Posted on 07/28/2021 5:02:22 PM PDT by Loyalist
He told you to “Set it and forget it,” but the world will never forget Ron Popeil.
Popeil, an inventor and the face of infomercials for “as-seen-on-TV” products like Showtime Rotisserie and Pocket Fisherman, has died. He was 86.
His family told TMZ that Popeil had a medical emergency on Tuesday and died Wednesday morning surrounded by family at Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Popeil was best known for the “Set it and forget it” catchphrase used to sell Showtime Rotisserie in late-night infomercials. Long before air fryers became the kitchen appliance du jour, the countertop rotisserie appliance took the home cooking world by storm, having sold over $1 billion worth, TMZ reported.
The mogul is credited with coining the oft-used infomercial phrase, “But wait, there’s more!” But the same can be said about Popeil, who was more than an infomercial guy. He created the entire concept.
In the early 1950s, Popeil teamed up with his partner at the time, Mel Korey, to produce the first modern minute-long, black and white commercial for slightly over $500, according to the biography on his official site.
But Popeil was not just a face selling a product like the influencers of today. The New York City-native founded the Ronco company in 1964, selling products created by his father, Samuel “S.J.” Popeil, who created the Chop-o-Matic and the Veg-o-Matic.
Following in the footsteps of his father, Popeil went on to create products himself including the Mr. Microphone (the first Karaoke machine), the Popeil Pocket Fisherman, the Buttoneer, the Smokeless Ashtray, Popeil’s Electric Food Dehydrator, the Inside-the-Egg Scrambler, GLH-9 (Great Looking Hair Formula #9) Hair in a Can Spray, the Rhinestone Stud Setter (Later called the Bedazzler), the Cap Snaffler, the Popeil Automatic Pasta Maker and the Ronco Electric Food Dehydrator.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Order now and we’ll throw in two free tickets to Ron Popeil’s funeral, where he’ll personally demonstrate his brand new Ronco Crematomatic! Just pop the body in, set it, and forget it! In five minutes you’ll have the ashes scooped and sealed in a free set of four Ronco Superstrength Urns!
Hell...I thought he died 10 years ago.
That's amazing!
R.I.P.
A guy I know actually ordered and used Polpeil’s bald-spot spray. It looked really pathetic.
GLH?..that was Ronco?
Ron Popiel.
My favorite is the inside-the-egg-scrambler.
An unforgettable spielmeister.
Pocket fisherman, RIP
BassOMatic?
I have the pasta maker. It actually works pretty good.
But I gotta go with the spray bald spot coverer as the greatest of them all.
Are you sure he didn’t wish to be sliced and diced first?
He and Billy Mays have gone on to that giant infomercial in the sky. RIP.
Years ago in the New Yorker they had a profile of him. When he worked in an office in downtown NY it said that the secretaries would take their break when he went out just to look at him. I guess back in the day he was gorgeous.
RIP Ron.
What about the Smokeless Ashtray?
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