exceptional c. 1950's original and intact american highway and/or roadside oversized "jolly green giant" billboard sign with an allover reflective finish. the unique emerald green figural sign piece is comprised of heavy gauge die cut aluminum with a brightly colored green lithographed depiction of the frozen product's mascot. the fabricator of the single-sided sign is not known. the jolly green giant is the mascot of the green giant food company, founded in 1903 in le sueur, minnesota, as the minnesota valley canning company selling sweet creamed corn. the name green giant was introduced in 1925 to help market the company's peas, and in 1950 the company adopted the green giant name. created by leo burnett, the giant first appeared in advertisements in 1928; the name originally came from a variety of unusually large pea called the "green giant" that the company canned and sold. the original tv commercial, first aired in 1953, features a small green puppet as the (jolly) green giant (though the commercial itself was in black-and-white) stalking through what appears to be the valley, through the use of stop-motion animation. he stops outside a small farm and holding out his hands, in which two green giant canned products are seen spinning into view: in his left hand, a can of his famous niblets, and in his right, a can of peas. he then holds them out as the camera slowly backs out. a variation of this commercial features a scene that takes place in a family setting. in this, the mother character in the commercial implies that if one eats green giant products, one will become a green giant. the young boys featuring in the advert, however, are not scared by this, but seem rather excited. we can see this as they continue to devour their great giant sweetcorn somewhat more quickly. the commercial was deemed too scary for younger viewers and was quickly pulled off the air. it also featured a somewhat scary jingle, sung by a group of singers with tenors providing "fo fum fi fe" as the backing rhythm. it was found that when the green giant walked, he looked more menacing and scary. as a result, the second commercial, aired in 1960 for green giant brand "kitchen-sliced" green beans, featured athlete keith r. wegeman standing over the valley, while keebler-like elves work tirelessly to produce green beans on an assembly line. elmer dresslar, jr., born 1925, provided the voice of the jolly green giant in this commercial, saying only "ho, ho, ho". in 1973, the jolly green giant teamed up with "little green sprout", the diminutive young green giant. several 1970's commercials used "from the valley of the jolly (ho, ho, ho) green giant!" as the jingle at the end. starting in the 1980's, the "ho ho ho, green giant!" part has been used. measures 48 x 41 3/4.