Wilkins and Wontkins (partially lost series of Jim Henson commercials; 1957-1969)

Wilkins (right), and Wontkins (left).

Status: Partially Lost

In 1957, puppeteer Jim Henson was asked by a Washington D.C. coffee company, Wilkins Coffee, to make commercials for their company. The company only had 10 seconds of screen time, so the ads had to be lightning-speed fast. From 1957 to 1961, Jim Henson created 179 ads for Wilkins Coffee, all of which revolve around the titular characters of Wilkins and Wontkins. In each commercial, Wilkins attempts to promote Wilkins Coffee to Wontkins, who states his distaste for the product before experiencing various slapstick misfortunes-- more often than not by Wilkins's hand-- for his opinion. The popularity of these ads sparked Wilkins and Wontkins to appear in commercials for various companies (Community Coffee, Red Diamond Coffee, Faygo, etc.). The various Wilkins and Wontkins commercials were initially produced in black and white before shifting to color in 1966. The last known Wilkins and Wontkins commercials made were for Community Coffee, made around 1969.

Companies

Companies that Wilkins and Wontkins promoted.

#	Company	Runtime	# of ads made	Status
1	Wilkins Coffee	1957-1961	179	Partially Found
2	Community Coffee	1959-1969	37	Partially Found
3	Donovan Coffee Company	1961-1966	13	Partially Found
4	Nash's Coffee	1958-1961	20	Partially Found
5	La Touraine Coffee	1958-1962	15	Partially Found
6	Martinson Coffee	1959	15	Lost
7	Faygo	1958-1959	10	Partially Found
8	Calso Water	1961	8	Lost
9	Frank's Beverages	1961-1963	7	Lost
10	Kraml Dairy	1962	18	Partially Found
11	Merita Bread	1963	6	Partially Found
12	Taystee Bread	1967	9	Partially Found
13	Dugan's Bread	1962-1963	3	Partially Found
14	Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio)	1960	Unknown	Partially Found

Availability

Out of the 179 Wilkins Coffee commercials, only 99 have been released on the internet. It is unknown how many of these commercials Jim Henson made, let alone how many ads The Jim Henson Company has stored in their archives.