[VIDEO] REWIND: Classic 1970s Revlon “Charlie” Ad with Shelley Hack & Bobby Short

Certain commercial jingles get stuck in your head for years. Some even for decades. 

That’s the case for me with this Revlon “Charlie” ad. I was a kid when I first heard it, during a summer in  Southern California, and I never forgot the melody or lyrics. Or the brand of perfume.

From the YouTube description:

Still as classy as when it first aired. Featuring Shelley Hack and music by Bobby Short. Every shot is composed and lit like a Hurrrell photograph… this was Madison Avenue at its finest.

The finger-popping jazzy tune is a cross between a nightclub or Vegas lounge number, and elevator music. The “Kinda hip kinda now” and “wow” hipster jive talk was funny to me, even then, I knew it was cornball, but not without charm. It recalls the Smothers Brothers, Carol Burnett, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In era. When Dean Martin and Doris Day records were in the Columbia Record Club magazine ads right next to The Lovin’ Spoonful, Donovan, Cat Stevens, The Carpenters, and Led Zepplin.

If getting into your head is the objective in advertising, then the ad worked. This Revlon commercial conveyed sophistication. The name of the perfume, “Charlie” seemed fresh, inventive.

YouTube