FZ American cultural references still in existence
Gary
Some 'criticism' of FZ claims that his recorded cultural references
expired almost immediately (e.g. disco, Nixon, Pandora's Box) and
denizens of the future merely toss them aside as another obscure inside
joke.
However some items remain, e.g.
Pep Boys
Aunt Jemima
Golden Arches
what else?
Tomasz Michalak
globual
"Gary" <midic...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1117552392....@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Ryan
Orin Hatch ....in a wheelchair, no longer in skis....
mizducky
> Some 'criticism' of FZ claims that his recorded cultural references
> expired almost immediately (e.g. disco, Nixon, Pandora's Box) and
> denizens of the future merely toss them aside as another obscure inside
> joke.
Y'know, just because Nixon's dead and gone does not mean he is expired
as a cultural reference--far from it. He's become a byword, much as Joe
McCarthy gave his name to the kind of political witch-hunting he became
infamous for. As long as media pundits keep on naming every new
political scandal "[Something]-Gate," the legacy of Tricky Dick will
carry on in the collective memory, for better or worse. And hey, I
don't recall seeing anyone calling out the late great Dr. Hunter S.
Thompson for "dating" his work by goin' off on Nixon (not to mention
any number of other political figures who are no longer on the
scene...)
/the duck
(posting from Google because her fuckin' newsgroup connection has shat
the bed)
Stu Mark
Great Midwestern hardware store
Khakis
Coca-Cola
Convertible top
TV Dinner
Swimming pool
And that's just from Freak Out!, so there's probably more.
Stu
(who got tired)
NP: Paprika Plains by Joni Mitchell
just another
I don't live around L.A. anymore, but Zachary All has gotta still be there!
(Eddie are you kidding?)
Corné van Hooijdonk
AAAFNRAA
indifference
Billy The Mountain, Jimmy Swaggert, Glendale to name but a few.
Stu Mark
poster-56F963....@news-rdr-02.socal.rr.com, "just another"
<pos...@noaddress.com> wrote:
> I don't live around L.A. anymore, but Zachary All has gotta still be there!
>
> (Eddie are you kidding?)
Los Angeles Business Journal > May 16, 1994
He'll always be Zachary All to us - Edward Nalbandian
by Benjamin Mark Cole
In the 1960s, Nalbandian rivaled Cal Worthington as a TV fixture-pitchman
The man remembered by millions as Zachary All pulls his hand out of his
pocket, brandishing a thimble on the pinkie finger. "Yeah, I still do
tailoring," he says, in the earnest voice instantly familiar to native
Angelenos and old timers.
"You gotta keep your overhead down. Besides, I like doing it."
Before there was C&R Clothiers, before Men's Warehouse and back when
television was black-and-white, there was Zachary All: the clothing store on
the Miracle Mile strip of Wilshire Boulevard.
A seemingly ubiquitous figure when Southland television was young, Zachary
All - whose real name is Edward Nalbandian - was a pioneer in broadcasting,
an entrepreneur who staked his wad that pitches from the sets of early local
talk shows, such as Joe Pyne, Tom Dugan, and Hank Weaver, would attract
customers to the Miracle Mile.
The strategy worked. "God, we had them coming in from Mojave, from Santa
Barbara, from Orange County, everywhere," he says. "You couldn't keep 'em
out."
Other times Zachary All sponsored wrestling matches from the Olympic
Auditorium, where KTLA announcer "Whoa Nellie!" Dick Lane broadcast the
antics of wrestlers Freddie Blassie or Bobo Brazil.
Those were freewheeling days, says Nalbandian.
"It was all live back then, and there were no rules on how long you would
take," he recalls. "Sometimes a commercial would last 90 seconds, sometimes
four or five minutes. One time I practically manufactured a suit on
television to show what we put into it. There were no limits on what you
could do. You became part of the show."
