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Word: pitchman (lookup in dictionary) (lookup stats)
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...tracing their ancestry back to the ancient Phoenician traders who once unloaded junk jewelry on Greek housewives, have not changed much in the past few thousand years. But in recent years they have moved indoors; first as department store demonstrators and then as radio salesmen. TV, however, is a pitchman's paradise: he reaches a large audience and is visible as well as vocal. "The pitchman's spiel is not as important as his hands," says 36-year-old Harold Kaye. "He sells in proportion to how skillful he is at manipulating the worker (see glossary). Whether...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Radio: The Low Pitch | 12/18/1950 | See Source »

Plausibility is the key to a western, as Mr. Ford well knows: what makes "Wagonmaster" especially unfortunate is that it shows all the craftsmanship of a fine one. Ford's feel for detail and character is excellent. He creates a traveling pitchman who runs out of water in the desert, and is found dead drunk after two days of guzzling Magic Elixir to alleviate his thirst. There is a Charles Addams-type family of half-witted bandits, and a wagon train of Mormon emigrants inspired by frequent bleats on a ram's horn. But Ford fails to weld these details...

Author: By Paul W. Mandel, | Title: Wagonmaster | 4/29/1950 | See Source »

...before the Civil War, when Adolphus and Ulrich Busch, young sons of a vast family (21 children) of German immigrants, married two daughters of Erberhard Anheuser, a small and not very successful brewer. Son-in-law Adolphus, who combined a Teutonic genius for organization with the salesmanship of a pitchman, soon built up annual production to 25,000 barrels. In 1876, he got a new and better beer formula from a local restaurateur and called the new brew Budweiser...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: CORPORATIONS: Where the Budweiser Flows | 4/3/1950 | See Source »

Cherub-faced Oscar Ewing, chief pitchman for Harry Truman's national health insurance plan (see MEDICINE), could not contain his enthusiasm over Britain's socialized medicine...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: WELFARE: Wigs, Spectacles & All | 12/19/1949 | See Source »

Joyce himself visited 15 stores and, like the other executives, demonstrated and hawked his product with the vigor of an oldtime pitchman (see cut). The results: usual Saturday sales of Spred-Satin quadrupled, purchases of other Glidden paints doubled. It was such a success that last week Glidden Co. planned to repeat the performances in Chicago, Baltimore and St. Louis...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: RETAILING: Step Closer, Please | 6/13/1949 | See Source »

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