Into It

Part three of a four-part series on iconic stock sound effects.

Part two of a four-part series on iconic stock sound effects.

For this Into It I’ll try something a little different: instead covering one topic and moving on to the next, this week begins a four-part series on stock sounds and canned emotion.

Long before the luxury of recordings, stage performers created their own sounds to accompany productions. Copper sheets were struck to produce a crack of lightning. Blocks of wood, hand drums, whistles and other simple items could add believability or comedy.

Kellogg’s rushed Pop-Tarts onto the market in 1964, shortly after their competitor announcement a similar toaster snack release called Country Squares. Since then, the evolution of the Pop-Tart has been long and strange.

Pop-Tarts began simply, with a handful of flavors. Though they come wrapped in tinfoil and ready-to-eat, they’ve always been closely tied to the toaster. Pop-Tart’s first mascot was an animated toaster named Milton.