Nalbandian in the 1950s and 1960s sat on talk show panels alongside such
celebs as Danny Thomas, Lenny Bruce and a young Cassius Clay (later,
Muhammed Ali), awaiting his turn in front of the camera. Even historic
figures, such as Richard Nixon and Malcolm X, showed up on Tom Dugan's set.
Nalbandian himself became a celeb of sorts, and found himself in late-night
haunts with stars from the TV chats. "Lenny Bruce is not what you think,"
avers Nalbandian today, holding forth from a cramped office at the back of
his store, still at the same location on Wilshire. "He was quiet. We would
go over to Canter's (the restaurant-deli) after a show, have a cup of
coffee, and he was almost reserved. A really nice guy."
Nalbandian's office is about the size of a converted closet and graced with
a rug made threadbare by decades of putting practice. It is "decorated" with
cheap furniture that looks as if it dates from the Eisenhower
administration, and there is a single, commercial-quality seascape painting
adorning the walls. Golf clubs are stashed around, sometimes in cardboard
boxes.
"What's my handicap? Who cares? Maybe 20 strokes, 25 strokes," says
Nalbandian, when asked about his golf game.
In the cramped quarters, Nalbandian holds forth that he never acted, or read
from a script, in all of the thousands of commercials he did -- and he made
countless pitches, as many of his earlier appeals predated tape. Thus, each
moment of air time required a fresh effort.
But, when pitch-time came, "I spoke from the heart," Nalbandian asserts. "I
never used a cue card, or prepared a speech. I always ad-libbed every
commercial. I never planned what I was going to say. I just said whatever
came into my mind."
Being on television in the glory days of the silver screen meant that
Nalbandian rubbed elbows with the Tinseltown titans of the time, such as
Cary Grant, Bob Cummings, Alan Hale, Lorne Greene, Michael Landon and Roy
Rogers -- all of whom left autographed photos, now yellowing, on the Zachary
All premises.
Nalbandian personally serviced the Hollywood crowd.
"Oh, Cary Grant favored gentlemen suits," remembers Nalbandian. "He wore
two-button gentlemen's suits. One time he needed a tux with a notch-collar
lapel, because he was meeting Prince Charles -- before the prince married
Diana -- and the prince wore notch-collar tuxes. And Cary didn't want to
look like he was showing the prince up."
Another time, "Grant brought his young daughter in, and she exclaimed, 'I
know you; you are Zachary All. I see you on television.'"
Nalbandian, now 66, says another time he asked Grant why he would shop at
Zachary All. "I mean, I am in awe of this guy. He is not some bum off the
street. He is a great actor, and he shops here. And he says, 'I don't want
to be gouged. I pay what is asked, but I want fair value.' I said, 'Thank
you very much,' and that was the end of the conversation."
But times change, even if Zachary All, who looks much as he did 30 years
ago, hasn't much.
First, rates went up for television advertising, as other merchants and
manufacturers learned of the quickly expanding power of television in the
1950s and 1960s. Soon, the little guy could not afford to buy time.
"I quit when prices got to the point where it didn't make sense. It got up
into the skies. Advertising has gotten really cuckoo," says Nalbandian. "We
are just one store, while the corporations are buying time. And you know,
when it is your dime, your own sweat, you don't spend so freely."
Finally, after a half-hearted try to advertise on local cable, Zachary All
threw in the towel on boob-tube pitches six months ago. "There's a jillion
cable stations, and they don't cost anything. But I don't think you get
anything either," Nalbandian explains.
In seeming symbiosis with Zachary All is the stretch of Wilshire alongside
the store, where long ago the department store Desmond's closed, and other
emporiums up and down the long Miracle Mile, such I. Magnins, Bullock's, May
Co., Ohrbach's and RB Furniture, have shuttered.
All around Zachary All are abandoned storefronts; although, in signs of new
life, a Staples and Office Mart have opened.
Why has Zachary All stuck with just his one store, in the same location,
while others became chains, or franchised or moved to better parts of town?
