Created on March 18, 1965, Rudy Perz, of the Leo Burnett advertising agency in Chicago, presented the idea to PIllsbury company. The character was named "Poppin' Fresh" by Perz, who loved the freshness of the Pillsbury baked products after trying them out in his own kitchen.

Milt Scaffer, who also worked for Disney, helped design Poppin' Fresh so that he did not resemble "Casper, the friendly ghost."

The first commercials used stop-action clay animation, a type of animation where pictures of the models were done in sequence by recording each frame and splicing together as one continuous series of movements. From his first commercial, where he jumped out of an oven, his name was revealed: “I’m Poppin’ Fresh, the Pillsbury Doughboy!”

Paul Frees, who was also the voice of Boris Badenov in “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle”, was chosen as the first voice actor for Poppin' Fresh.

Poppin’ Fresh is 8 ¾ inches tall from foot to top of his hat and weighs about 14 oz. At one point, He received about 200 fan letters per week and over 1,500 requests for autographs. To date he has starred in over 600 commercials and represented 50 products.

More Info: www.pillsbury.com