Mister Akins I really admire your Poli-Grip Commercials

 

Mister Akins I really admire your Poli-grip commercials





    A constant source of amusement has always been the absurd picture of America demonstrated in television commericials. Many a silly statement was adopted by Greg and other friends who turned them into explanations for our very different societal experiences. Nobody's wife gets a $65,000 automobile with a bow on it out in front of a cozy snow covered homestead in our SoCal. We don't go to Morongo Casino to win and get laid and smoking Winstons did not make us cool in the doctor's office coughing up phlegm. There is also the phenomena of slightly famous or actually unknown stars shilling for products we probably will never use. Cases in point Rula Lenska for VO5 hairspray, Buddy Greco in his dressing room like he was Frank Sinatra. Greg often committed to memory local commericals and could recite dialogue from Zachary All, Earl Scheib, Felix Chevrolet and the beloved Alka Seltzer commercial with George Raft. In the case of this tape title the subject is a pretty solid character actor named Claude Akins who made a good living on the small screen playing mostly brutes and villains. Akins was central in the classic Twilight Zone set of Monsters on Maple Street and actually appeared in several classic films. However, he would be the first to admit that he was not a prominent movie star because he just looks mean. He had a resting bad ass face and voice. So, his agent got him a commercial and in the action he is approached by a feckless lady on a sound stage who tells him "Mister Akins, I really admire your Poli-Grip Commercials." She speaks with the enthusiasm one would have for the lead in a great film or long-running broadway show.  For the most part Akins "work" was killing cowboys and beating the hell out of the good guys. The product was Super-Poli-grip denture adhesive but later on Claude became the spokesman for AAMCO transmissions which was more to his style. Akins died at the same hospital where I was born.




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