"Look at the others, they have all gone bankrupt," he retorts. "You open up
50 stores, and you make money at 20 of 'em, and you have to support the
other 30 with the 20. C&R went bankrupt, Men's Warehouse has been bankrupt.
Silverwoods is gone. I'm still here."
Too, Nalbandian has owned the building which houses his store for decades.
So his mortgage is very reasonable. "You keep your nut (monthly expenses)
down," he advises. "I work in here; my son works here. I still tailor the
suits. If you came in here this morning, you would have seen me sewing."
And why did Nalbandian name his store Zachary All in the first place, those
38 years ago?
"Well, I was going to name the store Clothing Co-Op, but a lawyer told us
since we didn't give back a portion of the profits to customers, we couldn't
do that. So, I was sitting around, and I liked the actor Zachary Scott, but
you can't just use someone's name. So I said I liked the detergent 'All.'
You know, it does it all. So I named the store Zachary All."
COPYRIGHT 1994 CBJ, L.P.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
Charles Ulrich
Stu Mark <stu...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> On 5/31/05 10:48 PM, in article
> poster-56F963....@news-rdr-02.socal.rr.com, "just another"
> <pos...@noaddress.com> wrote:
>
> > I don't live around L.A. anymore, but Zachary All has gotta still be there!
> >
> > (Eddie are you kidding?)
>
> Los Angeles Business Journal > May 16, 1994
>
> He'll always be Zachary All to us - Edward Nalbandian
Thanks, Stu! I had been unable to learn Eddie's last name.
> Too, Nalbandian has owned the building which houses his store for decades.
> So his mortgage is very reasonable. "You keep your nut (monthly expenses)
> down," he advises. "I work in here; my son works here.
Little Emil?
--Charles
Ryan
wrote:
>
>> (Eddie are you kidding?)
>
> Los Angeles Business Journal > May 16, 1994
Great.
Thanks for the info ....
Stu Mark
ulrich-F6D574....@news.vc.shawcable.net, "Charles Ulrich"
<ulr...@sfu.ca> wrote:
>> Los Angeles Business Journal > May 16, 1994
>>
>> He'll always be Zachary All to us - Edward Nalbandian
>
> Thanks, Stu! I had been unable to learn Eddie's last name.
Not for nothing, but I think he lives in Los Angeles and his phone number is
in the phone book. Not sure what you'd do once you got in contact with him,
but what the fuck, maybe there's a photo you could gain (or some other
historical items)...
Stu
(who is pretty much done with his chores for the day)
NP: Primal Instincts by The Flower Kings
Charles Ulrich
Stu Mark <stu...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> On 6/1/05 10:26 AM, in article
> ulrich-F6D574....@news.vc.shawcable.net, "Charles Ulrich"
> <ulr...@sfu.ca> wrote:
>
> >> Los Angeles Business Journal > May 16, 1994
> >>
> >> He'll always be Zachary All to us - Edward Nalbandian
> >
> > Thanks, Stu! I had been unable to learn Eddie's last name.
>
> Not for nothing, but I think he lives in Los Angeles and his phone number is
> in the phone book. Not sure what you'd do once you got in contact with him,
> but what the fuck, maybe there's a photo you could gain (or some other
> historical items)...
I wasn't planning to contact him. I just wanted to be able to cite him
by name.
--Charles
Hoodoo
> And why did Nalbandian name his store Zachary All in the first place, those
> 38 years ago?
>
> "Well, I was going to name the store Clothing Co-Op, but a lawyer told us
> since we didn't give back a portion of the profits to customers, we couldn't
> do that. So, I was sitting around, and I liked the actor Zachary Scott, but
> you can't just use someone's name. So I said I liked the detergent 'All.'
> You know, it does it all. So I named the store Zachary All."
Thanks for posting an informative and interesting article.
--
It's a big old goofy world. - John Prine
Stu Mark
<hoo...@spamcop.net> wrote:
Hey man, you're the current king of informative and interesting article
posting. I tip my cap to you sir.
