Posted on 07/22/2002 12:03:12 PM PDT by Silly
Three days after a made-for-TV movie catapulted him to national fame, Portland's best-known door-to-door salesman, Bill Porter, has found himself knocking on doors at the rate of 80 per second.
A nice pace for a 69-year-old man with cerebral palsy who overcame the label "unemployable" to become a top-grossing salesman.
This week, following Sunday's premiere of the TV movie "Door to Door," Porter is getting 80 hits a second on his Web site, where he now sells Watkins household products.
That's not all.
The movie, starring Academy Award nominee William H. Macy as Porter, drew U.S. television's biggest audiences Sunday evening -- more than one out of every 10 active TVs in the 53 prime-time markets monitored electronically by Nielsen Media Research.
"Ten Things I Learned from Bill Porter," a book written by Porter's longtime friend and assistant, Shelly Brady, has shot as high as No. 7 on Amazon.com's best-seller list and as high as No. 2 at BarnesandNoble.com.
Winona, Minn.-based Watkins was forced to post an apology for the slowness of its Web site, "due to the unprecedented response from the new movie "Door to Door," based on Bill Porter's life. . . ."
And a leading Internet search site, Google, reports that "Bill Porter" is the world's leading Internet search term this week.
"It has been absolutely amazing," said Brady, speaking Wednesday from her Southeast Portland home, where she was busy with more quotidian excitement: potty-training the youngest of her six children.
"We're blown away."
So was Porter's Web site. On Monday, BillPorter.com crashed as 16,000 visitors arrived at once. The site's administrator, Corey Kline of Internet Consultants International in The Dalles, couldn't be reached for comment. But Brady said Kline told her that the site was brought down by a computer hacker lurking among the visitors.
Porter, who lives in Northeast Portland, wasn't available for comment.
"He'll kind of say life has really changed," Brady said of Porter's response to the movie. "But in a way, it really won't change him at all. I'm going to guess that about now he's on the phone selling."
For more than 40 years, Porter walked nearly 10 miles a day on a West Hills sales route that eventually made him Watkins' top-selling salesman. As he became publicly known through a 1995 profile in The Oregonian and 1997 and 1999 profiles on ABC's "20/20," Porter and Brady teamed up for motivational speaking engagements for companies such as Nike and Primerica Financial Services.
In 1997, Porter's door-to-door career ended when he fell and broke a hip while trying to avoid being struck by a car.
Undeterred, Porter turned to the telephone and the Internet to continue his sales.
It was back in 1980 that Brady, than a teen-ager, first met Porter when she went to work for him, typing orders and making deliveries. Her book on Porter, published in May by New World Library, ranked 14th at Amazon.com and 44th at BarnesandNoble.com as of late Wednesday afternoon.
"Since the movie aired, we have seen a spike in sales for that title," said Carolyn Brown, a spokeswoman for BarnesandNoble.com, which has a link on TNT's Web page devoted to "Door to Door."
Porter and Brady are scheduled to sign copies of "Ten Things I Learned from Bill Porter" at noon Saturday at Costco, 4849 N.E. 138th Ave., Portland.
This week, Brady said she has been doing an average of four radio interviews a day for stations throughout the country.
"Things are not slowing down," she said.
Last week, Porter had a reunion of sorts with many former door-to-door customers who came to a special showing of "Door to Door" at the Hollywood Theater in Northeast Portland.
"There was a line of people around the block," Brady said. "It looked like 'Star Wars.' "
Brady said the movie has an appeal for everyone.
"It's got a message that we can all get up in the morning and go succeed, one door at a time," she said.
You can read Oregonian reporter Tom Hallman's original story on Bill Porter at www.oregonlive.com/special/series/billporter.ssf. You can reach Steve Woodward at 503-294-5134 or by e-mail at stevewoodward@news.oregonian.com.
Remarkably moving 'Door to Door' is an easy sell
Macy is a shoo-in for Best Actor at the next Emmy Awards.
I also loved it when he told the woman she needed stain remover for her couch. "It's appalling!" I hadn't laughed so hard in a long time.
Shouldn't this man be on welfare? Or disability? How could he be self-sustaining? I've been told by many people with disabilities milder than his that they cannot work? Is this Bill Porter guy just some sort of showoff troublemaker?
No wonder he hasn't been on Larry King.
William H. Macy said they tried very hard to show him "selling something" in every scene.
Here is what Bill Porter himself said about the movie, on his Web site:
I loved the movie. Bill Macy did a tremendous job! Sometimes I thought I was looking in the mirror. I can't get over how Helen Mirren and Kyra Sedgwick portrayed the two most important people in my live. I felt as though I were watching my own mother and dear friend Shelly. I have great friendships with my customers. Even though the customers in the movie were fictionalized they reminded me of many of the people I have sold to over the years. I cried when Kathy Baker's character died as I thought of so many of my customers and friends who are now gone.
Oh, one more thing . . . the Bradys did buy my house because my back went out in 1993 and I asked Shelly and John to help me out. I have been living in my home since the 1960s and live there still . . . I never moved out like the movie suggested. I was concerned that people might be worried about where I was living.
I love ! my job as a salesman and I think it was a great! movie about a guy who loves to sell! I hope you enjoyed it!
Be sure to read Shelly's book and don't forget to browse through all of the wonderful Watkins products on my website.
His enthusiasm even comes through in his writing.
Sunday, July 28th @ 10:15pm (ET)
Mark your calendar and set your VCR!
Also recall Porter's resentment when a disability counselor told him about all the "benefits" he could've been receiving. "I'm working!" he protested. "I have a job."
Wow!
So powerful too was the scene at Shelly's college by the statue of the mother and child. Oh, God....
See it, by all means. Even with a couple of Kleenex, guys.
TNT is airing this show for the last time (at least in a while) tonight. If you have cable, I highly recommend it. You will love it.
If you know someone else who should hear about this show, ping them tonight. You'll be doing them a favor.
And keep this thread pinged!
Silly
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