I can’t be the only one who remembers with the ‘Borgasmord Kid’? In the 1970s, he left an everlasting impression in numerous television commercials with his red hair and freckles!
Today, Mason Reese is all grown up, and I must say that I was both surprised and glad when I saw how this former star looks in 2022!
Please join us along the avenue of memories as will take a closer look at Mason Reese’s journey, and how his life played out after all those successful commercials …
Mason Reese came into the world in 1965; one could say he was born with acting in blood. His father, William ”Bill” Reese, worked as a theater set designer and marketing service director.
Mason’s mother was the famous actress Sonia Darrin, perhaps best known for starring alongside Humphrey Bogart in the iconic The Big Sleep (1946).
Given his parents’ background, it’s perhaps not so strange that Mason ended up in front of the film camera early on in life. As a young boy, he grew up in New York City and went to school in Manhattan. He attended the Saint Michael’s Montessori School, housed in St. Michael’s Episcopal Church on Upper West Side.
At the age of 4, Mason started appearing in TV commercials. One of his first gigs was for a detergent company called Ivory Snow, where Mason was selected from a group of 600 other auditioning tots.
”They wanted a kid who looked like he was just diapers and who was old enough to speak intelligently and – tra-la-la – that was me,” Mason told The Sacramento Bee in 1978.
The advertising campaign was very successful, and Mason became known in Philadelphia and New Jersey as the “the Ivory Snow Boy.” He was also praised at the CLIO award for his appearances in the commercials.
”Mason can’t do every kind of commercial. He’s not a plastic person, or a pure, white Protestant boy. There are people who think he’s gorgeous, and some who think he’s homely. But he’s a very sensual and tactile child – he loves to touch and kiss – and he puts out good vibrations,” Mason’s father Bill told The Boston Globe in 1973.
According to Mason himself, there were some slow years between 1970 and 1973 regarding commercial gigs. But at the end of 1973, a canned ham brand reached out, one that would change the young boy’s life forever.
When Underwood Deviled Ham made him the cover boy for their famous “Borgasmord” campaign, Mason became famous throughout the U.S. Mason was once asked how many times he needed to practice to say ”borgasmord.” in the right way. According to The Boston Globe, the little boy with the red hair and special voice just smiled and explained: “I didn’t. I got it right the first time.”
Read more