At heaven’s door with a giant check?

Ed McMahon has passed away after a long and successful career as an actor, sidekick to Johnny Carson and pitchman extraordinaire.

I remember him most clearly as the guy with the giant check. As a kid, I was mesmerized by those American Family Publishers TV spots in which he shows up at someone’s door and changes their life with a huge payoff. I never really knew how much the award was—I was a kid, so a dollar was big money—but I knew it must have been a lot. I mean, did you see the size of the check?

Those spots could be considered the precursor to reality TV, particularly the brand of before-and-after TV to which I am addicted: “What Not to Wear,” “Flip This House” and their counterparts. They make viewers imagine the possibilities. If ordinary Dick and plain Jane can have a fantastic haircut or a gorgeous kitchen in just a half-hour, maybe so could I. And if someone who looks like my next-door neighbor can win an enormous, new-house-new-car-new-life check, maybe so could I. I just need to enter the sweepstakes!

It was a great campaign that took advantage of TV’s visual nature: the oversized cardboard check in hand, the pause outside the door, the jumping and screaming and crying. And it made Ed McMahon a super-good-guy in my memory. Really, could there be a better way to make a living than selling hopes and dreams?


--Julianne W.