Summer survival continues, and in today's spot light we are observing 5 random ice cream truck moments featured in movies, cartoons and TV series! I was fortunate enough to experience an ice cream truck annually for a very long time in my childhood years. The ice cream truck is the neighborhood hero. On those hot days when there seemed to be no relief in sight, the faint sound of the cheerful truck jingle getting louder in the distance could revive one from their heat coma long enough to snag something cold and sweet. I feel that they deserve to be celebrated... or, at the least, talked about. Fortunately, all I can do is write about some I've seen on TV.... so here we are!

JOLLY OLLY MAN - HEY ARNOLD!

In the episode simply titled "Heat," Arnold wakes from his ice cream mountain climbing dmt trip to a heatwave. Arnold, Gerald and the rest of the neighborhood struggle to enjoy their day due to the scorching 106° temperature. Keep in mind, its 7 o'clock in the AM. So, it's not even peak temperature yet. To put you in the scene, Arnold attempts to carry a bag of ice back to his home but it melts before he arrives, he and Gerald avoid the movie theaters over their high temperature themed movies like "Invasion of the People Melters," Arnolds crazy grandma talks normal and, my personal favorite; the kids resort to dunking their heads under this sludgy pink slush fountain in an effort to keep cool. Side note, both kids are wearing longsleeves... a little counterproductive but okay. That slush fountain shower looks so good. I remember wondering back in the day if that was an acceptable way to beat the heat. I still kinda wonder.

Eventually, Arnold and Gerald happen upon a mob of pissed off kids surrounding the neighborhood ice cream truck driver, the Jolly Olly Man. Instead of coming to the rescue, that dirty bastard is charging 20 bucks for a scoop of ice cream ($30 for cookie dough, $15 for rum raisin.... eww, by the way. Who the hell eats rum raisin?) and $18 for a snow cone. What a piece of shit. He even laughs in Eugene's sad face when he says he doesn't have enough money.

Arnold and the neighborhood kids have enough and decide to protest and chant "no ice cream, no peace." While Arnold was only trying to peacefully protest, the rest of the kids say "fuck it" and attempt to flip Jolly Olly Man's truck. Arnold tries to reason with the kids to keep them from flipping the truck over but fails. As the kids continue to push the truck, they're interrupted by gentle thunder and "rain, rain, rain for the rest of the week" and the Jolly Olly Man slips away like the sleezy little shit he is while the kids are distracted.

O'BESE BROS - GOOD BURGER

After escaping the psyche ward (Demented Hills), Ed, Otis and Dexter steal or "borrow" the idle O'Bese Bros ice cream truck to make a quick getaway! Legend has it, to this day, the old driver is still waiting for them to bring it back. But legit, Dexter is already in a bind with the funky version of Sinbad so, have fun waiting.

It's a relatively quick scene but a good one, nonetheless. While being chased, Ed fiddles with the tunes and digs through the ice cream freezer because... well... he's Ed. Dexter gets the idea to throw ice cream at the car chasing them. After throwing fudgey pops, monster sicles, lemon juice pops, vanilla, chocolate and raspberry sorbet, it blinds the chasing cars view and causes a wreck. The best part is the confused kids waving cash and trying to keep up with the truck.... oh, smashing Sinbads brand new mailbox was kinda of hilarious as well. Dude can never win. But what intrigued me the most, what exactly is a "monster sicle?" I'm fat and I need to know these things.

TERENZI BROS - KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE

Ah, yes. The 32 year old classic, Killer Klowns from Outer Space. Klowns from outer space land on planet earth to turn its inhabitants into cotton candy cocoons for a means of consumption. They also shoot popcorn bazookas and throw human melting acid pies. Besides coulrophobic individuals, does anyone genuinely dislike this movie? Its just so perfect and one of the best “B-horror” films ever.

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Before Debbie and Mike witness the big top spaceship blasting to earth, they (along with a group of other highschool kids, Im assuming) are interrupted in their make out session (because sex in horror movies or it doesn't count) by the Terenzi Brothers in their clown topped ice cream truck.

