July 1, 1971: The Hillside Coke Commercial

July 1, 1971: One of the most famous TV commercials of all time airs for the 1st time: The Hillside Coke Commercial.

Advertising agency McCann Erickson had taken the song "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)," written by British writers Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway, and hired Bill Backer and Billy Davis to re-write it with their biggest client in mind: Coca-Cola.

Cook and Greenaway had already written a Top 10 hit for The Fortunes, "You've Got Your Troubles." They would go on to write another for The Hollies, "Long Cool Woman In a Black Dress."

Davis (not to be confused with Billy Davis Jr. of The 5th Dimension) was a cousin of Lawrence Payton of The Four Tops, and worked with Berry Gordy Jr. even before Gordy founded Motown Records. Together, they and Gwen Gordy -- Berry's sister and Billy's then-girlfriend -- wrote Jackie Wilson's hits "Reet Petite" and "Lonely Teardrops," and Marv Johnson's "You Got What It Takes," all of them now retroactively considered building blocks of Gordy's "Motown Empire."

Davis moved from Detroit to Chicago, where he produced songs for Chess Records, and was then hired to write commercial jingles by McCann Erickson. He went on to produce the one Coke commercial that might match this one for enduring popularity: "Hey Kid, Catch!" with Mean Joe Greene of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1979. That commercial introduced the slogan and song "Have a Coke and a Smile." Davis also wrote the jingle "If You've Got the Time" for Miller beer.

But he didn't write "Have a Coke and a Smile." That was written by Backer, who also coined the Coke slogans "It's the Real Thing" and "Things go better with Coke." For Miller beer, he coined the slogan "Miller Time"; and for Miller Lite, he created the "Less filling," "Tastes great" call-and-response, after New York Jets running back Matt Snell inadvertently gave him another slogan for the beer: "Everything you always wanted in a beer. And less."

Backer, Davis and Cook (but not Greenaway) were trying to fly out of Shannon Airport in Ireland, and tempers were flaring. But the next morning, they saw some other would-be flyers enjoying themselves, because they were also enjoying Coca-Cola. Backer grabbed a napkin and wrote, "I'd like to buy the world a Coke," and showed it to the others.

Cook gave Backer and Davis permission to adapt a song they'd already written, titled "True Love and Apple Pie." A British vocal group named The New Seekers recorded it in London. (Keith Potger was the only member of the original Seekers, an Australian group, to be in the new version.)

The commercial was explained at the end:

On a hilltop in Italy,
We assembled young people
From all over the world...
To bring you this message
From Coca-Cola Bottlers
All over the world.
It's the real thing. Coke.

It's been parodied many times, most famously in the final episode of the TV series Mad Men in 2015, suggesting that Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm), after spending the entirety of the 1960s (and, apparently, most of the 1950s) smoking, drinking, adultering and lying his way through the advertising industry, comes to a moment of clarity at a meditation retreat, and combines his previous thought process with what he's been taught at the retreat, and comes up with the idea for the commercial. It was an idea so cheesy, the episode should have been sponsored by Kraft.

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July 1, 1971 was a Thursday. Rapper Missy Elliott and actress Julianne Nicholson were born.

These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Washington Senators, 3-1 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. Mike Kekich was outpitched by Jim Shellenback, who allowed only 4 hits, 2 of them by Danny Cater.

* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-0 at Shea Stadium. Jerry Koosman was outpitched by 4 Pirate hurlers, starting with 5 innings from Dock Ellis, as they pitched a 5-hit shutout. Roberto Clemente went 3-for-5. Willie Stargell went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Montreal Expos, 7-3 at Jarry Park in Montreal. Hank Aaron only appeared as a pinch-hitter, and drew a walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Pete Rose went 2-for-5 with an RBI, and Johnny Bench went 3-for-3 with a walk. 

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Frank Robinson went 1-for-3 with a walk and a solo home run, and Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-7 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4, but did draw a walk. Al Kaline went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-4 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the California Angels, 9-4 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 2-1 at San Diego Stadium (later to be renamed Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium).

* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-7 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays did not play. Lou Brock went 2-for-5 with an RBI, and Joe Torre went 1-for-5 with a solo home run.

* The Minnesota Twins and the Oakland Athletics, having just wrapped up a series against each other, were not scheduled to play.

* And the Chicago Cubs and the Houston Astros were also not scheduled to play.