The concept of Ernest may seem alien to those below a certain age demographic, but for children of the 1980s and '90s, he was his own little phenomenon. Nashville-based advertising executive John R. Cherry co-developed the character for a long-running series of commercials, where he was played by actor Jim Varney. Ernest P. Worrell could be best described as a highly expressive blue collar worker caricature who often came across as a child trapped in an adult improv comic's body. His wardrobe always stuck to the signature short-sleeved gray crew neck T-shirt, blue jeans, denim utility vest and Khaki baseball cap special. While Ernest's popularity led to an Emmy award-winning television series ("Hey Vern, It's Ernest"), the brand mascot's true rise to fame among the mainstream came when C

See Full Page