Stu
(who is waiting for chicken)
NP: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly
Hoodoo
>>Thanks for posting an informative and interesting article.
> Hey man, you're the current king of informative and interesting article
> posting. I tip my cap to you sir.
Jeeze, you're too kind. I am not capable of authoritatively
discussing nested 'tuplets and all that jive so all I can do is
pass on various articles that may be on-topic, or, hopefully, of
interest.
> Stu
> (who is waiting for chicken)
What are you going to measure?
> NP: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly
The 17:05 version, I hope.
John Henley
wrote:
> Stu Mark wrote:
> > NP: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly
>
> The 17:05 version, I hope.
No, the 1917 version.
JH
Dave Wilcher
>>> NP: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly
>>
>> The 17:05 version, I hope.
>
> No, the 1917 version.
That was a very good year!
dave
--
A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read.
-Mark Twain
Stu Mark
<hoo...@spamcop.net> wrote:
> Stu Mark wrote:
>
>>> Thanks for posting an informative and interesting article.
>
>> Hey man, you're the current king of informative and interesting article
>> posting. I tip my cap to you sir.
>
> Jeeze, you're too kind.
Nah, I'm being honest. That's what will bring about an end to war.
> I am not capable of authoritatively
> discussing nested 'tuplets and all that jive so all I can do is
> pass on various articles that may be on-topic, or, hopefully, of
> interest.
I empathize. And I think that attempting to contribute is commendable.
>> Stu
>> (who is waiting for chicken)
>
> What are you going to measure?
What the hell are we doing in this bathroom?
>> NP: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly
>
> The 17:05 version, I hope.
But of course.
Stu
(who needs to get his wife's car smogged)
NP: Petrouchka (1911 Version): I. First Tableau: Shrove-tide Fair by London
Symphony Orchestra/Sir Chalres Mackerras
Hoodoo
>>>Stu
>>>(who is waiting for chicken)
>>What are you going to measure?
> What the hell are we doing in this bathroom?
I don't know what you are doing, George Michael, but I'm minding
my own business.
Hoodoo
>>>>NP: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly
>>>The 17:05 version, I hope.
>>No, the 1917 version.
> That was a very good year!
Not for a portion of the 20 million people who died during the
flu pandemic of the era. Unless innocent people dying is a good
thing.
Stu Mark
<hoo...@spamcop.net> wrote:
> Stu Mark wrote:
>
>>>> Stu
>>>> (who is waiting for chicken)
>
>>> What are you going to measure?
>
>> What the hell are we doing in this bathroom?
>
> I don't know what you are doing, George Michael, but I'm minding
> my own business.
http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/lyrics/Uncle_Meat.html#Excerpt1
About 2:20 into track 1 of CD 2.
Stu
(who hopes you all have a nice day)
NP: When I Come Around by Green Day
Dave Wilcher
> Dave Wilcher wrote:
>
>>>>> NP: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly
>
>>>> The 17:05 version, I hope.
>
>>> No, the 1917 version.
>
>> That was a very good year!
>
> Not for a portion of the 20 million people who died during the
> flu pandemic of the era. Unless innocent people dying is a good
> thing.
Well, there was that. But otherwise, it was a great year!
Hoodoo
>>>>>>NP: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly
>>>>>The 17:05 version, I hope.
>>>>No, the 1917 version.
>>>That was a very good year!
>>Not for a portion of the 20 million people who died during the
>>flu pandemic of the era. Unless innocent people dying is a good
>>thing.
> Well, there was that. But otherwise, it was a great year!
Ain't that the truth. It's always a good year... unless something
happens to spoil it.
Hoodoo
>>>>>Stu
>>>>>(who is waiting for chicken)
>>>>What are you going to measure?
>>>What the hell are we doing in this bathroom?
>>I don't know what you are doing, George Michael, but I'm minding
>>my own business.
> http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/lyrics/Uncle_Meat.html#Excerpt1
> About 2:20 into track 1 of CD 2.
Far fucking out! Far fucking out!