Rodney Allen Rippy

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Rodney Allen Rippy (born July 29, 1968) is a former American child actor. He appeared in TV commercials for Jack in the Box in the early 1970s, as well as a number of roles in film and television.

Early career[]

In 1971, the ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach had been tasked with creating an ad campaign to introduce Jack in the Box's Jumbo Jack hamburger. Competing chains like McDonald's and Burger King had used athletes to promote their burgers, so DDB went in an different direction and auditioned young boys. Rippy, who'd previously appeared in a Kellogg's commercial, was cast alongside three other boys in a 1972 Jack in the Box spot. Rippy emerged from the spot as an overnight sensation, and a subsequent ad campaign was built around him.^[1]

The_Jumbo_Jack_Is_Still_Too_Big_To_Eat — The Jumbo Jack Is Still Too Big To Eat

A commercial for the Jumbo Jack featuring Rodney Allen Rippy (circa 1973).

In the advertisements, Rippy was seen trying to wrap his mouth around the super-sized Jumbo Jack. His line "It's too big to eat!" (pronounced "It's too big-a-eat!") became a catchphrase. Another spot showed Rippy giggling while singing the ad jingle "Take Life a Little Easier," which was released as a single by Bell Records in the fall of 1973 in the wake of the commercial's popularity.^[2] The single (b/w "World of Love") appeared on the Billboard magazine "Bubbling Under" chart in October 1973, peaking at #112. An LP, also titled Take Life a Little Easier (Bell 1311), was released in 1974.

Rippy subsequently had guest roles in many popular television shows, including The Six Million Dollar Man, Marcus Welby, M.D., Police Story, and The Odd Couple (where Rodney played the owner of the building where Oscar and Felix lived). He also appeared frequently on talk shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Dinah's Place with Dinah Shore. Rippy also had a co-starring role on the CBS Saturday morning children's show The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine.

A "Talking Rodney Rippy" doll was produced in 1973.^[3] In a Peanuts newspaper comic strip dated July 3, 1974, Snoopy awakens from a dream in which he "had been invited out to dinner by Rodney Allen Rippy!"^[4]

Rippy made his big screen debut (uncredited, filmed before the Jack in the Box spots) in the Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles in 1974. He portrayed a young Sheriff Bart aboard his parents' buckboard wagon after a brutal Sioux nation attack. When the Sioux chief, portrayed by Brooks, allows the pioneers passage (for being darker than the Sioux are), Rippy says his only line, "Thank you."

After a two year hiatus, Jack in the Box brought back Rippy, then 8, for a "comeback" campaign in 1977 with the slogan "What Ever Happened to Rodney Allen Rippy?"^[1]^[5]

Later career[]

Rippy graduated from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 1995.^[6] He has taken on a few acting roles since his childhood stardom, filming a few episodes of Parker Lewis Can't Lose in the early 90s, appearing in the 1997 independent film Former Child Star and the 2003 David Spade comedy Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star.

Rippy is a partner in the film production company, Bow Tie Productions, and spokesman for Hurricane Housing Relief. He also worked at KABC-TV in Los Angeles, California. A resident of Carson, California, he has served as Master of Ceremonies for the Carson Relay For Life (Rippy's mother died of cancer in 1986).^[7] He was at one time a national director of marketing with Metro Networks (Westwood One).^[8] In 2013 Rippy was a candidate for mayor of Compton, California. He was eliminated by finishing 10th out of 12 candidates in the election's primary.^[9]

Currently, Rippy is the owner and operator of the ad agency Ripped Marketing Group and a co-creator of the beautiful music online tribute station KJBM.^[10]^[11]