By Heather Taylor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before the Nesquik Bunny<\/a> hopped onto grocery shelves and decades before streaming television, a spunky pup harmonized about the delicious taste of chocolate-flavored milk on black and white TV screens everywhere. His name was Farfel and with the help of ventriloquist Jimmy Nelson<\/a> and his dummy Danny O\u2019Day, the trio would create and perform a jingle for Nestl\u00e9\u2019s Nesquik that would take the world by storm for more than a decade. No need to adjust your TV antennae \u2014 we\u2019re stepping back in time for a tale (tail?) that uncovers more about this plucky puppet\u2019s sweet rise to fame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Nestl\u00e9\u2019s \u201cQuik\u201d chocolate powder was introduced in 1948, Farfel didn\u2019t make his commercial debut until much later. Jimmy Nelson, a popular Chicago ventriloquist who was well known for his comedy acts starring his puppets Danny O\u2019Day and Humphrey Higsbye, came up with the concept for Farfel in 1950. According to his son, Lee Jay Nelson<\/a>, Farfel was based on a stuffed dog Nelson spotted on a piano at one of the clubs he performed at. He gave the dog a voice that made the audience laugh and just like that, the character was born. Frank Marshall, a figure maker who also served as the designer of the Danny O\u2019Day dummy, custom-built the Farfel puppet for Nelson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n