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July 3, 2014

Used Car Salesman Of The Year

Who remembers Ralph Williams in SF area? Big time car salesman. This is one of the greatest commercials ever seen and it only aired once. During the late 60s, most television programs and commercials were live. There were no "pre-recorded" programs. There were some obviousproblems with this method. No "retakes" and "bloopers" were a regular occurrence. He quit right after this commercial. This is no blooper. This guy was just upset with his boss and told it like he thought it was. What a great job of ad-libbing. He never misses a beat, if you listen carefully, you'll hear the cameraman and soundman lose it.The commercial got on air, but only once.
I seriously doubt this commercial was ever aired. Contrary to what the accompanying blurb has to say, there was extensive use of videotaping in the sixties. The technology was first developed in 1951 and was first used on The Jonathan Winters Show on October 23, 1956.

Apparently this was a gag outtake made by the salesman during the commercial's videotaping ... how else would it have been been saved? 

2 comments:

Kid said...

Seen it many times. Fantastic, Funny. And You're probably right. Never aired.

I remember some porn making it onto TV in the 50's though back in Pittsburgh. Sadly, I was sleeping and probably too young to appreciate.

TS/WS said...

I remember the showing dogs on the cars - went nationwide.
Don,t know who or whose Dealership started with those furry critters.
I don't think that would have aired back then. The Local TV Station would have lost it's licenses.
Maybe one slip of the tongue-----but every other word?