No more calls, we have a wiener: The Wienermobile makes a stop in Seekonk, Massachusetts

 What's that off in the distance? Could it be...

 It is!

They give out free postcards that you can send to envious loved-ones, and mail right there on the spot, postage paid!

Allow me to be frank: I relish the Wienermobile. Okay, now that we've got the pun formalities out of the way, here's the skinny (sorry, I can't help it): the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile made an appearance in Seekonk, Massachusetts last Saturday as part of its Price Rite grocery store tour through Rhode Island and Massachusetts. It's not every day you see one of the true icons of eccentric mimetic roadside vehicles parked among the Corollas and Accords of suburbia, but there it was, all red and yellow and bulbous, with its gull-wing door wide open inviting all to take a peek at the plush wiener interior. Some of Oscar's dedicated wiener recruits, known as Hotdoggers, were there braving the 20-degree winds to offer photo ops, free whistles and your own copy of the sheet music for both the Wiener Jingle ("Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener") and the Bologna Song ("My bologna has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R"). It's not the first time we've seen the W-M in the, er, flesh (check out this post) but it still boggles and amazes, and is a real crowd pleaser, with its smiling front and chassis reminiscent of the Monkeemobile. Two suggestions for the Oscar Meyer marketers: 1. a dachshund, in a hot dog costume and perhaps named Little Oscar to serve as a canine mascot, because who wouldn't love that, and, 2. an actual wiener-shaped hot dog cart, selling, you know, hot dogs. If you put these ideas in action, I'd take that as a supreme condiment.

In a pickle: The Wienermobile crashes into a house in Racine, Wisconsin

Here's a news flash on the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile front. One of the beloved motorized hot dogs crashed into a house in Racine, Wisconsin. It seems the 22 year-old driver was trying to turn around on a dead end street, thought she had the weenie in reverse but actually had it in drive and then hit the gas, causing a fair amount of damage to the dwelling. She then took off without leaving a name or number which was probably not the smartest move since there are a finite number of Wienermobiles and they do tend to stick out in a crowd. Check out the news report here:
 

Dog Day Afternoon: Three Wienermobiles in Times Square, New York

George Molchan as Little Oscar in the 1950s.

The first Wienermobile, 1936.

New York City's Times Square is a too-much-is-never-enough kind of place and one of the few places where an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile seems small. What's a luncheon meat marketing department to do? Park three of them there! Among the towering neon and hustle and bustle of tourists and grifters, we spotted "Our Dog" and "Big Bun," two traditional Wienermobiles, and "Lil Link," a Mini Cooper adapted into a much smaller version of the classic hot dog vehicle. They were a little hard to photograph because the place is so thick with Wienermobile-loving people flocking to get their photo opportunity with an oversized motorized frankfurter. Oscar Mayer premiered the Wiernermobile in 1936 and has updated the design several times since then, although today's models still have a certain swoopy Jetsons design quality about them. For three decades, they employed height-challenged actor George Molchan, dressed as a chef, to portray Little Oscar, the company mascot, and travel the country in the Wienermobile spreading company recognition and bologna-friendly goodwill (when he died, 50 mourners sang a chorus of the Oscar Mayer jingle at his burial as the Wienermobile was parked nearby). I'll be frank with you, it was a thrill to see those Wienermobiles, and that's no baloney.