STAY TUNED New Orleans' Classic TV Commercials (PBS)

Description

They are just snippets from television commercials that often ran 30 seconds or less, but almost every New Orleanian of a certain age will remember them. What’s at 1825 Tulane? Who sang “Seafood City, very pretty, 1826 North Broad?” Who are Rosemary and Anna Mae and what products did they pitch? What furniture store employs “The Special Man?”

These and many other memorable commercials and commercial icons help tell the story of TV advertising in New Orleans, in STAY TUNED: NEW ORLEANS’ TV COMMERCIALS. A companion piece to WYES-TV/Channel 12’s successful production NEW ORLEANS TV: THE GOLDEN AGE, the program includes clips from classic local commercials pitching Jax Beer, Rosenberg’s Furniture, Seafood City, D.H. Holmes, Maison Blanche, Time Saver, McKenzie’s K&B, Universal Furniture, Miller the Killer, Frankie and Johnnie’s Furniture and many more.

The program includes interviews with ad legends Al Scramuzza (Seafood City) actresses Becky Allen and Shirl Cieutat (“Rosemary and “Anna Mae” for Time Saver) and furniture store owner Frank Trapani (Frankie & Johnnie’s Furniture). Also helping document the earliest days of local TV (when advertising and programming often went hand-in-hand) are interviews with broadcasting legends Alec Gifford, Nash Roberts and Terry Flettrich Rohe.

Local TV advertising pioneers, including Peter A. Mayer, Ron Thompson, Laura Lee Killeen and Barbara Elliott Wedemeyer share stories of the clever ideas behind some of their commercial creations.

Produced by Dominic Massa.