dan (11/01/82)
A recent article in net.micro made mention of the old John Cameron Swasey Timex commercials. That reminded me of a TV bloopers show that I saw a while ago. Apparently there was a time when TV commercials were shown live (I report this only as heresay, I wasnt around then), which I believe was the case up to the mid 50's. The particular blooper I remember showed good old John proudly attaching a Timex to the blade of an outboard motor, running the motor for a little while, and then taking off an obviously demolished watch. He then proceeded to make an admirable, but comical, effort to show that it still worked perfectly. Dan Ulrich Hemodialysis Lab, Purdue University pur-ee!dan or pur-ee!ecn-pa.dan
wgg (11/02/82)
The famous Timex blooper didn't happen quite that way. I happened to be watching that night -- the commercial occurred during one of the Timex-sponsored jazz specials. What really happened was this: The outboard motor was mounted in a large barrel full of water. Swayze (or sombody else - I forget which) tipped up the motor, slipped the watch over a propeller blade, then tipped the motor down and started it. After a few seconds, Swayze stopped the motor, tipped it up and discovered that centrifugal force had done its thing and the watch was gone. His line was something like, "Well, I'm sure that wherever that watch is, it's running perfectly." Bill Graves floyd!wgg
dennis (11/02/82)
Actually, that blooper isn't the way I remember it. It's possible he did it several times, but in the one I saw the watch totally disappeared. Poor JCS spent a few seconds looking around for it, then said, "Well, folks, wherever it is, I'm sure it's still ticking!" Cool under pressure...
everett (11/05/82)
#R:floyd:-75600:hp-pcd:5000003:000:1269 hp-pcd!everett Nov 5 07:51:00 1982 re: Old Timex TV blooper. If you are hooked up to cable and get Showtime (maybe others are showing it also, I don't know), there is a one hour show called "We'll Be Right Back". It is a compilation of old, new, funny, superb, sexy, foreign, amazing, etc., etc., etc. commercials. Included is the Timex commercial where the watch comes loose from the propeller and is in the bottom of the tank. It does seem like he said something along the lines of what you quote, but the camera also comes in for a close-up at the end and shows the watch lying (laying?) (being screwed?) on the bottom of the tank, still ticking away...... I caught the show towards the end of October, so I don't know if it's still on this month or not. For those interested, just last night (Nov 4) I saw an ad on commercial (pardon the non-pun) TV for another special about commercials that's to be shown next week sometime, which includes at least several of the ads that I saw on the Showtime show. (Whether it will have the Timex commercial or not, I don't know; but, it does have the Japanese ad with all the little boys in the bath, with little bubbles coming up behind one little boy.) Everett Kaser Corvallis, Or