'Sky King' NABISCO Cereal Premiums - Pt 1

 Per Wikipedia:

"Sky King was an American radio and television series. Its lead character was Arizona rancher and aircraft pilot Schuyler "Sky" King.

The series had strong Western elements.^[1] King usually captured criminals and spies and found lost hikers, though he did so with the use of his airplane, the Songbird. Two twin-engine Cessna airplanes were used by King during the course of the TV series. The first was a Cessna T-50 and in later episodes a Cessna 310B was used till the series's end.^[2] The 310's make and model type number was prominently displayed during the closing titles.^[3]

King and his niece Penny lived on the Flying Crown Ranch, near the fictitious town of Grover, Arizona. Penny's brother Clipper also appeared during the first season. Penny and Clipper were also pilots, although they were inexperienced and looked to their uncle for guidance. Penny was an accomplished air racer, rated as a multiengine pilot, whom Sky trusted to fly the Songbird."

Sky King started as a radio program in 1946, then ran on television from 1951-62. The major characters offered by NABISCO were:

·         Kirby Grant as Schuyler "Sky" King

·         Gloria Winters as Penny King

·         Ewing Mitchell as Sheriff Mitch Hargrove

·         Ron Hagerthy as Clipper King

NABISCO also offered Fury (the horse) and Sky King's famous airplane, Songbird, and all the toys were produced in an array of bright, translucent soft plastic.

Sky King was one of my favorite Western's growing up as a kid in the '50s and '60s, as was The Roy Rogers Show, which was also set in the modern world with Old West plot lines. I vaguely recall having at least one of the figures that NABISCO offered, but as anyone will tell you, trying to track down and acquire a complete set of any cereal premium was a real bear back in the day. One would have to buy many boxes of cereal, bought from multiple stores, over the course of many weeks in the hopes of acquiring any given set of figures. 

This photo credited to Gregory Urbach (Meta)

In these photos (culled from fleaBay) one can see that NABISCO also offered some other fun tie-ins on their packaging.:

Here are the figures and toys we'll be looking at in the upcoming days:

(L-R) Penny, Sky King, Clipper, Songbird, The Sheriff, and Fury

Be Blessed and Relish Life! Ed