Ron Popeil Dies: Informercial Pioneer, Pocket Fisherman Pitchman Was 86
, the Ronco founder who all but created the late-night infomercial and pitched such durable — in memory if not quality — items as the Pocket Fisherman, the Veg-O-Matic, the Bedazzler and Mr. Microphone, died today at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles following a medical emergency. He was 86.
His death was confirmed in a press release approved by his family. According to the statement, Popeil “suddenly and peacefully passed away” surrounded by family. Beginning in 1959 with a low-budget, minute-long black-and-white commercial for the Ronco Chop-o-Matic, Popeil devised the rapid-fire pitches — consisting of a string of amazing! unbelievable! claims — that would make household names of items such as Hair in a Can Spray, the Popeil Pocket Fisherman, the Kitchen Magician, Mr. Dentist, the Smokeless Ashtray, the Inside-the-Egg Scrambler, a rhinestone stud setter popularized as a Bedazzler, the Cap Snaffler and the Buttoneer.
He was on sturdier ground in claiming direct inspiration for Dan Aykroyd’s classic “Bass-o-Matic” sketch onin 1976. In fact, Popeil’s commercials, with their over-the-top boasts, unabashed hucksterism, DIY approach and in-on-it humor, were ready-made fodder forand, later, kindred spirits in irony and mock-sincerity like David Letterman and Conan O’Brien. Indeed, the same year Letterman introduced Stupid Pet Tricks, Popeil’s commercial for the Mr.
According to a biography on his website, Ronald Martin Popeil was born on May 3, 1935, in New York City to a kitchen-gadget inventor and his soon-divorced wife. At 13, Popeil moved to Chicago to work in his dad’s factory and three years later began selling products at flea markets. At 17, Popeil set up a stand in a Chicago Woolworth store, where he “hawked his gadgets six days a week, 12 hours each day.
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Infomercial Icon Ron Popeil Dies at 86Ron Popeil, the infomercial icon behind products like the Pocket Fisherman and Hair in a Can, died on Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to multiple media reports. H…
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Ron Popeil Infomercial King Dead at 86Ron Popeil has died at 86.
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