl said...

I know what you mean, I get all warm and fuzzy when I watch the old commercial!

On top of that, my late paternal grandmother used to use Palmolive, so that smell reminds me of her!

8:12 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Keep 'em comin'....this time warp ride is tons of fun !!! Mousse xoxo

9:45 am  
Blogger Jason Stockl said...

Glad you enjoy...

6:07 pm  
Blogger chadd said...

Jan Minor appeared in the movie, Mermaids in 1990 with CHER, Wynonna Ryder and Christina Ricci. She play the Reverend Mother at a Nunnery. Very funny movie.

10:37 pm  

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