Well wonder no more, as my book entitled “The Rise and Fall of the First Popeil Gadget Dynasty” and is the story of the two greatest gadget telemarketers of the 1970’s and early 1980’s – Popeil Brothers and Ronco – through my personal recollections of having the unique distinction of having worked for BOTH companies during that period. Most people today are under the impression that Ron Popeil was the one-and-only POPEIL and his company (Ronco) was the  sole marketer of widely-recognized classic televised promotional products such as the Pocket Fisherman, Veg-O-Matic and the    Chop-O-Matic.     I explain in detail through first-hand recollections how there were TWO distinct and separate companies who were fierce competitors vying for the same retail shelf space every year.  Ironically the two “competitors” were owned by father and son with one company (Ronco) becoming a viable entity through the assistance of the other (Popeil Brothers).  Both Popeil Brothers and Ronco sold their products directly and independently of one another to the major retail chains of the time, such as Montgomery Wards, F.W. Woolworth, E.J.Korvettes, Jack Eckerd Drugs, J.C. Penney, Walgreens, and many others. Annual sales reached from $16 million to $33 million per individual company.   Very little has been written about this period with writers preferring to write about Ron Popeil’s more recent “Infomercial” accomplishments during the past twenty years. My book covers where it all began…..back in the 1960’s and ended in the mid-1980’s through bankruptcy.

Have done numerous radio interviews on the book and several speaking engagements.