Benjamin Krass; Suit Salesman (Great obit)
Hyfler/Rosner
Philadelphia Inquirer
June 9, 2004 Wednesday CITY-D EDITION
Suit salesman Benjamin Krass, 85
By Gayle Ronan Sims; Inquirer Staff Writer
Benjamin Krass will be buried today in a blue polyester suit
with the lapels removed and in a white shirt and white tie
secured with an Eagles pin, thus giving proof to his
often-watched commercial, the one in which he popped out of
a coffin and said, "If you gotta go, go in a Krass Bros.
suit."
Mr. Krass, 85, died Monday of complications of Alzheimer's
disease at Rosemont Manor, an assisted-care facility, where
he had lived the last three months.
For more than three decades beginning in the mid-1960s, Mr.
Krass - who spent 54 years peddling polyester suits and
flashy menswear from a series of stores on South Street -
was one of Philadelphia's most recognizable citizens.
His fame began when he started appearing - starring - in a
series of corny 10-second commercials made on the cheap, and
usually airing late at night, promoting Krass Bros., the
South Philadelphia landmark once known as the "Store of the
Stars."
In various ads, Mr. Krass pranced around in diapers, was
drooled on by a cow, and was mobbed by beautiful women. In
one spot, he bellowed: "If you didn't buy your clothes at
Krass Bros., you was robbed."
All the commercials were filmed in his store, where the
coffin was kept.
He stopped doing the commercials in the early 1990s, when
tastes changed, sales plummeted, and the store fell on hard
times. It went from more than $2 million in sales in 1984 to
about $500,000 in 1996.
By 1999, the glory days were over. The store declared
bankruptcy after city officials said Mr. Krass owed $339,339
in back wage taxes.
Krass Bros. closed in 2002.
But when the going was good, Krass Bros. - which started in
1947 in an old movie theater at 937 South St. - had the kind
of reputation and clientele not often seen in Philadelphia.
Mr. Krass chose suits for Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, Redd
Foxx and Muhammad Ali when they came into town.
"From the time I was 18 years old, I knew nothing but Krass
Bros. suits," said Carmen Dee, former orchestra leader at
Palumbo's in South Philadelphia, in an Inquirer interview in
1997. Dee told of bringing all nine members of his big-band
orchestra to the store twice a year to buy matching
outfits - red blazers and black tuxedos.
"Everybody who ever came to Philadelphia - Al Martino, Jerry
Vale, Frankie Avalon, Chubby Checker - they'd come into that
store. It was like a hangout," Dee said.
"Benny Krass is the guy who made South Street famous," disc
jockey Bob Pantano, host of the Saturday Night Dance Party
on WOGL-FM (98.1), said yesterday.
"Whenever I played 'South Street' by the Orlons, I played it
for Ben," Pantano said. "That is my theme song for Ben
Krass."
Mr. Krass's love for the absurd entertained Pantano's
listeners at Halloween parties during live radio shows at
area clubs.
"I gave him the mike inside the coffin, and the ad for his
suits was broadcast," Pantano said. Then he popped out of
the coffin.
Mr. Krass decorated his store with promotional glossies of
such names as Birdie Castle and the Stardusters, the Ink
Spots, the Dixie Hummingbirds, and the Dovells. A painting
of Frank Sinatra, done on black velvet, hung on the window.
Mr. Krass owned the business with his brothers, Jack and
Harry, but was the store's front man.
He lived the good life, owning a succession of Rolls-Royces
and - after divorcing his wife of 30 years, Naomi Wagor -
clubbing around town in his luxury vehicles.
Krass Bros. began as a humble business in 1947, when Mr.
Krass and his brothers pooled $7,000 to open a store across
the street from their father's shop.
Mr. Krass and his brothers had learned the trade in their
father's store on South Street when the area was better
known as "hick street than hip street," longtime
Philadelphia publicist Sam Bushman said yesterday.
"Barkers used to stand out in front of the clothing stores
on South Street and use bait-and-switch tactics to get
customers inside," Bushman said.
Krass Bros. was a success, eventually moving to a proper
building at Ninth and South in 1985. The 135-pound dynamo
and self-styled "King of Polyester" ran the store with a
broad smile and retail ingenuity.
He grew up working for his father, graduated from Central
High School in 1936, and lived in Atlantic City for a while
before being drafted by the Army in 1944. The Army
eventually sent him to Calcutta, India, but not before he
married Wagor, a secretary he had met during training in
Texas. When he returned to the city in 1947, the couple
settled in Overbrook and Bala Cynwyd, and had four children.
They divorced in the early 1970s.
He had an apartment in Rittenhouse Square until two years
ago, when he began living in a series of nursing homes,
including Rosemont Manor.
Mr. Krass is survived by daughters Becki Leof, Susan
Margaris and Jacqueline Feldman; a son, Michael; nine
grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and two sisters.
His former wife also survives.
A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. today at
Goldsteins' Rosenberg's Raphael-Sacks, 6410 N. Broad St.
Burial will be in Mount Sharon Cemetery, Springfield,
Delaware County. The casket, his family said, will not be
the one he kept in the store.
HankM219
>with the lapels removed and in a white shirt and white tie
>secured with an Eagles pin, thus giving proof to his
>often-watched commercial, the one in which he popped out of
>a coffin and said, "If you gotta go, go in a Krass Bros.
>suit."
>For more than three decades beginning in the mid-1960s, Mr.
>Krass - who spent 54 years peddling polyester suits and
>flashy menswear from a series of stores on South Street -
>was one of Philadelphia's most recognizable citizens.
>
>His fame began when he started appearing - starring - in a
>series of corny 10-second commercials made on the cheap, and
>usually airing late at night, promoting Krass Bros., the
>South Philadelphia landmark once known as the "Store of the
>Stars."
>
>In various ads, Mr. Krass pranced around in diapers, was
>drooled on by a cow, and was mobbed by beautiful women. In
>one spot, he bellowed: "If you didn't buy your clothes at
>Krass Bros., you was robbed."
These ads were certainly memorable to anyone in the Philadelphia area, and he
was indeed a very well known face (and grating voice to match) to everyone who
watched Philly TV stations.
But I don't understand removing the lapels of the suit. Is there some
significance to this?
Henry Maurer, Cherry Hill, NJ, USA
hank...@aol.com or Henry....@comcast.net
The Kentucky Wizard
I'm just guessing here, but it appears from what I can read into this
obituary, that in one of the commercials he came out of a coffin in a
poorly tailored suit from some cheap company, I can only assume without
lapels, and then comes the punch-line about; "If you gotta go, go in a
Krass Bros. suit.", which in other words would be saying that a suit
from anywhere else but Krass Bros. would be a bad choice. So, I guess
since that's the way most people remember him in life, then that was the
way he should appear, even in death.
--
*I'm The Wiz, and I approved this message*
© The Wiz ®
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