Ron Popeil, inventor, pitchman and TV infomercial star, dies at 86 - The Washington Post

Inventor, TV pitchman and salesman extraordinaire Ron Popeil became a familiar presence in America’s homes and imaginations by demonstrating products he persuaded viewers they couldn’t live without: the Veg-O-Matic, the Pocket Fisherman, spray-on hair, and especially the Showtime Rotisserie and BBQ countertop oven.

Popeil (pronounced poh-PEEL), whose Ronco brand of products became staples of postwar households and who infused pop culture with phrases such as “No muss, no fuss,” “But wait, there’s more” and “Set it and forget it,” died July 28 at a Los Angeles hospital.

“I saw all these people selling products, pocketing money, making sales, and my mind went racing,” Mr.

Popeil was 16 when a Chicago newspaper called him “a silver-tongued orator.” Two years later, he was demonstrating products at a Woolworth’s store, sometimes clearing as much as $1,000 a week.

Popeil would say, “But wait, there’s more,” drawing even more people to his spiel.

Popeil and Korey started Ronco, taking advantage of television advertising.

Popeil refined some of the items developed by his father and uncles, who were in the same business, and began to invent his own.

He invented Popeil’s Electric Food Dehydrator for making banana chips, dried apples and beef jerky — “I love beef jerky, but you can’t find good homemade beef jerky,” he said by way of explanation.

Popeil demonstrating how the items worked.

Following the lead of K-Tel, a company developed by Canadian pitchman Phil Kives, Ronco sold millions of compilation recordings of classical music, disco, soul and military music in the 1970s and 1980s.

Popeil had what he called the “countdown,” telling his viewers how much a bargain they were getting by quoting absurd prices that they wouldn’t pay.

“Remember, folks, if you call now,” he said, selling a set of knives, “you’ll receive over $840 worth of the finest stainless steel cutlery that money can buy.” But “all you spend right now is only three easy monthly payments of just $13.33.”.

Demonstrating how easy the cooker was to use, he uttered a phrase that studio audiences later chanted in unison with him: “Set it and forget it.”.

Popeil developed the oven without focus groups, a marketing campaign or research staff, except for the friends who ate his chicken and helped him tinker with the electronic innards of the machine.

(In 1974, Mr. Popeil’s stepmother was convicted of hiring hit men to kill her estranged husband. She served 19 months in prison, and the two later remarried.)

Popeil’s Ronco empire nearly collapsed, but he bought the rights to his products and rebuilt the company

“I have enough money today,” he said in 1997, “but I can’t stop