If you have ever driven through Battle Creek, Michigan, you may have noticed the wonderful aroma of toasted grain. Think fresh-baked bread, cinnamon buns, bread from a toaster. When I was in grade school, we took a family trip to visit the Kellogg factory there, driving south from East Lansing, and got to tour through the delicious-smelling plant, watching showers of grain being processed and packaged.
Kids! Try this at home!
The highlight of the visit was the free cereal sample at the end, and a gift shop. My mother bought a cloth printed with patterns for Snap, Crackle and Pop, the elfin mascots for Rice Krispies. She sewed them up and stuffed them, one toy for each of the three sisters. I got Snap.
Cereal was the mainstay of breakfasts then. I have an astonishing memory of my uncle Rodney, a high school student on the way to growing into a height of 6 feet 8 inches, sitting at a table, emptying an entire box of Sugar Crisp into a big bowl and eating the whole thing.
Fast forward to high school, when I was part of the “folk music and guitar” club. We were long on enthusiasm, if short on talent. If there was a faculty sponsor, I don’t recall. Maybe one person could really play a guitar, despite aspirations, but we all liked to sing. “Don’t Think Twice”, “Leaving on a Jet Plane”, “Suzanne”, “Four Strong winds”, “Joe Hill”. Silly camp songs. Whatever we remembered.
It was there I learned the harmony version of “Snap, Crackle and Pop”, where each character sings his part, then all join together so that “snap, crackle, pop” bubble up one after the other at the end. Good geeky fun, and I confess I remember the words to this day. And still eat cereal for breakfast.
Kids! Don’t miss–Extra credit reading!
Factory tours stopped in 1986—sorry! You can still Google “Visiting the Kellogg Factory”.
Check out YouTube “snap crackle pop old rice krispies commercial”. Do it! A jazz trio version–you will not be disappointed!
There is also on YouTube, an extremely geeky version by the MIT Logarhythmics–think four guys in suits and ties, and bad recording with a very enthusiastic audience.
And for those dying to read the lyrics, and maybe try it at home:
Snap! What a happy sound!
Snap is the happiest sound I’ve found
You can rap, tap, slap, clap
But snap! makes the world go round.
I say it’s crackle, the crispy sound!
You gotta have crackle or the clock’s not wound.
Geese cackle, feathers tickle, belts buckle, beets pickle
But crackle! makes the world go round.
I insist that pop’s the sound!
The best is missed unless pop’s around.
You can’t stop hoppin’ when the cereal’s poppin’
Pop! makes the world go round.
Snap, crackle, pop—Rice Krispies!
Khati Hendry
I LOVE that you got to tour the plant in Battle Creek, Khati! How cool! And your mother sewing the fabric into the characters for you and your sisters. Also, that your uncle could eat an entire box of Sugar Crisps for breakfast; impressive!
As a singer (and one from Detroit and its ‘burbs), I, too remember the entire 3-part harmony tune, which is great fun. I wasn’t in a folk music club. I learned all those tunes you mention, either from my camp counselor at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, MI in 1966 (see my “Grundy” story) or from listening to early Joan Baez and Peter, Paul and Mary constantly in my teens.
Thanks for sharing this fun story.
A fellow SCP aficionado! Interlaken camp must have been a great experience. If you didn’t google the old jazz trio version, I highly recommend it—they don’t make them like that anymore.
Wonderful Khati! You’ve reminded me of trips as a kid – smelling the chocolate in Hersey, PA, and drinking the soda at the fascinating Coke Cola bottling plant in New York.
Of course as an adult one has more sophisticated tastes and prefers touring the Guinness factory in Dublin and the vineyards in California!
Absolutely. And when travel makes sense, add the Okanagan to your list 😉
Thanx Khati, didn’t know it but just researched!
Love touring in Canada!
One of the great unknown wine regions! Do come.
As a former Michigander with most of my family still there, I took that tour as a kid and again with my own kids when we drove to see our Detroit-area family. It was great fun and always exciting to get those samples.
Khati, I adore factory tours, and take them whenever possible. Two favorites are the Jelly Belly Factory in Vacaville, CA, and Celestial Seasonings in Boulder. I would have loved the Kellogg factory tour; so sad that they don’t give them any more, it would have been worth a trip to Michigan just for that!
I still eat cereal for breakfast too. Will definitely have to learn the 3-part harmony to SCP so we can sing it together! Betsy can join us!
Yes, let’s do a round. If we are really motivated, we can add the “Good morning, good morning, the best to you each morning! A K-E-double-L-O-double-good, Kellogg’s best to you!” It actually overlays nicely with SCP. Sorry I never made it to Jelly Belly when I lived in the Bay Area.
Very cool, Khati, and I love that you got samples. I had to laugh when you described your uncle eating an entire box of Sugar Crisp. We ate cereal in our house, but mom, to her credit, was strict about Sugar, so Trix and others were a special treat.
