Veg-O-Matics Live On In Kitchens Everywhere

[matcom]

<snip>

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Use superlatives. Tell buyers they won't pay full price. Offer free stuff if they buy now. Keep up the patter. Never stop moving.

The hard sell has been around since ... well, forever. And the Popeil brothers may have perfected the pitchman's art.

The Popeils -- Sam, Raymond, and Sam's son Ron -- became millionaires hawking an endless stream of household gadgets that every home anywhere seemingly had to have.

Many will remember the vegetable-chomping "0-Matics": the Veg-O-Matic, the Chop-O-Matic, the Dial-O-Matic, the Slice-O-Matic, the Peel-O-Matic, the Whip-O-Matic. There were the battery-powered "cordless electrics": the Miracle Broom, the Garden Trimmer, the Smokeless Ashtray. And there was the silly gadgetry: the Pocket Fisherman (a compact fishing rod), the Trimcomb (haircuts), and Mr. Microphone (for projecting one's voice over the radio).

The Popeils kept coming up with gadgets and Tim Samuelson kept collecting them at auctions and from basement sales.

Samuelson's collection of more than 150 devices are part of a two-month exhibition on display through mid-May at Chicago's Cultural Center, a determinedly low-brow show compared to a photography exhibit upstairs and the museum show of gem-like Rembrandt prints on view nearby.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=573&e=2&u=/nm/20040324/od_nm/life_gadgets_dc

[GOPisEvil]

1. Remember "Bass-o-matic" from SNL?!

:D

[Skittles]

2. LOL, Dan Akroyd

I love catching those old episodes on TV.

[mac56]

3. It slices! It dices! It cuts! It curls!

It makes thousands and thousands of beautiful Julienne fries!

Even whole pineapples! Isn't that amazing?!

- - -

And remember Gallagher and his "Sledge-O-Matic"?

[Doc_Technical]

4. "See how easily it slices this onion...

..the only tears you'll shed are tears of joy!"

[TXlib]

5. Removes pesky penises at the root! It's the...

Lady EpiBobbitt!

[mac56]

6. NOW how much would you pay?

Well, don't answer yet, because...

[prolesunited]

7. I went and saw that exhibit

with Blue-Jay when he was in town. It was a hoot and brought back many memories. He confessed to still using his Pocket Fisherman.

[SmileyBoy]

8. What about Sledge-O-Matics???

[TX-RAT]

9. Pocket fisherman