(2 of 2)
Wooden Expression. Most admen agree that the new look in announcers was started by Ed Sullivan of Toast of the Town. Despite his wooden expression and lack of announcer's glibness, Sullivan does the sort of job that makes any sponsor swoon with joy. He spends much of his offscreen time racing around the nation on the dedicated work of selling Lincolns and Mercurys. He addresses regional meetings of auto dealers ("I explain that we're all part of a team'') and will show up in Portland. Ore., for its Rose Festival or Memphis for the crowning of the Cotton Queen. Wherever he goes he is accompanied by a glistening motorcade of Lincolns and Mercurys. In Houston, Sullivan agreed to preside at the opening of the new $9,000,000 Prudential Insurance building, but first arranged for a display of his sponsor's cars in the lobby. When Sam Goldwyn, Oscar Hammerstein II, Josh Logan or Walt Disney are guests on Toast of the Town, Sullivan sees to it that their wives get gift Lincolns. ("That gets a lot of caste-conscious people buying Lincolns.'")
Four Different Hats. No old-style announcer, selling six or seven different products a week, can hope to equal Sullivan's devotion to one sponsor, and that is why they are losing out on the newcomers, who have but a single loyalty. Betty Furness travels from coast to coast for Westinghouse; the statuesque Roxanne. who does commercials for Sylvania. is a regular visitor at conventions and is always delighted to have her picture taken with the district's top salesman. Even Veteran Rex Marshall, who does commercials for four sponsors each week, is trying hard to adjust to the trend by wearing four different hats as the occasion requires. "When I do a show for Camel News Caravan, I'm a Camel man.'' he says stoutly. "And I feel the same way about the others (Reynolds aluminum. Dodge. Maxwell House) when I work for them.'' But what the sponsors increasingly crave is a man like Ed Sullivan, who has given blood in San Francisco, landed in a helicopter on Boston Common, and submerged in a Navy diver's suit, all for the glory of Lincoln-Mercury.