Ralston Rocket Contest

NAME PLANET X
CONTEST

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A CONTEST TO END ALL CONTESTS
By Cadet Ed
Quick, name a contest where a kid could win a clubhouse that could be moved by a 15 wheeler!!! If you said the NAME THE PLANET contest from Space Patrol, you are a true cadet!! Not many contests can say they are still remembered after 50 years.

The NAME THE PLANET CONTEST was a contest to end all contests. Even by today's standards, it was a Whopper of a contest. It took two companies to sponser it (Weather-Bird Shoes and Ralston),television and radio shows promoted it and the grand prize weighted 10,000 pounds!!!!

The Space Patrol television and radio shows were the main avenue of promotion for the contest. The following pages contain clips from the NAME THE PLANET ads broadcast on the Space Patrol show. Thanks to Bruce David for making these treasures available for our research. Radio information was obtained from Jerry Haendiges and Jack Mann web page's.

INTRODUCTION
The first of many teasers began on August 29, 1953 with the television Show "THE MYSTERY OF PLANET X".

The mysterious appearance of a new planet, estimated to be five-thousand times the size of Earth, plunges Buzz Corry and his crew into one of the most startling adventures in the history of Space Patrol. Captured by the Earth's sun, the gigantic planet moves ominously into orbit on the outer edge of the solar system.

The teasers began to take on the form of a contest in September of 1953:

September 12, 1953
Mystery coins in packages of Ralston Cereals are promoted on thetelevision show "THE PRIMITIVE MEN OF PLANET X" and the radio show " ESCAPE FROM PLANET X" .

September 19, 1953
The first announcement for the NAME THE PLANET contest , where you could win a "Rocket Club House", is made on the Space Patrol television show "THE HATE MACHINE OF PLANET X"

Prince Baccarratti trains another of his diabolical mechanical creations on Terra to create bitterness, resentment, and dissension among Space Patrol and the people of the United Planets.

September 26, 1953
The radio show "TARGET JUPITER" begin commercials for "Swell Space Coins" inside Hot Ralston Cereals.

The contest would continue to be promoted on TV and radio till the 1st of December when the contest ended. The radio show "Revolt of the Space Rats" broadcast on November 28, announced that there were only 3 days left to enter "Name the Planet" contest. The television show "DOOM OF PLANET X" November 28, closes the contest and Prince Baccarratti's operation.. for a while at least!!

After escaping a fourth dimension trap, Buzz, Major Robertson, and Happy destroy the Time Warp Machine and conquer the villainous Black Falcon, Prince Baccarratti.

The PRIZES
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