[net.general] Old Timex TV blooper

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