Tony The Tiger Apparently Has A Big Italian Family, And We're Really Confused

While digging around on the Wikipedia page of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes cartoon mascot Tony the Tiger (in the interest of hard-hitting journalism, of course), we uncovered a treasure trove of information under the "History" section. There's loads of great trivia there — he was named after an advertising executive named Raymond Anthony Wells; he was originally voiced by legendary voice actor Dallas McKennon (who also voiced Gumby, Archie, and even Andrew Jackson in Disney's Hall of Presidents) — but the most interesting tidbit is the fact that Tony the Tiger apparently has an entire Italian-American family!

Yep, in the early 1970s Tony began to take on some human aspects, and in a series of commercials we were introduced to his mother (Mama Tony), a wife (Mrs. Tony), a son (Tony Jr. — they were very creative with the naming), and a daughter named Antoinette. In fact, a 1974 commercial featuring a newborn Antoinette trying Frosted Flakes for the first time was hailed as being very innovative, and Tony Jr. graced the box of a short-lived cereal called Frosted Rice in 1975. Tony's family was obviously Italian, so he was celebrated by Italian-American groups and even graced the cover of Italian GQ.

Tony's big Italian family eventually faded from the limelight, but the next time you see Tony hanging out on a box of Frosted Flakes, know that he's not alone in this world.