It would take 50 years until WKRP could mount an equally disastrous promotion.
Pass it along, if you wish
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They were more proactive in controlling inflation back in 1915.
Best line ever in a TV sitcom: “As God as my witness, I thought Turkeys could fly”.
Tacky ads are not an invention of the 20th century. Neither is the use of celebrities to sell products. In “The Wilde Album”, a book by Merlin Holland, Oscar Wilde’s grandson, there is a reprint of an ad for “Madame Foutaine’s Bosom Beautifier” featuring a woman in a low-cut dress and, below her, an insert drawing of Wilde staring rather lasciviously at the viewer. Racy stuff for the 1880′s, I imagine.
It’s not quite on the order of dropping pianos or turkeys and it was done long before Wilde’s arrest forced him out of the closet. But still, it is rather funny that the 19th century’s most famous homosexual was used to hawk boob cream.
How long will it take the Clarinovas to mount a counterattack?
Or, the Yamahas?
Not one commenter has been to a piano drop? Say it ain’t so.
These were a big attraction at outdoor events in the 1960′s. The point was to make a big noise. Yes, a piano dropped from a helicopter makes a wonderful noise. I think the WKRP turkey drop was just a pale imitation of the real thing.
When I was young (…), I worked summers as a custodian for the local public school system. One summer, at an elementary school, we were moving pianos (elementary school teachers are crazily protective of their pianos). In one move, from 2nd floor to 1st floor, an upright “got away” from us, and we wisely stepped aside to let gravity finish the song. Imagine…old Georgian school building…12′ ceilings…hard terrazo floors…loooong hallways. The sound of it hitting bottom, flopping over on its back and issuing its final “death chord” was incredible. As the sound still echoed, gopher-like heads popped out of occupied classrooms and offices down the 3 hallways we could see.
Never got asked to move another piano. Jackpot.
I’ll never forget the sound.
By the way, it’s pronounced YOU-manity by L. Nessman, the station’s full-blown(!) cub reporter.
Sacks of wet cement, indeed.
Reminds me of the old National Lampoon Radio Hour’s “catch ‘em and you keep it.”
what, it’s not OK to have German Zeppelins explode?