Put a palm tree in the storyboard.

There are very few careers (outside of the travel business itself) where you can sit down and literally write or art direct yourself to a distant part of the world. Advertising is one of them.

If you had a great concept with an execution hinged on a specific location, then bringing that idea to life almost always involved travel. In the early Seventies, we usually went out to L.A. for a shoot because of all the production facilities in and around Hollywood. For many a star struck creative, a week at the Pink Palace, aka The Beverly Hills Hotel, was an almost surreal experience. Whether lounging around their legendary pool or having drinks at the Polo Lounge, famous faces were everywhere. 

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Out on a ledge.

From 1983 until 1990, I was the Creative Director on the Tonka Toy business. It was an extraordinary period of time that saw Tonka grow from a well known maker of sturdy, yellow, Mighty Dump Trucks to the company that marketed Gobots, Pound Puppies, Sega Video Games and other imaginative toys created to wow kids everywhere. The Account Director on Tonka was a good friend of mine named Ken Kaess.  Ken was a smart, charismatic leader who ultimately became the CEO of DDB Worldwide. Sadly, Ken Kaess died of cancer several years ago. It was a tremendous loss for DDB and for his many friends and business associates. 

On a bright, spring day in 1987, Ken and I were trying out a prototype of Interstellar Defender, a new, lightweight plane from Tonka.  As far as we knew, there were only three of these unique planes in existence and we were told to be very careful with this one. The plane was launched into the air with its wings positioned at its side by a device that looked much like a slingshot. At the apex of its trajectory, the wings suddenly shot out allowing it soar from great heights down to the ground. At least, that’s what we were told.

To test it out for ourselves, we went out on to 56^th St., right off Park Ave., and shot it up in the air. It literally took off like a rocket, going up at least 7 stories between the skyscrapers. Then, as advertised, the wings of our Interstellar Defender shot out and we both watched as this elegant glider took flight.  Our smiles turned to concern when it suddenly swooped down and landed on the ledge of a building six stories up. Oops!

We couldn’t just leave it there and get another one. There were only three in existence. So counting the floors and the office position, we went up to the large law firm that occupied the 6^th floor of the building. After telling our sad story to a string of receptionists and office managers, we were escorted into a very surprised lawyer's office. Once he stepped away from his desk, we opened his window and looked up and down the ledge. There it was.  And there was only one way to retrieve it. 

While I held Ken's legs and the lawyer looked on in horror, Ken leaned halfway out the window and stretched across to the ledge. With barely a fingertip to spare, he recovered our wayward, winged prototype.      

So what ultimately became of Interstellar Defender? A commercial was produced which was shown at Toy Fair in New York to see how much interest our high-flying projectile could generate. But sadly, even after our daring rescue, it never really took off.

A visit from E.T.

It was 1981 when I began working at Jordan, Case & McGrath. It was also the year that Steven Spielberg’s cinematic tale of a little, lost alien and an alienated boy captured the hearts of America and the world. It was raining quite hard the night our family saw E.T. and the emotionality of the ending hadn’t quite left me as we all piled in the car. Between the tears in my eyes and the rain on the windshield, it’s a miracle we all made it home. And my kids have never let me forget it.

The point here is that in addition to making an emotional connection to Elliot, E.T. had certainly gotten to me as well. So it was a genuine thrill when Jim Jordan told me I’d be handling E.T. Multi-Vitamins from Squibb. What’s more, he had scheduled a meeting in Hollywood with Amblin Entertainment and Spielberg’s publicity people.

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There’s a sheep in my office.

At my new agency Jordan, Case & McGrath, the hallways literally ran red. That was because red was Jim's favorite color. But not just any shade. Jim had charged his favorite art director, Alex Ross, with creating the perfect crimson hue for the carpets of the entire agency.  

I had always preferred a soothing hunter green. So when Jim told me I could have my office redone, I started from the floor up. From small, square samples of carpet swatches, I chose what seemed like a nice, verdant shade. However, once it was finally installed, the intensity of the color was almost overwhelming. At this point, I had no furniture – just a wide, very green expanse of carpet.

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A Dangerous Brainstorming.

At BBDO, the majority of my time was spent pounding away on my Smith Corona. But our creative group did get together several times a week for some good, old-fashioned brainstorming. And this almost always involved darts. 

For about an hour at the end of day, we’d sit around my boss’s office and toss out ideas while we all took turns tossing the little pointy things. This was all well and good except that the dartboard was located next to an open window. And that window was located nine stories above Madison Ave. The “dart through the window scenario” was inevitable. It was just a question of when. Unfortunately, it occurred at the worst possible time – about 10 minutes after five at night, just as all the offices on Madison were emptying out and the normally busy street was completely mobbed with throngs of harried commuters heading home.

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