Frankly, I thought he was older and died a long time ago.
A fun book on him is Tim Samuelson’s “But Wait, There’s More! The Irresistible Appeal and Spiel of Ronco and Popeil.”
Malcolm Gladwell had a good profile on Popeil in The New Yorker (paywalled).
I guess he really was here just for a limited time.
And that’s not all!
Undertakers are standing by!
The funeral will include the casting of 21 pocket fishermen lures.
There was an interview with Ron in the book As Seen On TV!. That book is informative, fun, slices, dices and really works!
Popeil named the mid-1970’s “Bionic Knife” that because he was dating Lindsay Wagner at the time, according to an author of one of the works about him.
And the PA system used by the eulogist will consist of a Mr. Microphone broadcasting through an FM radio.
Groom it…and entomb it.
mmm
He produced a lot of gimmicky plastic garbage, but he was a hell of a salesman.
I’ll share one amusing memory I have of a Ron Popeil infomercial-- years ago, late at night, I was watching one for some reason- I think I had had a couple beverages and was watching with kind of a morbid fascination.
It was for this product that you spray on bald spots to cover them up, that sprayed some kind of fibrous stuff that looked vaguely like hair. Ron was going to demonstrate on his own bald spot. He chose the ‘jet black’ color, despite the fact his hair was well on its way to going gray. His assistant said “maybe you should go with the ‘salt and pepper’ color, Ron”. Ron said, “no, I think jet black is the best color match”. His assistant said no more but had a skeptical look on her face, like she was trying very hard not to roll her eyes.
When Ron was finished and bent his head down to show the results to the camera, the color difference was so apparent that it looked like he was wearing a hairy black yarmulke.
A perfect “How many times has this happened to you?” moment!
They’re going to put his head in a jar, aren’t they?
And the text of that eulogy will be this, “ Hey good lookin, we’ll be back to pick you up later!”
Which of his products were legit great and which were the worst?
That spray hair stuff could not have been a product anyone would use for years, right? But that pocket fisherman always looked neat.
I wonder if the family got a good deal on the funeral, until you included costs for “shipping and handling”.
Of the ones I’ve owned or used:
The Chop-O-Matic is garbage. Not a terrible idea, but in practice, just doesn’t work (this sentence would probably apply to a majority of his products).
Dial-O-Matic: it’s just a mandolin, and not a particularly good one.
Six Star 20-Piece Cutlery Set: cheap, stamped serrated knives. Way more knives than anyone really needs, and you can buy a single quality knife that would replace the entire block for not much more than this set costs.
Inside-The-Shell Egg Scrambler: it works, but why?
Solid Flavor Injector: packaged with the Showtime Rotisserie. Actually a pretty good idea and it works exactly as advertised. Again, cheap plastic and breaks easily, but probably legit one of his top 3 inventions.
Electric Food Dehydrator: it worked, but quality was questionable and there are better ones available for a similar price.