-
Farewell to a Chicago broadcasting classic
The Empire Carpet Man, Lynn Hauldren, has passed away at age 89.
He will be rolled up and delivered and installed at the cemetery in three or four days.
Seriously, this guy was really a part of Chicago broadcasting history for a LONNNG time.
And it was all a fluke accident.Hauldren was an ad guy working on the account for Empire Carpet, writing spot copy and their jingle. One day, the actor for a new spot somehow didn’t show up to the set. They asked Hauldren to do it, and he’s been in all their spots since the 70’s, I mean thousands of spots. Even when Lynn got too old to appear in the spots, they used his voice to go with an animated cartoon version of him. I can’t think of too many campaigns so long-lived.
You and your infernal jingle, “Five-eight-eight, two, three-hundred: EM-PIRREEEE!” will always be a part of Chi-Town, Lynn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp9Kwe0v7L4&feature=related
Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!This happens because the functionality/content marked as “Google Youtube” uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.
-
10 Replies
-
Actually Empire is a big advertiser in Atlanta as well. Sad to hear that he’s passed on.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media -
That’s what Empires do – expand.
-
Awesome…grew up with that ad. Watched the Sears Tower go up from a cherry tree in our front yard. I sing that jingle to my kids to this day….they don’t get it. But they sing along on….”Emmmpiiiiiiirrrrrrrre!
Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production, Post, Studio Sound Stage
Founder/President/Editor/Designer/Animator
https://www.tiltmedia.com -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7wNaxfBjE4
Updated story with interview done a few months ago.
https://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/metro/lynn-hauldren-empire-man-carpet-face-pitchman-chicagoan-20110210Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!This happens because the functionality/content marked as “Google Youtube” uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.
-
That is a BIG empire. We had those ads out here in LA as well.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Certainly an institution, burned into our brains. I now can’t get the jingle out of my head, and I didn’t even listen to the youtube!
I bet he never anticipated that career change when he went to college, if he did!
Voice over can be very lucrative. And quite an art. I once had a guy from Seattle, worked at KING 5 in sales back in the 70s & 80s and now I can’t remember his name (shame on me), but he did VO and we needed a narrator for a 12 minute production. He came and read cold the entire script, first take. We did three takes, but the first was right on the money. It was, to this day, the most impressive bit of walk on (walk in?) talent I’ve ever seen.
RIP…
Alf
-
What range do good VO narrators charge per hour these days, I wonder, if they work from home and FTP the file to you?
-
Mark-
The good ones are union so they work for scale (as a starting point) and up. Many now do work from home and FTP stuff. Prior to that being available a few VO people had ISDN lines so their session would be routed from their home rig to a studio for recording.Some producers like this and some insist on directing face-to-face.
-
The Empire Carpet Guy, Bob Roooooooooooohrman, and the Eagle-Man are forever a part of me.
-
Remember Celozzi-Ettleson Chevy? (robotically reading off cue card while grinning in a zombie-like rictus and brandishing a wad of twenties like an animatronic mannikin) “Where… you.. always save… more..money”.
Or “Little Timmy”, the paperboy, the dealer’s own kid, from those local Chevy commercials?
“Extra, Extra, read all ‘bouddit!”
I bet that Timmy got his (blank) kicked at school weekly for those)
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up