One wouldn't assume it of Village of the Giants, but several products featured into the plot of the film. Some you'll know, and some you won't. You'll learn about chicken that wasn't made by Colonel Sanders, and even find out about those groovy magazines that the giants read. Scroll on down to find out more.
Merrie (Joy Harmon) keeps watch as she peruses through the July 1965 issue of Teen Magazine (She's reading 10 ways to keep your Big Man from chasing Little Women).
It seems that even 40 years later, things don't change. Teenagers still buy Teen Magazine, though during the days of Village of the Giants there were all kinds of teen magazines popping up, from Teen World to Tiger Beat. While many of those magazines fell by the wayside, Teen Magazine survived into the 21st Century.
The issue in the film was a big 'if' on my part, wondering if this was even a real issue. When someone on the Internet Movie Database mentioned that the 'Monster' magazine being read by Harry (Kevin O'Neil) was real, I began to wonder the same about the Teen Magazine that was passed around between Merrie (Joy Harmon) and Jean (Tisha Sterling). After much searching, I finally found the cover to the issue I was looking for. The timeframe on shooting of the film is apparent from the issue at hand. The issue Merrie is reading is the July 1965 issue, which if we calculate, was on newsstands just 3 months before the film premiered on October 20, 1965.

Harry (Kevin O'Neil) gets some tips on how to be big and scary, by reading up on the former Bert I Gordon film, War of the Colossal Beast (1958).
Just like Teen Magazine, another famous magazine of the times ended up in the hands of the delinquent giants. Actually titled Famous Monsters of Filmland, Harry is actually holding an issue that's dated June 1963, over 2 years old from Bert I Gordon's filming of Village of the Giants. Most likely, the issue was chosen because a character from one of Mr Gordon's films graced it's cover (The Colossal Beast would once again grace the cover again a mere 30 issues later).
Famous Monsters of Filmland was launched in the late 50's, and it's first issues quickly sold out. The magazine would cover such famous monsters as King Kong, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman, among many others. The magazine still survives today, and can usually be found in the Enterainment section of most magazine racks.





Proof that some of us have too much free time on our hands, I began to calculate. Let's say that you were on average about 5ft tall, and the magazine you had was in the range of 8 1/2x11 inches. In Village of the Giants the median growth height is 30 ft. So that's basically taking a person of 5ft and multiplying their heighth by 6. To figure how big their magazine would be, we'd have to divide the dimensions by 6. The results are the measurements you see to the left.
If you compare the images of Joy Harmon and Kevin O'Neil above, you'll note that their magazines are about the size of their palm, which would not figure in to correct measurements. If we are to go by the measurements to our left, then those issues of Teen and Famous Monsters of Filmland would be the size of a postage stamp. but if scale was accurate, then the giants would either demand A)Large-type periodicals, or B)Some giant bifocals.




The mystery is finally solved, as we find the delinquent teens 'beer of choice is the classic Blatz Beer- helping drunken teens lose brain cells and become giants since 1965.
It's a minor item, but it had been on my lips as I'm sure those of many others who have watched Village of the Giants-what kind of beer were those teens drinking after piling out of that Thuderbird? I had never seen a beer can design like it, from what could be gathered from the still-frames. Pull-tab cans like that are almost non-existent today. The triangular shape could almost be considered to belong to 'Bass Ale,' but it couldn't be that easy. The clue came in the form of those wacky guys from Mystery Science Theater 3000, when Tom Servo identified the can straight away-

Hey Blatz! I love Blatz!-Tom Servo

For many years, I was never able to decipher quite what Tom was talking about. My mind kept thinking of Blats, Blads, etc. But until recently my search found that what I really wanted was the spelling B-L-A-T-Z.
The history of the Blatz brewing company (like most beer brewing stories) takes place in Wisconsin. Valentine Blatz opened his brewery in 1851. A year later, he married the widow of an ex-employer. This union gave Valentine acquisition of the Johann Braun City Brewery, at the time located in La Cross, Wisconsin. Valentine renamed the brewery Blatz, and by the beginning of the 20th century, Blatz had become the 3rd largest brewery in Milwaukee. Blatz held it's ground until 1959, when it was forced to close, and the Blatz label came under control of Pabst. Heileman brewing company would obtain the Blatz label just 10 years later after Pabst came into trouble with anti-trust laws. In 1996, Stroh's bought Heileman, and the Blatz name came under their logo.
Today, not much is known of Blatz beer. We're all more used to basics like Bud Light and Miller Genuine Draft, but Blatz has left the radar of popular American beers.

