Sponsor (Nov 1947-Oct 1948)

Ronson's radio brain trust, headed by Fred Van Deventer, includes wife (Florence Rinard), son (Bobby McGuire), and outsider Herb Polesie Making pod with a specialty llnce llonKon made hundreds of items. Today one product antl one radio program build a fortune over-all Ronson's millions are the resuit of specialization. In 1920, when the Art Metal Works went through the bankruptcy courts, the products of the then 25'year'Old fashioners of metal products ran the gamut from a sparking pistol to elevator doors. It was about this time that Alexander Harris, now president, joined the organization and started the now-completed trend towards a basic product, automatic cigarette lighters. Harris didn't pioneer the Art Metal Works' stress on promotion and advertising, for the founder of the firm, electroplater-metal worker Louis V. Aronson, was a fiim believer in the efficacy of advertising dollars. He also had a strong partiality for the color maroon, which explains why to this day Ronsons are packed in maroon boxes, delivered in maroon trucks, and written about on maroon-printed stationery. His invention of the first automatic lighter receives tribute in the name of the product itself, Ronson (A ronson), and the present name of the corporation, the Ronson Art Metal Works. The corporate title was changed in 1945 to more completely identify product and manufacturer. Ronson lighters are of many types and 38 forms, and range from the $6.(X) pocket model to table and de luxe gold pocket pieces that bring $200. The lighters, despite the $20,000,000 business which the firm did in 1947, are still being allocated to retailers. It's expected that in 1948 production will overtake demand, although advertising is being directed towards keeping consumers wanting more lighters. For most of the first 46 years of the Art Metal Works' history lighters were a seasonal item. Sales peaked at the gift seasons (Christmas, graduation, and Easter). Ronson's advertising was likewise concentrated in these months. Thus one year a series of five-minute transcriptions by Ed East, one of the original Sisters of the Skillet, were used in 12 markets as gift reminders. The following year John Sebastian, harmonica virtuoso, made another series of five-minute recordings, also used in a number of key markets. These transcriptions increased Ronson gift business, but that is all they did. It was in 1941 that Ronson decided to fight the seasonal bugaboo. Paul Sullivan was the fair-haired newscaster of that period and they placed him on CBS starting April 1 1 . The United States was then rapidly approaching war and many firms. especially those in the metal-working field, were shifting slowly over to a war economy. In June of 1941, Art Metal Works dropped sponsorship of Sullivan and began to taper off its advertising campaign. In 1942 it spent nothing for advertising. In 1943, realizing the need of keeping the name of Ronson alive, advertising was started again ($56,890 budget), but it wasn't until the end of 1945 that Ronson started getting back into the consumer lighter field. That year the advertising budget rose to $135,344 and Ronson was advertised over CBS on Christmas day with Ronson's Christmas Musicade, cost $12,985. Around the middle of 1946, president Harris felt that Ronson production justified extensive advertising. The budget was upped to $5(X),(XX) and a network program, Twenty Questions, was purchased on MBS. The quiz show had been on Mutual about five months when it was bought by Ronson. The fact that a game played by a family (the Van Deventers) could be expanded by that family so that MBS' biggest Saturday night audience could be attracted to it was a surprise to everyone in radio. The cast includes Mr. (Fred) and Mrs. (Florence Rinard) and SPONSOR J