Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

distributors and dealers in more than 150 cities since 1954. In contrast to his former monotonous round of "one- nighters," Monroe now rarely knows what the next day will bring. He might find himself atop a 27-foot ladder in a Warner Brothers studio in Hollywood filming a TV commercial; he might spend a full day in a New York NBC studio recording radio commercials for 50,000 RCA dealers; he might appear at a rally of 50,000 boy scouts in Dallas, courtesy of RCA; or he might represent RCA at the inauguration of a multi-million dollar depart- ment store in Salem, Oregon. Monroe aired his first RCA commercial on the Sid Caesar Show in September, 1954. From that date it rained commercials. He has appeared on the Milton Berle Show, The Martha Raye Show, Producer's Show- case and the Saturday Color Carnival. For the coming season he will produce commercials for the Perry Como Show, the George Gobel Show, The Price Is Right, The Eddie Fisher Show and Tic Tac Dough. In taking up his new career, Monroe, a trained pro- fessional vocalist, experienced no difficulty in handling singing commercials. The acting and voice roles were a different story, and Monroe required special coaching from the staff of Kenyon & Eckhardt, the agency respons- ible for RCA's commercials. Within a few months he was taking these assignments in stride. Recognition for Commercials Two of Monroe's commercials have gained national and international prominence. The "Floating TV Com- mercial" won the Art Director's Award for live, filmed action. A portable television receiver, floating unassisted, suddenly came alive, alighted from a Ford Thunderbird and entered a home. The Floating TV set showed its versatility by climbing and descending stairs into various rooms of the houses where it might serve a useful pur- pose, turning itself on and off, all described by RCA's "voice," Vaughn Monroe. The Floating Glove Commercial was voted first honors at the Cannes Film Festival. The ingenious and original film showed a lovely fuchsia-gloved hand caress- ing a color TV receiver, pinpointing the highlights of color and RCA styling. Monroe's touring assignments began when RCA offered promotion assistance to one of its dealers in New Brunswick, N. J. This went over so well that visits to distributors became a permanent part of his promo- tional efforts. Monroe is now on a regularly scheduled five days per month itinerary. In these five-day promo- tions Monroe combines a national charity campaign kick- off with a salute to RCA dealers by being their spokes- man in an RCA Victor Week. His tours have included visits to Salem, Oregon, where he dedicated the new multi-million dollar depart- ment store of Meier & Frank; at Pomeroy's, Levittown, Pa., and at Jordan Marsh, Miami, he represented RCA for the important Allied Stores Corp. inaugurals. At the RCA Cambridge and Canonsburg plants, pro- duction stopped and the girls mobbed him for auto- graphs while the plant public address system played, "Racing With the Moon." He serenaded hundreds of factory girls in a cleared area between the machine shop and the chassis soldering sections. He addressed students at the University of Tampa and exhibited RCA filmed commercials — telling the students of some of the work that goes into their pro- duction. At Hamden, Conn., he dedicated a new million dollar shopping center that houses RCA dealers, and in Cleveland he regularly appears at the annual Higbee Christmas Carol Community Sing in the downtown Square. He served as host to the national and international press at the RCA Hospitality Center at both the Demo- cratic and Republican Conventions. During the inactive periods at the conventions he interviewed delegates, senators, congressmen, governors, and alternates on RCA tape for their home town radio stations. Monroe is a versatile performer who fits in easily wherever he happens to be. He is doing an outstanding job as RCA's roving ambassador and his success is attested by the increasing number of requests that are being made by dealers and distributors for Vaughn Monroe appearances. Vaughn Monroe was the keynote speaker at the opening of improved Pomeroy's in Wilkes-Barre. October, 1957 23