The once-famous restaurant chain provided the giant teens with an ample supply of chicken.
To many of us born beyond the 1970's, the big names in fried chicken providers have ranged from Kentucky Fried Chicken to Popeye's. But when it came to the town of Hainesville, their local businesses provided the famous franchise Chicken Delight. The 'Bucket O' Chicken' that sat around the giants didn't look familiar, but it was the banner behind the cowed elders handing in their rifles that made me take a second look. The chicken buckets are unfortunately hard to find on the internet, but the finding of a vintage matchbook with the same style of lettering proved the existence of the restaurant.
Chicken Delight was founded in 1952 by Al Tunick. After purchasing some equipment from a closed restaurant, he and his friends tried some experiments on different foods and deep fryers. It wasn't til' they tried chicken that they hit on a hit. Tunick found that when coating his chicken in a spicy breading, and deep frying it in the hot oil, that it cooked faster, and the juices stayed inside.
The restaurant started mainly as a take-out/delivery location. The restaurant's famous catchphrase soon caught on: Don't Cook Tonight...Call Chicken Delight.
6 years later, with over 1000 locations, some businesmen from Winnipeg began the process to market the franchise in Canada. Just at the peak of it's success, a federal court case caused the company to lose much of it's steam. New management focused on working out the brand name in Canada.
Today, the famous restaurant is largely located in Canada (primarily the Winnipeg and rural Manitoba areas), but can still be found in the US. While largely located in New Jersey and New York, one location still exists in California, on Hollywood Blvd.

Whether you're 5 ft tall or 30ft tall, it's always a good time for the refreshing taste of Coca-Cola.
One of the most popular brand names in history, there's probably not a country that does not recognize the white ribbon on a red background, and the curly letters of Coca-Cola.
Utilized in almost all the gatherings, Coke proves it's superiority to Pepsi in Village of the Giants, available at the Whiskey-a-Go-Go, the duck roast the next day, and also the premiere beverage of the new giant regime.
Created in 1886 by druggist John Smith Pemberton, the original Coke was meant as a 'brain and nerve' tonic. It wasn't until a few months later, that the addition of soda water gave Coke it's flavor.
Trademarked in 1893, the drink was first bottled in 1894. Almost 19 years later, the use of cocaine in the mixture was dropped due to controversy. The Coca-Cola Company continued to grow over the years, and has become one of the premiere bottled beverages the world over.

When the parents are in Los Angeles for the weekend, and you and your boyfriend are alone, it's time to pull out a Philips Record Player and spend some 'quality time' together.
For quite some time, I have been on a constant search regarding just what type of record player that Mike and Nancy were using as they made out on that couch.
I kept looking for some of the key features, notably the metal handle to move the record player around. One night, while looking across several different types of vintage record player pictures, I found a player that was very close. But it was only when I saw the following video on Youtube that the quest seemed to be over (Click here to access the video).
The version that I found on Youtube was, according to it's owner, a Philips AG4127/OOL model of record player. The image in the upper left is from a promo image I found elsewhere online.
The record player that Mike and Nancy used can be powered with an electrical plug, or has a compartment that uses the equivalent of D-cell batteries. The top cover becomes a speaker, that attaches to the main mechanism by a cord. If you look at the image on the right, you can see the white speaker on the record player sitting on the floor under the coffee table.
Extra special thanks to River Huntingdon, whose video on Youtube and information helped us to cap a mystery that had been swirling in my head for a very long time. River was also kind enough to provide photos of his AG4127/OOL. By clicking on one of the images below, it'll open a larger image in a new browser window.