I didn't know he was still around. He used to be on TV constantly selling something. Dead at 86.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ron Popeil, the quintessential TV pitchman and inventor known to generations of viewers for hawking products including the Veg-O-Matic, the Pocket Fisherman, Mr. Microphone and the Showtime Rotisserie and BBQ, has died, his family said.

Popeil died “suddenly and peacefully” Wednesday at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his family said in a statement. He was 86. No cause of death was given.

Popeil essentially invented the popular image of the American television pitchman, whose novel products solved frustrating problems viewers didn’t know they had. He popularized much of the vernacular of late-night TV ads and infomercials, with lines like “Now how much would you pay?” and “Set it and forget it.”

Popeil, whose father was also an inventor-salesman, built his ability to sell things as a young man in the open-air markets of Chicago, where he moved as a teen in the 1940s after spending his earliest years in New York and Miami.

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Building on an invention of his father’s, the Chop-o-Matic, he marketed the slicing-and-chopping machine he called the Veg-O-Matic, sold by the company he founded and named after himself — Ronco.

He would take the product-slinging style previously done at state fairs and Woolworth stores to television starting in the late 1950s, offering viewers a chance to skip stores and buy straight from the source with a simple phone call.

As his influence grew, he crafted an enthusiastic, guy-next-door presence that suffused the 1970s with commercials for such gadgets as the the Popeil Pocket Fisherman, a self-contained fishing apparatus, and Mr. Microphone, a then-groundbreaking wireless mic that was amplified through the nearest AM radio.

“But wait — there’s more,” he’d say in the ads.

Though Ronco Teleproducts went bankrupt in 1984, Popeil started from the bottom again and built himself and his company back up. By the 1990s, as the infomercial gained footing and cable television’s influence spread, he was doing full-length shows that evangelized about such devices as pasta makers, food dehydrators and “GLH” (Great-Looking Hair), which was commonly called “hair in a can.”

He appealed to consumers in part because he was a classic American showman, equal parts P.T. Barnum and Thomas Edison — an inventor and innovator, yes, but a popularizer as well, a man who saw consumers’ needs and then found accessible ways to entice them into making purchases.

In a 1997 Associated Press interview, he said his drive to invent was more than mercantile; it was a bit obsessive. “I have enough money today,” he said at the time. “But I can’t stop. If there’s a need for these things, I can’t help myself.”

He seemed always to have new products at the ready: the Ronco Electric Food Dehydrator, Popeil’s Pasta & Sausage Maker, the Inside the Eggshell Egg Scrambler, the Bagel Cutter, the Hav-A-Maid Mop, the Speed Tufting Kit, The Whip-O-Matic.

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When home shopping networks arose, he found a natural home, and he sold Showtime Rotisseries in droves on QVC.

Popeil was constantly parodied in pop culture. He was sent up by Dan Akroyd in the early days of “Saturday Night Live” with his “Bass-O-Matic” sketch.

“Weird Al” Yankovic had a song on his “In 3-D” album titled “Mr. Popeil,” whose lyrics said, “I need a Veg-O-Matic! I need a pocket fisherman! I need a handy appliance that’ll scramble an egg while it’s still inside its shell! ... Help me, Mr. Popeil!”

Popeil was happy to take part in the parody himself, understanding and embracing his campy public image. He played or voiced himself on shows including “The X Files,” “The Simpsons” and “King of the Hill.”

Popeil is survived by his wife of 25 years Robin; daughters Kathryn, Lauren Contessa and Valentina; and four grandchildren. A fifth daughter, Shannon, died before him.


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The Pocket Fisherman. The jokes write themselves.

I used to watch those commercials, a lifetime ago.





"Hey, good-lookin'! We'll be back to pick you up later!"

POPEET!!!!

I kept a Pocket Fisherman in the glove compartment of my genuine US Army Recruiting car. As I traveled the back road of Central Pennsylvania, finding an appropriate stream, go fishing! Even caught a few.

RIP Mr. Popeil.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
I kept a Pocket Fisherman in the glove compartment of my genuine US Army Recruiting car. As I traveled the back road of Central Pennsylvania, finding an appropriate stream, go fishing! Even caught a few.

RIP Mr. Popeil.

Fits easily in motorcycle bags.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
I kept a Pocket Fisherman in the glove compartment of my genuine US Army Recruiting car. As I traveled the back road of Central Pennsylvania, finding an appropriate stream, go fishing! Even caught a few.

Pocket fishing is illegal in many jurisdictions.

In 1973-74, not illegal in Pennsylvania.

I was trying to be clever.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Pocket fishing is illegal in many jurisdictions.

So is pocket pool.

$12.88 was not inexpensive back then.

My favorite was the GLH (hair in a can) product.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
I was trying to be clever.

I'm confined to my house because of this stupid virus and am taking everything literally. Sorry 'bout that!

Plus I am in pain from the Mohns surgery. Stupid antibiotics work too slow.

Ron is the man Phil Swift hopes to become.

R.I.P. Ron!

I always was half tempted by the Pocket Fisherman, but I was only twelve.

Don't forget the bamboo steamer!

Over the years I made a lot of beef jerky on one of his food dehydrators.
My wife used to make dried pigs ears for our dogs as treats on his dehydrators, but not at the same time I made beef jerky.

Rest in peace sir.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
I kept a Pocket Fisherman in the glove compartment of my genuine US Army Recruiting car. As I traveled the back road of Central Pennsylvania, finding an appropriate stream, go fishing! Even caught a few.

Pocket fishing is illegal in many jurisdictions.

I got the hook in the video.
Was just waiting for the delivery.

Ah, Mr. Popeil, Mr. Popeil........maybe we can get a 2nd one for free & only pay handling & freight....(sigh)....

Set him and forget him