Tag: Michael Jackson
The Week Of Celeb Deaths
by Oscar on Jun.28, 2009, under TV Reviews, Uncategorized
The Most Influential Celeb Death
And it AIN’T Jackson!
It is said that these things happen in “three’s”, and I’m speaking of celebrity deaths, but this past seven day cycle has see FOUR passings of note.
Of course the most noteworthy of these was that of the “King Of Pop”, Michael Jackson.
Before And After
Millions upon millions world wide have jumped on the Michael bandwagon now that he’s dead, his albums are selling like crazy again, and internet sites are using up bandwidth because of people accessing anything they can about Michael. That freakazoid who, just weeks ago, was just about as irrelevant as could be is now more popular in death than he was in recent life. And the ones who will miss him the most are the paparazzi and the scandal sheets that glory in the bizarre.
Lost in the “Michael mania” is the passings of three other cultural icons from three differing generations, all household names and affecting millions. Who were they? Read on…
Publishers Clearinghouse King
The first was also the oldest: Ed McMahon! Ed became a household name in 1962 as the sidekick for TV’s late night host, Johnny Carson, and later became a pitchman for various products advertised on TV. But what most people remember is Ed presenting the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes check to the winner each year, surprising the recipient with a cold call. “Oh my GOSH, it’s Ed McMahon!!” is heard from the inside of a darkened home behind a closed screen door. Then the usually older woman opens the door and begins screaming and blubbering while the camera rolls. We all loved it!
The Hair, The Teeth, The, er, uh...
The next icon was Farrah Fawcett, pictured here in the poster released in 1976 that fed the libidinous dreams of a generation of adolescent boys, and some men too! Farrah’s passing this week at the age of 62 is mourned by many of her fans of the 70′s TV series, “Charlie’s Angels”, which also featured other lookers such as Jaclyn Smith, and later, Cheryl Ladd. The show itself wasn’t much good, but watching attractive gals running and jumping and fighting was good for an evening’s distraction.
Most Irritating Pitchman
But the most significant death was that of veteran pitchman, Billy Mays! “What the BLEEP are you talking about Oscar?”, you might ask. Well, in MY opinion Billy most closely represents all that can be understood of this present generation. Loud, irritating, insistent and ubiquitous, all of these descriptions apply to our present culture of popular consumerism. He was clearly the King of the pitchmen, his only possible competitor being that guy hawking the “ShamWow”, but he got himself in trouble this past March and disappeared from the scene.
With his loud, shouting delivery Billy set the bar for all other TV pitchmen and gave him name recognition that surpasses anyone in President Obama’s cabinet. Not that THAT is significant mind you, but if you ask anyone on the street if they know who Billy Mays is, more than likely they will know.
Born William Mays in McKees Rocks, Pa., on July 20, 1958, Mays developed his style demonstrating knives, mops and other “As Seen on TV” gadgets on Atlantic City’s boardwalk.
For years he worked as a hired gun on the state-fair and home-show circuits, attracting crowds with his booming voice and genial manner.
After meeting Orange Glo International founder Max Appel at a home show in Pittsburgh in the mid-1990s, Mays was recruited to demonstrate the environmentally friendly line of cleaning products on the St. Petersburg-based Home Shopping Network.
Commercials and infomercials followed.
A tough week indeed!
