La Choy

The La Choy brand of easy-to-prepare Asian foods was founded in 1922 by Wally Smith and Ilhan New, two Detroit friends who grew bean sprouts, canned them, and sold them in Smith's grocery store. The company opened its first plant in 1937, and grew into a nationally sold brand.

Jim Henson produced a series of eleven TV commercials for La Choy from 1965 to 1969. The series included six sixty-second commercials and five twenty-second commercials.

The star of the campaign was the La Choy Dragon (also known as Delbert the Dragon). Loud and clumsy, the Dragon bullied his way through the ads, proclaiming the virtues of La Choy products, and cooking everything with bursts of dragon fire.

There were two sets of ads produced for the campaign. One set featured a hand puppet version of Delbert, interacting on a studio set with Mert, a timid Muppet in a suit. In the other set of ads, a large full-bodied Muppet version of the Dragon interacted with real humans.

Some ads are summarized below. The other ad titles are "Ingredients" and "Wifeless Husband" (all 60 seconds), "Fire-Breathing Act", "Lunch Break" and "Hot Salesman" (20 seconds).

Full-Bodied Muppet Spots

 * Supermarket (60 seconds)


 * A suburban mother and her Cub Scout son meet the Dragon in a supermarket, where Delbert ends up destroying the store as he promotes La Choy Chow Mein and Noodles. The human cast for this commercial consisted of Beverly Owen as the mother, Phil Grab as the store clerk, and Patrick Ostonic as the Cub Scout.[YouTube]


 * Sad Bride (60 seconds)


 * The Dragon visits a woman who has trouble cooking, and explains how easy it is to prepare LaChoy Chow Mein.


 * Kitchen (60 seconds)


 * The Dragon terrifies a woman (Sara Lou Cooper) in her kitchen.

Hand Puppet Dragon Spots

 * Six-Minute Sunday Supper (60 seconds)
 * The Dragon tells Mert that he doesn't eat La Choy chow mein often enough. It's the perfect six-minute Sunday supper! The Dragon demonstrates how he cooks the chow mein in dragon fire, and burns Mert's house down.


 * Campaigning (20 seconds)


 * Mert campaigns for crisp chow mein.


 * Secret Agent (20 seconds)


 * Mert asks where a suspicious stranger (Delbert) got info about chow mein.

Appreciation
The Jim Henson Company files include a letter dated November 9, 1965, sent by William F. Grisham of Campbell-Mithun Inc., the Chicago advertising company who was producing the spots. In the letter, Grisham congratulates Henson on his work:

"Dear Jim Henson: We have reviewed the rough cuts of the La Choy commercials here at the agency. They are fabulous. The world's wackiest dragon. You must know what a pleasure I have had working with you on both the Wilkins and the La Choy projects. What a pleasure to work with people whose views of the world are unrestrainedly mad. These commercials are going to make a lot of people happier for having seen them."