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Al Goldman
Year of induction: 1997
Bio:
Baby boomers who grew up in the Pittsburgh area could recite every single one of his campaigns (frequently to the annoyance of their parents) and still can today. Talk about cultural echoes, and you’re talking about Al Goldman, partner in Goldman, Shoop & Rothschild (a predecessor agency to MARC) in the 50s, 60s, and 70s.
Who could forget Pie Traynor claiming “Who can” American!” for American Heating? Or those cartoon kids whining: “Mommy, please can I have a Regent Pop? Please say yes or we won’t stop” or “Serta Perfect Sleeper, Serta Perfect Sleeper. Kids sleep on it, not in it” or “Lookie, lookie, lookie, Archway cookie” or “Don Allen is so-o-o-o-o-o big!” Who could resist the audio-visual interplay of “I want a Be and a Bi and a Bo and a Bop. Oooh, that’s Dairy Queen with the curl on top!” or quarrel with the in-your-faceness of “That’s it. Fort Pitt.”
Copywriter Adele Fargotstein recalls: “Goldman and Shoop with their funny little horse logo and their bizarre offices in the William Penn hotel – I knew when I was to be interviewed this would be different. It was.”
Her first assignment for Al was to write a campaign for a builder “Tom-something-or-other” with Eleanor Schano as talent. Adele opened by having Eleanor say, “In beautiful downtown Monroeville.” Al loved it!
Adele still remembers his motto: when typing scripts neatness doesn’t count. Always scratch things out with a black lead pencil. And his cure for writer’s block? Consult the American Thesaurus of Slang.
“Colorful? How can you say he was just colorful?” asks Adele. “Gilbert and Sullivan were colorful. Al was funny, creative, ready on the spot with a ‘Who Can?’ or ‘Serta Perfect Sleeper.” He was sweet, too, a nice man who could make an appreciative audience like me feel like a hundred bucks.”
Al shared his secret to advertising success with cub copywriters such as Norb Sieber, Bill Gruber, and Jody Smith: “Create a slogan or a jingle that will stick and become part of the popular lexicon,” he said. “When you get people on the street chanting your client’s refrain, you know you’ve done your job.”
Al lived to a ripe old age, dying in 1997. Here’s to you, Al, for doing your job so well.
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