KRAFT’S AUNTS: A REAL COUPLE OF CHARACTERS

By now, even Cousin May in Topeka knows about Kraft Real Mayonnaise.

Since 1981, when Aunt Martha (Norma Macmillan) and Aunt Harriet (Ruth Manning) decided to switch from that other brand, which shall remain nameless, their 30-second TV spots have helped push the sales of the creamy spread and changed the lives of the two actresses who bring the characters to life.

The frequently seen ads may have temporarily eclipsed Manning’s long list of accomplishments, which include stage appearances as Pauline in “The Prisoner of Second Avenue” and as Cora in “The Iceman Cometh” off-Broadway, as well as a role in the national touring company of “You Know I Can’t Hear You When The Water Is Running.” But to Manning, “it’s an actor’s job.”

Television isn’t new to the character actress either. She has appeared in shows including “All in the Family” and “The New Love American Style,” but the recognition from the 30 second spots for the mayonnaise is “wonderful.”

In that first commercial, “Martha was saying, ‘Oh, we’ll have to tell this relative and that one’ and I said, ‘Don’t tell her.’ Isn’t that marvelous? I mean in 30 seconds. I think that’s an art form all by itself.”

Harriet’s wisecracks end each commercial, but Manning said the wisecracks don’t end there.

“People throw those lines at me . . . ‘Oh, we’re free for lunch,’ or ‘Don’t tell her.’ Those are the ones they seem to remember most.”

A perfect example is her recent trip to a local quilting show. Quilting is one of her passions, she said.

“They had a little concession stand there, and I said, ‘Let me have one of those sandwiches.’ ‘Oh,’ the lady said, ‘Oh. . . you’re . . .’ ‘Don’t tell her.’ ”

“Don’t tell her” is the quip that started them all. Her discretion not to tell a relative in Kansas about news of the discovery of the whipped delight has kept the bossy Harriet in the minds of many a viewer and many a customer.

“Commercials are wonderful, because I think they are the last things that have a beginning a middle and an end. Now most things are left way up in the air,” she said, her hands motioning through the open spaces of the living room.

“Listen, an actor does not work 52 weeks a year unless he is in a hit show, unless he has a series and I love the whole idea of doing them.”

The authority of Manning’s face set against the innocence of her counterpart, Martha, adds to the appeal of the commercial. And the people at Kraft banked on the fact that America had Aunt Harriets and Aunt Marthas.

“I really have to give producer/director Richard Chambers credit,” Manning said. “He saw the quality in both of us and I think he said, ‘Those are the two.’ I think it was a great choice.”

Manning said life experiences help to formulate her characters, so it is natural that people will associate her character with relatives or friends.

“I have heard that all my life. In plays that I have done: ‘Oh my God, I had a neighbor who reminded me so much of you on that stage.’ I get it all the time, all the time.”

Even off camera, Manning and Macmillan don’t mind being called Harriet and Martha, although Manning remembered a time in her stage career when a fellow actor found it a problem.

“I was working with the great Groucho Marx in ‘Time For Elizabeth,’ and on stage Marx referred to one of the characters by his real name, not the character’s name.

“From then on he never called us by our real names until the end of the run,” Manning said.

If 30 seconds is such a wonderful experience, how about a series?

“Oh listen, if somebody would do it, I’d kiss their feet. I’d love it,” Manning said. “They are fun characters, and I love comedy. Gosh, I think we need some laughs in this veil of tears.

“I always think of a line from ‘The Sunshine Boys,’ ” she said. “ ‘Comedy is harder than dying.’ It is very difficult sometimes.”

“I remember a commercial class that I went to,” Macmillan said. The class was for commercial actors who wanted to brush up on technique, and she recalls seeing a popular character actor across from her. “Ohhh, it’s the Sparklett’s man,” she said. “Of course that was before I did Aunt Martha.”

The Canada-born actress, whose light, airy voice brings to mind a flighty character like Aunt Martha, has been the voice of animated cartoon characters Casper the Friendly Ghost, Gumby and Sweet Polly, “Underdog’s” damsel in distress.

But it’s the innocent face and cherubic smile that bring Aunt Martha to life on the tube. Her submissive gestures and honest reactions make her a perfect counter to the bossy Harriet.

“They were never really sure if she was married or if they were ever married or what their background was,” Macmillan said. “But I always was the sweet one.”

The character, she said, “really is not like me. I usually play the Auntie Mame type.” Her roles include a guest appearance with Katharine Hepburn in the television movie “Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry” and regional stage performances as Amanda in “The Glass Managerie” and as Birdie in “The Little Foxes.”

But it is the Aunt Martha character that has had a lasting effect on her: “I was doing a Dodge Commercial and having to ride on a Camel and I kept thinking, ‘What a strange thing for Aunt Martha to be doing, You wouldn’t expect her to be riding a Camel.”

The two actresses took to the parts very quickly, Macmillan said. On one shoot, they gossiped on the set and behaved the way the chit-chatty aunts might.

Does it affect them?

“In that way, it does, because you give it sort of first priority.”

But first priority does not mean she has been locked into the character. Unlike some commercial actors who find it difficult to get work because of typecasting, Macmillan says the older type she plays has helped her get work and she is happy with the parts. What others refer to as a stigma of being typecast “has been no problem.”

“I am working a lot each year,” she said. “I assume you get more work the longer that you stay in the business.”

Does she use the product?

“Yes I do. We are supposed to, but I buy it anyway.”