gam@proper.UUCP (Gordon Moffett) (02/02/84)
Ed doesn't do anything particularly outrageous, but he is well-known
in the Bay Area for his fast-talking, "we want to help YOU get started
in the credit world!" monologues. (the pitch being they would offer
credit to anyone...)
So popular did he become, that I heard him on a local classical music
station doing a commercial for the (?SF) Symphony, in his usual style:
"we want to help YOU get started in the symphony world...!"
Yes, this really happened.
--
Gordon A. Moffett
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hplabs!intelca!proper!gammats@dual.UUCP (Mats Wichmann) (02/10/84)
:
The best part of ol' Ed's commercials, are of course the trademark
that has been copied in parody so many times (at least locally):
`Hi, kids!'
He opens each commercial with `Hi, kids, Ed Barbera.........',
and without even drawing a breath plunges straight into the
body of the commercial. Somewhere during all this, three phrases
will be appear: `We want to help you get started in the credit world',
`No cosigners or credit references necessary' (imagine the word `references'
being pronounced as if it were two syllables - rev/rez - and you get the tone
of the delivery), and `Se habla Espanol'. Still without (apparently) having
drawn a breath, he closes with `bye, kids'.
All this used to be kind of fun, until he decided to bring his son into
the commercials as well. Furniture USA ads will never be the same.
Speaking of crazy commercials, we used to have a guy out here in the
Bay Area who hung upside down from a tree in a vampire suit trying to
sell cars. Anybody remember who this was?
Mats Wichmann
Dual Systems
Berkeley, CA.
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