If you think movies have too much product placement today, well, Jack Armstrong himself was an ad.

Known as the All-American Boy, he was created by the vice president of advertising for General Mills Samuel Chester Gale. The Jack Armstrong character is a fictitious “everyboy” who got into adventures on his radio serial and always ate his Wheaties.

Gale based the character on a member of Sam Gale’s college fraternity, Phi Sigma Kappa at the University of Minnesota. The ad whiz met the real Jack while serving as an advisor to the fraternity and was impressed by both Jack’s name and his”wholesome nature.”

Gale also created another character who a lot of people think is really: Betty Crocker.

The radio serial was on from 1933 to 1951, which is a lifetime in media.

In the Wallace Fox-directed movie serial, Vic Hardy (Hugh Prosser) is a scientist working for an aviation company. When he learns that Jason Grood is using radiation on his secret island headquarters to conquer the world, he’s caught and used to help the madman conquer the world. Only Jack Armstrong (John Hart, who for a time replaced Clayton Moore as the Lone Ranger; he also played Billy Batson in The Adventures of Captain Marvel) can stop him, along with Princess Alura (Clair James) and her island men.

I love that VCI is releasing these serials and keeps on improving how they look. The fact that I can have historical movies like this in my collection makes me overjoyed.

You can get the 4K restoration of Jack Armstrong from MVD.