Arthur Schiff (1 May 1940 – 24 August 2006) was one of the least known but most influential promoters of American

kitsch Kitsch ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste. The avant-garde opposed kitsch as melodramatic and superficial affiliation with ...

products. Schiff ran his own company and ingenious marketing campaigns for 23 years. During his long career in advertising, he produced over 1800 direct response TV

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...

s, including the Steakhouse Onion Machine, Ambervision

Sunglasses Sunglasses or sun glasses (informally called shades or sunnies; more names below) are a form of protective eyewear designed primarily to prevent bright sunlight and high-energy visible light from damaging or discomforting the eyes. They can s ...

and the Shiwala car mop. One of the most famous products worked on by Schiff is the line of

Ginsu Ginsu () is a brand of direct marketed knives, owned by Scott Fetzer Company, a Berkshire Hathaway Company, that was made popular in the United States by being sold on television using infomercials characterized by hawker and hard sell pitch tec ...

knives, during his three-year term of employment as Creative Director at legendary direct marketing firm Dial Media, founded By

Ed Valenti Ed Valenti is an American television personality and entrepreneur best known as an early pioneer of infomercials and for creating the Ginsu knives. In 1975, Valenti and his business partner Barry Becher founded Dial Media, Inc. (now PriMedia Inc ...

and

Barry Becher Ginsu () is a brand of direct marketed knives, owned by Scott Fetzer Company, a Berkshire Hathaway Company, that was made popular in the United States by being sold on television using infomercials characterized by hawker and hard sell pitch tec ...

in 1975, in

Warwick, Rhode Island Warwick ( or ) is a city in Kent County, Rhode Island, the third largest city in the state with a population of 82,823 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is located approximately south of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, sout ...

. Schiff's commercials gained a degree of notoriety for their effective use of catchphrases, including his signature creation ''"But wait, there's more!"'' He also coined several other widely used and often parodied phrases used in infomercials today, including ''"Isn't that amazing?" "Isn't that a Clever Cleaver!"'' and ''"Act now and you'll also receive ... "'' The history of the Ginsu product line can be traced back to 1978, when Schiff's employer Edward Valenti was looking for the best way to market a line of "ordinary" kitchen knives with the rather dull brand name "Quikut". Working as part of a creative team that included Valenti and Becher, Schiff rebranded this product as Ginsu. Schiff recalled some years later, "I went to sleep that night, still wrestling with the problem," he wrote, in typically fervid style. "And then it happened! I bolted out of bed at three o'clock in the morning and yelled, 'Eureka! I've got it. Ginsu!' I wrote the bizarre word down on a piece of paper and went back to sleep. When I got up again four hours later, the paper was still there and that strange word was still on it. I stuffed it into my shirt pocket and headed off to work." The combination of Schiff's unusual Japanese sounding name for the knives with product demonstrations and copy lines previously developed by Valenti and Becher, many of which had been used to sell their first three multi-million selling products (Miracle Painter, Miracle Duster and Miracle Slicer) on TV prior to Schiff's employment, seemed to launch Ginsu to an even higher level of success and consumer retention. Much like the

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

brand

Häagen-Dazs Häagen-Dazs ( , ) is an American ice cream brand, established by Reuben and Rose Mattus in The Bronx, New York, in 1960. Starting with only three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and coffee, the company opened its first retail store in Brooklyn, Ne ...

, the Ginsu name was nonsense, but nevertheless extremely effective in associating the product image as a "

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

sword" for the kitchen. The partners (Valenti and Becher) hired a local Japanese

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to appear as a chef. The most famous Ginsu television advertisement began with a hand

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

-chopping a two-by-four board. According to the opening copy co-written by Valenti and Schiff, "In

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, the hand can be used like a knife. But this method doesn't work with a

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

" (cut to Valenti's hand karate chopping...and squashing...a tomato). Schiff died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

Coral Springs, Florida Coral Springs, officially the City of Coral Springs, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. The city is located approximately northwest of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Fort Lauderdale. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. C ...

in 2006.

References

* "He Sliced and Diced His Way into Popular Culture," by Paul Fahri.
"The Washington Post"
4 September 2006.

* "The Wisdom Of Ginsu, Carve Yourself a Piece of the American Dream" 2005 Career Press

a writer's appreciation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schiff, Arthur 1940 births 2006 deaths Direct marketing Deaths from lung cancer People from Coral Springs, Florida

See also

References