We mostly just had corn flakes or rice crispies too. The really evil ones like Cap’n Crunch and Count Chocula came later.
Wonderful links, Khati! The jazz version is priceless, and I sent the guys in suits and ties to a friend who sings in an a cappella group…he’s a boomer, so I know he’ll love it. Thanks for such a fun story!!
Thanks! I’m so glad you checked out the songs–I hoped people would I too was amazed at the jazz version, and the “Logarhythmics” were a stitch.
Impressive blend of real life and the magical world of commercials, Khati. I remember wondering what a Battle Creek must be! Why do you suppose they stopped the factory tours in 1986? Had the Reagan union-busters descended on mill workers around then?
According to google, Battle Creek (which flows into the Kalamazoo River at the city of BC) was named for a “minor encounter” in 1824 between US government officials and couple of hungry Potawatomi Indians who hadn’t gotten promised food from the army on time. One of the Potawatomi was shot and seriously wounded. Not a happy story. I couldn’t find anything about WHY the tours ended, or if the Reagan union-busters were involved, but not surprisingly, there have been some more recent lockouts (at same time CEO got an $8 million bonus). Regardless, Battle Creek is still known as “cereal city” and there is a cereal museum there.
What??? Broken promises? Gun violence? I’m shocked! Shocked and disappointed! Great that you looked up the history. Mebbe I’ll check to see what unions would cover an outfit as large and diverse as Kellogg.
I lived high in the mountains with a Kellogg heir, back in the ’70s. His name really WAS Ed Kellogg, a great guy who bought the roadside café at the top of our outlaw town, Ward, Colorado. Good guy, very involved with the community/collective and the café served as a gathering place for town meetings, etc.
Thanks for the story–I’m sure Ward has many more. The Kellogg story is interesting, going back to accidental invention of corn flakes, feuding brothers and health claims for the product. One description mentioned an interest in eugenics that seemed a little creepy. W.H. did become a big philanthropist, and they still have a foundation that supports some health projects–we didn’t get any money but I do still have a glass globe they gave out at a meeting with community health center representatives years ago. It says “to help people help themselves”. Hmmm. At one point Kellogg almost took the lead on a 6 hour day, but there is also a lot of history of mergers and acquisitions and international expansion and competition with General Mills. Current union is BCTGM Local 50 (Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco workers and Grain Millers–sounds as if that goes back a ways!)
Oh yes, my pal Ed doesn’t undercut the corporate reality. We both know enough history to take this story from Gilded Age plundering — i’m sure they owned all the wheat fields in Kansas and the railroads to connect them to Battle Creek, etc — through the above-mentioned mergers and acquisitions, overseas exploitation horrorshows — into post-Reagan government shrinking “help people help themselves,” thousand points of light” — NeoCon monstrosity. The eugenics thing DOES sound creepy. The union does sound long-lived and Michigan used to be a strong union state with UAW et al, so there are plenty of labyrinthine tunnels to follow I’m sure as regards Kellogg and the unions. But snap crackle and pop did give me a giggle as a kid.
It’s fun to explore this stuff with you. I also wanted to chat further with you about a Retro post you did about a SF health center awhile back. But for another time. Happy International Women’s Day. Ta da!
Thanks for the conversation. I’m sure we have Bay Area stories to share. Cheers.
Great story, Khati! Somehow I never took that tour even though I grew up in Michigan and had a good friend from Battle Creek. Your story portrays the tour, and the pervasiveness of breakfast cereal during that era, beautifully.
During my first (and only) academic teaching job, however, a few colleagues and I formed an a cappella group and, looking for repertoire, sent away to Kellogg in Battle Creek for the sheet music. Damned if they didn’t send it — for non-commercial purposes only — with a gracious letter thanking us for our interest and inviting us to tour the factory! I must have performed that arrangement two dozen times over the years, even adapting it into a tribute for my father’s 70th birthday. (We might reprise it this fall for his 100th, the universe and pandemic willing.) Maybe you, Suzy, and I can give it a shot at next year’s class reunion — or at a Retrospect meetup, we could bring in Betsy and Patti and make it a chorus.
Well, that put a smile on my face! You must still have the sheet music too! I hope universe and pandemic do cooperate for your dad’s 100th this fall. Did you also check out the ad jazz trio version I mentioned? It far exceeded expectations for me. I like your idea of getting a chorus together when the opportunity arises. It seems we have a real subset of Michigander Retrospecters as well.
I indeed enjoyed the jazz trio version, thanks for the tip. But did you see the heap of sugar they added to that bowl of cereal? It was enough to give the whole trio diabetes.
I do have the sheet music and will scan and email you a copy.
The Michigan contingent is partly coincidence and partly an artifact of history. When we were ready to start beta testing Retrospect, Patti and I called on friends and classmates, including those from our childhood in Michigan. I’m happy to say some got addicted!