6/19/2007
You can always learn things in unexpected places. Yesterday, while reading the latest article by the Sun Times’ automotive maven, Dan Jedlicka- I learned an important TV fact. Now-v you just saw me use the term “TV” and , no doubt, didn’t even think twice about it- just as I would not have thought about it, if I’d read it. Did you ever wonder where that abbreviation came from?
Well, thanks to Dan- I now know- and the source is totally unexpected…from a famous car dealer! Dan wrote an article about a car that was manufactured by famed 50s car dealer Earl Muntz- better known as “Mad Man Muntz.” He was an Elgin native who hit it big selling cars on television, both here and in L.A. He was especially well-known in southern California, where ads for him and his sales (“I must be CRAZY to sell cars at these prices!”) often depicted him wearing long red underwear, boots, and a Napoleon hat (the universally-accepted sign that a car dealer is mentally challenged, I guess.)But, what does this have to do with the term “TV”-you ask?
“MadMan” Muntz had returned to the Chicago area and sold his own low-priced Muntz television sets- he opened 72 Muntz Television retail stores, and did very well, selling 55 million Muntz-brand sets in 1952 alone! “Fascinating!” you’re probably saying right now-“but HOW did that get us the term ‘TV’?”
Well, back then , one of the most popular forms of attention- getting advertising was- skywriting! You’d hire a plane that would fly over the city, and spell out letters in smoke, for many many people to see (kind of like the planes with banners, or blimps today.) It was always an attraction- people would stand, rooted outside during the slow process of a message being spelled out. However, there were problems- the longer the message, the more chance that the letters would end up wind-blown and dissipated –thus leaving the message as a partial mess. Old “MadMan” Muntz had a great idea- rather than have the skywriting plane write out the long world “television”- he could just have them write “TV”- and people would understand! The whole message about buying a Muntz TV would still be there by the time the plane was finished! And- in the process- he invented the term everybody uses today to indicate television (including “Me-TV!) So- now you know the REST of the story (my apologies to Paul Harvey, and my thanks to Dan Jedlicka for adding to my television history knowledge!)
Well, thanks to Dan- I now know- and the source is totally unexpected…from a famous car dealer! Dan wrote an article about a car that was manufactured by famed 50s car dealer Earl Muntz- better known as “Mad Man Muntz.” He was an Elgin native who hit it big selling cars on television, both here and in L.A. He was especially well-known in southern California, where ads for him and his sales (“I must be CRAZY to sell cars at these prices!”) often depicted him wearing long red underwear, boots, and a Napoleon hat (the universally-accepted sign that a car dealer is mentally challenged, I guess.)But, what does this have to do with the term “TV”-you ask?
“MadMan” Muntz had returned to the Chicago area and sold his own low-priced Muntz television sets- he opened 72 Muntz Television retail stores, and did very well, selling 55 million Muntz-brand sets in 1952 alone! “Fascinating!” you’re probably saying right now-“but HOW did that get us the term ‘TV’?”
Well, back then , one of the most popular forms of attention- getting advertising was- skywriting! You’d hire a plane that would fly over the city, and spell out letters in smoke, for many many people to see (kind of like the planes with banners, or blimps today.) It was always an attraction- people would stand, rooted outside during the slow process of a message being spelled out. However, there were problems- the longer the message, the more chance that the letters would end up wind-blown and dissipated –thus leaving the message as a partial mess. Old “MadMan” Muntz had a great idea- rather than have the skywriting plane write out the long world “television”- he could just have them write “TV”- and people would understand! The whole message about buying a Muntz TV would still be there by the time the plane was finished! And- in the process- he invented the term everybody uses today to indicate television (including “Me-TV!) So- now you know the REST of the story (my apologies to Paul Harvey, and my thanks to Dan Jedlicka for adding to my television history knowledge!)
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