Tuesday, October 06, 2009

They Like to Lit-ter


This PSA represents my personal Holy Grail of long-lost video detritus, which I finally found today on YouTube.

As a kid I always saw this spot on Saturday morning TV and wanted to see it again, but my fruitless Internet searches over the years left me stymied. But it's just as I remembered -- almost. For whatever hazy reason, I mistakenly recalled the critters being Krofft-like monsters, and the bear delivering his "We like to lit-ter" line while holding up a fish skeleton and looking something like Mortiis. But I do remember the kids' Frankenstein T-shirt, and most of the dialogue ("You guys shouldn't be dumping garbage!"... "Let's get him!"), and that he somehow escaped the monster animal attack because he's seen relaxing on the hillside at the end.

After watching it again today, it turns out to have been a local spot for the Pacific Northwest region of the National Park Service -- I always figured it was part of a national anti-littering campaign. It could also be read as an anti-animal rock band campaign, but if there really were such sights up at Rainier, I'd probably visit more often.

Hey -- at the very beginning of the clip, isn't that a young Connie Thompson?