Muntz TV Ad – November 18, 1957

Although my parents’ first television set was a Philco (which I wrote about here), another popular choice at the time was a Muntz TV. That’s the brand being touted in the above ad for Lorain TV Stores, which ran on the back page of the Lorain Journal (in with the TV listings, naturally) on November 18, 1957 – 60 years ago this month.

I’d seen these ads with the kooky advertising mascot wearing a Napoleon hat and long johns many times while looking at old Journal microfilm. The mascot was a caricature of Earl “Madman” Muntz. The American businessman and entrepreneur was initially known as a Southern California used car dealer who employed a variety of flamboyant promotional efforts in his pioneering television commercials. His fame grew as he produced and sold the Muntz TV, an early affordable television, as well as the Muntz Jet, one of the first American sports cars. He later branched into even more consumer electronics, including the Muntz Stereo-Pak, a four-track car stereo.

You can read more about “Madman” Muntz here.

But getting back to Lorain.

Ads for Muntz TV first appeared in the Lorain telephone book in 1955, when the local sales and service center was located at 1550 Broadway. Here's that first ad (below).

By the time of the 1956 book, Muntz TV Sales and Service was listed at 1125 North Ridge Road East (which is where Ted’s Floors is today).

In the 1957 directory, the Muntz TV store advertised as “Lorain County’s only factory-authorized sales and service center" was at 1320 Broadway.

Here's the 1960 Lorain Telephone directory ad. It was quite big and took up half the page.

Muntz TV remained at 1320 Broadway until the early 1960s, when a move was made to 1352 Broadway. The store then jumped around some more, including moves to 433 Broadway in the late 1960s, 37010 Detroit in Avon in the early 70s, and finally to 824 E. Erie in Lorain. The listing faded to black as of the 1975 edition.