I was watching The Purple Rose of Cairo the other night and remembered the theatre manager was played by an actor in the very first TV commercial I did for you. Or for anybody, for that matter.
Irving Metzman was the radio disc jockey’s assistant. The spot was for Emery Air Freight.
It started me thinking about a real Mad Man. And all the great ideas that were
allowed to come to life at his upstart ad agency.
All the freedom. The sound of ice in the glasses up the hall telling the kids down
the hall that it was five’ o’clock…the day was half over, if not just
beginning.
The banging of typewriters. Copy that was only finished when my wastepaper basket was filled
with crumpled paper.
The wall of ads when you got off the elevator. The benchmark.
I’d have given anything to write an ad that got up on that
wall – and one day I did.
“Last year, more money was donated to the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals than to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.”
Copy supervisors that taught you how to pay off a headline,
and construct your closing arguments…that delicious last line of copy.
All I can say is “Wow”!
A word - and punctuation mark - no self-respecting copy
supervisor would have given his or her (Kay Kavanagh) approval of back then.
For being able to let us express ourselves. Fit in somewhere. And play for the NY Yankees of
advertising all at the same time…
Thanks, Jerry.
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