"I'm Jo-Jo the ice cream clown, we'll give you a stick, you'll give it a lick. And it'll tickle you all the way down. Ice cream, ice cream, we brought our goodies here to you! A tasty treat for while you screw! Let's take a break! Cool off those hot lips with our frozen fruity bars! Icy-wicy, fudgy-wudgy bars. And everyone's frozen delight, the lick a stick!" Fun fact, fudgy wudgy bars are a real thing. They're "soft, buttery, creamy fudge that melts in your mouth" says a quick Google search. They look awesome. Unfortunately, they're not ice cream and not at all affiliated with Killer Klowns. I see a huge missed opportunity here.

Towards the end, the Terenzi bros try to keep the clown invasion at bay with their clown ice cream truck but Klownzilla don't take no shit and picks the truck up and turns it on its side as if he finished what the kids from Hey Arnold started. Leave it to a giant killer klown to show an angry mob of kids how its done.

ICE AGE TRUCK - FLINTSTONES MOVIE

I can't believe how low of a rating this movie has on IMDB. The Flintstones movie deserves way more than a 4.9 out of 10. The movie really is an extended version of the cartoon in every way shape or form. John Goodman and Rick Moranis killed these roles. I admit, at age 5, I would've watched and loved just about anything aimed at my age group. But, even watching it now, it still holds its own.

Anyway, Barney Rubble switches his exam with Fred Flintstones at work and he receives the lowest score out of the bunch which renders him without a job. Moral of the story? Don't try to save shitty people. Fred ends up being framed for embezzlement and disguises himself to see what people are saying about him but his fake mustache falls off.... as if we didn't know it was him in the first place. Its like when Superman wears glasses. Is it really that indistinguishable between the two entities?

After Fred's "disguise" fails, the mob of angry ex coworkers strings him up for a lynching. This is where Barney Rubble comes in driving an ice cream truck - the Ice Age truck. The fucking snow cones looked so damn monstrous and amazing. Where can I get one? The only flavor mentioned is lemon and I'm not even mad. I'd take one of those big prehistoric lemony bastards if it was the only flavor available in a heartbeat any day. Fun fact, did you know that Barney Rubbels ice cream truck plays the Jetsons theme song?

MR TASTEE - THE ADVENTURES OF PETE AND PETE

In the episode "What We Did on our Summer Vacation" the brothers Pete and friend Ellen (who was working at a photo booth) open the photos of the mysterious ice cream man, Mr. Tastee, in hopes to reveal his identity. With no luck of putting a face to their mystery ice cream man, what they do find is what they believe is a lonely human being who never reveals his identity and probably has no friends. So, the children attempt to befriend Mr. Tastee.

After the kids confront him, Mr. Tastee leaves town to avoid becoming what no ice cream man should be, friends with his customers. As a kid, this didn't bother me much. As an adult.... I side with Tastee. One minute, you're a kids friend... the next you're seen as the creepy dude that lets little kids wax your ice cream truck and ends up on the Meghans law website. Maybe it's just me. Nonetheless... big Pete, little Pete, and Ellen decide to search for their lost lonely ice cream man.

Eventually, after the children fail to find him, Mr. Tastee comes back to get his pictures and explains that the job of an ice cream man is suppose to be a lonely job. “I'm an ice cream man. I am what the summer is — fireflies, thunderstorms, butt sweat on the car seat — and when it all goes, I have to go with it.” He then allows big Pete, little Pete and Ellen to help wax his car on the last day of the season (don't do it, Tastee! Thats how they get ya!)

A little about Mr. Tastee, he likes ice cream, always wears a mask to hide his identity and doesn't want to be around people.... how relatable? Maybe he's me? I use to daydream about Mr. Tastees truck. He has a whopping 49 "flavorrific" flavors including hydrogen pops, boomerang bars, mirangue kabangs, blue tornado bars (there is a lot of emphasison blue tornado bars in the whole episode. So it must be the best), chocolate thunder chunks, lemon licky nubs, orange splurto sticks, blueberry blowtorch and pineapple blurt. The rest of his lineup isn't mentioned but I would love to hear the names of what else he might've had in his arsenal. I'm not sure what Pineapple Blurt or a Blueberry Blowtorch is but I'm pretty sure I need a dozen of each.

BONUS

For your viewing pleasure, here is a sweet original TMNT ice cream truck sticker! A friend of a friend of a friend found these on ebay and they happened to have a couple more when I checked and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to show it off. I use to snag these all the time from the local truck when it was still in business. They made so many of these style pops for just about every franchise but, of course, I would pick Ninja Turtles over the rest any day.