Paul, I'm old enough to remember Billy Mays' predecessor in hawking products ... Ron Popiel. Everybody over 60 years old remembers the Veg-O-Matic, the Pocket Fisherman and Mr. Microphone! Fun read. Thanks!
Hi Jim, Paul here. Those hawkers were part of our life back then. Middle of the night TV. I forgot about Ron Popiel. The Billy Mays scripts are a lesson in copywriting. Thanks for the comment!
Jim's right, Paul.....a truly fun read! And, I'm more than old enough to remember Ron Popiel...and, let's not forget the game show announcers, who, perhaps only on their respective shows, hawked their donkeys off! Ed McMahon, of course, and among his many, the famous live spot, where a dog simply refused to eat the Alpo he had just poured out!
Don Pardo, if nothing else, hawked the SNL players every week by simply announcing their presence! At the end (and I thought this was brilliant, from an existential POV!), he'd say, "This is Don Pardo saying, 'This is Don Pardo saying'.....Goodnight"!
And, Jay Stewart, Monty Hall's "Let's Make a Deal" announcer, always had a tray at the ready ("What would you bid for what Jay has on his tray?")....these are all incredibly talented (and generally unknown, although, for their job, that's what they were asked to do; their products were the stars) hawkers! A definite sub-genre of voice-over talents-cum-hawking pitchmen!👍
Paul, I'm old enough to remember Billy Mays' predecessor in hawking products ... Ron Popiel. Everybody over 60 years old remembers the Veg-O-Matic, the Pocket Fisherman and Mr. Microphone! Fun read. Thanks!
Hi Jim, Paul here. Those hawkers were part of our life back then. Middle of the night TV. I forgot about Ron Popiel. The Billy Mays scripts are a lesson in copywriting. Thanks for the comment!
Jim's right, Paul.....a truly fun read! And, I'm more than old enough to remember Ron Popiel...and, let's not forget the game show announcers, who, perhaps only on their respective shows, hawked their donkeys off! Ed McMahon, of course, and among his many, the famous live spot, where a dog simply refused to eat the Alpo he had just poured out!
Don Pardo, if nothing else, hawked the SNL players every week by simply announcing their presence! At the end (and I thought this was brilliant, from an existential POV!), he'd say, "This is Don Pardo saying, 'This is Don Pardo saying'.....Goodnight"!
And, Jay Stewart, Monty Hall's "Let's Make a Deal" announcer, always had a tray at the ready ("What would you bid for what Jay has on his tray?")....these are all incredibly talented (and generally unknown, although, for their job, that's what they were asked to do; their products were the stars) hawkers! A definite sub-genre of voice-over talents-cum-hawking pitchmen!👍
Yeah, the grater plater looked pretty useful...