A Perfectly Cromulent Blog

Ah, me public

So, about a year and a half ago I wrote a column about the William L. Petersen movie To Live and Die in L.A. for Film Threat (you can read it in all its poorly formatted glory here). In it, I went off on a bit of an outdated diatribe about the film's lack of availability on DVD, which is no longer the case. There was also a throwaway line that I didn't really think about after I'd written it:

Then again, if it weren’t for my VHS copy, I’d never be able to enjoy the classic 1985 commercial for Nestlé Alpine White chocolate ("Sweet dreams you can’t resist, N-E-S-T-L-E-S"), but I digress.

This weekend, I received the following e-mail, which I...uh, just had to share with you:

From: "XXX" [XXX@hotmail.com]
To: input@filmthreat.com
Subject: Re: Pete Vonder Haar...N-E-S-T-L-E-S commercial TRIVIA
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2005 19:00:07 -0500

Here's some trivia on the classic N-E-S-T-L-E-S commercial you found at the beginning of the film, Live and Die in LA.

It was shot in New York City on the upper west side, January, 1986, two weeks before the Shuttle Challenger disaster. The Maxfield Parrish artwork was used as a back drop. The commercial ran for three years until the Maxfield Parrish estate sued Nestle because they apparently didn't ask permission to recreate the art work. The commercial, although timeless, was pulled from all markets.

Darn...I made good money on that one.

I was the second model in the commercial, the young, dark-headed guy. It took 45 minutes for them to shoot my scene. I was in makeup longer than that. This is how it went. I had to stand on a box, take a bite of the bar, then spit it in a bucket, behind me to the right...very glamorous. After multiple takes, a person can get sick on all that chocolate and I'm not fond of white chocolate so I had to muster what few acting skills that I had at the time. The studio was so cold that the chocolate bars would break off in my mouth (not too appetizing) so if you look closely, I don't really take a bite, I just fake chewing. I still have an original copy of the commercial given to me by the advertising agency that produced it. HEHE! What trivia!

And now you know the REST of the story!

Now sing along with your friends...

Sweet dreams are made of this, N-E-S-T-L-E-S
A dream as sweet as this, N-E-S-T-L-E-S
Creamy white, dreamy white
Nestle makes the very best, N-E-S-T-L-E-S
Sweet dreams you can't resist.

Great, now I have to go dig that tape out again.

Oh, and I have a new column (not Footage Fetishes) that will be making its debut on FT next week. Stay tuned.