There is no more blissful moment in local TV commercial history than when that rinkrat watching Mo Richard penalizes the Rocket "two minutes for looking so good."
Denis Savard was past his prime when he was traded in 1990 to the Habs for Chris Chelios, deemed the worst trade in franchise history (since exceeded perhaps by the McDonough for Gomez trade) but heck the little wizard helped sell fizzly soda drinks with an endorsement deal with Coca Cola. This commercial is a snoozer but another one where a kid parks his beer bike to watch Savard play on a TV stuck in a window hit the right sentimental notes.
The 70s Habs were long on talent but short on charisma. So in this case a beer firm relied instead on the less-constrained and presumably cheaper talents of a retired Boom Boom Geoffrion.
. .
Guy Lafleur was the most electrifying player in the league during his peak years and still remains a great interview, as he doesn't hold back. But he clearly came short on media training as his monotone drone doesn't inspire much excitement even here when he's telling a story about playing a game in cold weather. "They let us win," he says, which seems strange because the other team surely would have had a hard time beating a team with Lafleur on it.
Alas the three-greatest Habs commercials are still not anywhere in evidence on the internets, until at least the great Martin Lamontagne stumbles across another old VHS at a flea market and posts the treasures.They are:
1-Yvon Lambert for Dorion suits, a West Island haberdasher that relied heavily on TV ads,including some with radio joker
Ralph Lockwood. Lambert extols the virtues of the firm by saying there are "no hassles" which, with his accent, sounds a lot like "no assholes."
2-Henri "Chuckles" Richard, who I met many times in my youth as I worked in the lot where he
parked his car. Richard always seemed old even though he's technically still only like 19 years old due to being born on a leap year. He had a tavern and always had a big wad of cash after parking his Lincoln Continental. He also had a great commercial for La Belle Fermiere. Richard shot the ad at the old Forum and had to eat sausages on camera. He wasn't exactly a one-take kinda guy so they place a bucket unseen at his feet and he would spit out the sausages on each failed take.3-Jacques Laperriere. Although an avid lifelong Habs fan I'd be hard-pressed to remember any play made by Jacques Laperriere but I'll sure
never forget his Instantine (a sorta aspirin) commercial where he says, in a painfully forced English: "When I get a 'eadache, it's a bad one." Laperriere retired after suffering an injury in a 1974 practice, which led to litigation against theHabs that was only settled six years later. He's 74 now.Gilbert Delorme's exercise video is your bonus, on a tip from a reader. Who's Gilbert Delorme? He was a journeyman who played defence briefly on the Habs alongside such snoozetastic players as Ludwig, Green and Bill Root. His defence partner in '82 was 1977 third-overall pick Robert Picard, whose mother I knew a little bit. Once I asked Mrs. Picard whether she worried about her son getting into hockey fights, "Oh no, those are just faked!" she told me. (How many times are you planning to tell that story? - Chimples)
And to end with a semblance of dignity, here's an old-fashioned ad for Scotiabank shot in 1972 with Jean Beliveau.