Earl William "Madman" Muntz (January 3, 1914 – June 21, 1987) was an American businessman and engineer who sold and promoted cars and consumer electronics in the United States from the 1930s until his death in 1987. He was a pioneer in television commercials with his oddball "Madman" persona; an alter ego who generated publicity with his unusual costumes, stunts, and outrageous claims. Muntz also pioneered car stereos

He invented the practice that came to be known as Muntzing, which involved simplifying otherwise complicated electronic devices. Muntz produced and marketed the first black-and-white television receivers to sell for less than $100, and created one of the earliest functional widescreen projection TVs. He was credited with coining the abbreviation "TV" for television, although the term had earlier been in use in call letters for stations such as WCBS-TV. A high school dropout, Muntz made fortunes by selling automobiles, TV receivers, and car stereos and tapes. A 1968 Los Angeles Times article noted that in one year he sold $72 million worth of cars; five years later he sold $55 million worth of TV receivers, and in 1967 he sold $30 million worth of car stereos and tapes. Muntz founded the Muntz Car Company, which made the "Muntz Jet", a sports car with jet-like contours. The car was manufactured between 1951 and 1953, although fewer than 400 were produced.

Muntz married seven times. His wives included actress Joan Barton (who appeared in Angel and the Badman with John Wayne) and Patricia Stevens of the Patricia Stevens finishing schools. Phyllis Diller was among his many girlfriends. He was friends with celebrities such as singer Rudy Vallee, comedian Jerry Colonna, actor Bert Lahr,]]

Muntz was fascinated by electronics from an early age. He built his first radio at age 8 and built another for his parents' car at age 14. Local newspapers ran stories about the unusual cars, and Muntz sold them all within two weeks, still in their original shipping crates.

Muntz's car lots became tourist attractions due to the widespread publicity from his television commercial appearances. A 1946 survey by Panner Motor Tours revealed that they ranked seventh among tourist attractions in Southern California.

Muntz Jet

thumb|left|A mint-condition 1953 Muntz Jet at a Monterey, California, classic car auction

In 1948, race car designer and Kurtis-Kraft founder Frank Kurtis attempted to market a new sports car, the two-seater Kurtis Kraft Sport. Only 36 units had been sold by 1950. In 1951, for just $200,000 ($ in ) Kurtis sold the cars' manufacturing license to Muntz, who quickly rebadged them as the "Muntz Jet". Initial production of the Jet took place in Glendale, where Muntz extended the two-seater Kurtis Kraft Sport's body by , making it a four-seater, and exchanged the Ford V8 engine for a larger Cadillac V8. It featured its own design, with aluminum body panels and a removable fiberglass top.

The Jet was capable of a top speed of and acceleration of 0–50 mph (0–80 km/h) in 6 seconds, a significant achievement for a road car at the time. Jet owners included the CEO of CBS Frank Stanton, and actors Mickey Rooney Muntz played the madman in his unorthodox television commercials, but in fact he was a shrewd businessman and a self-taught electrical engineer. By trial and error, taking apart and studying Philco, RCA, and DuMont televisions, he figured out how to reduce the devices' electrical components to their minimum functional number. This practice became known as "Muntzing". By 1954, although broadcast television in the United States had existed in various forms since 1928, only 55 percent of U.S. households owned a receiver. By contrast, eight years later, 90 percent of U.S. households had one. In 1952, Muntz TV Inc. grossed $49.9 million ($ in ). Muntz, dressed in red long johns and a Napoleon hat, promoted his new televisions by saying, "I wanna give 'em away, but Mrs. Muntz won't let me. She's crazy!" He followed up his radio ads with a direct mail campaign, collecting thousands of TV knobs and mailing them to prospective customers with a note saying, "Call us and we'll show up with the rest of the set!" Muntz used skywriting as one of his marketing tactics, but, after watching one of his ads being created, he noted that the letters began to blur and dissipate before the pilot could finish spelling out "Muntz Televisions". So Muntz came up with the abbreviation "TV". Muntz also named his daughter "Tee Vee", although she normally went by "Teena" and, later, "Tee". Muntz admitted his business lost $1,457,000 from April to August 1953, (The company would be reorganized and last through the 1960s, but without its namesake at the helm.) However, Muntz's success continued in the sales of cars and general consumer electronics.

4-track cartridge

Attempting to combine his two main product lines, cars and stereos, Muntz invented the Muntz Stereo-Pak 4-track tape cartridge. 4-track was the direct predecessor of the Stereo 8 cartridge, also known as the 8-track, later developed by American inventor Bill Lear. These units played special 16 rpm records or 45 rpm records, however they tended to skip whenever the vehicle hit a bump in the road, and attempts to alleviate this by increasing the pressure on the arm caused discs to wear out prematurely.

thumb|right|Muntz Stereo-Pak ads tended to feature attractive young models and suggestive tag lines.

The Autostereo player, which retailed from $129 in 1963 ($ in ) was a popular aftermarket addition to cars among the Beverly Hills rich and famous. Frank Sinatra used one in his Buick Riviera, Dean Martin in his Corvette, and Peter Lawford in his Ghia. James Garner, Red Skelton, and Lawrence Welk also used Autostereo players in their cars. Barry Goldwater purchased one for his son, and Jerry Lewis recorded his scripts onto Stereo-Pak cartridges to learn his lines while driving.

Bill Lear distributed the Stereo-Pak in 1963, intending to install units in his Learjet aircraft. However, he soon decided to re-engineer and customize the units to suit his own wishes, the result of which became the Stereo 8 system.

In a 1979 interview in The Videophile, Muntz revealed the biggest problem for the Stereo-Pak business was returned merchandise. He explained that when reproducing the work of major artists like The Beatles, the Stereo-Pak plant had to make hundreds of thousands of cartridges. But once a popular album became less popular, retailers would return the unsold cartridges, expecting credit towards new titles. Muntz was unprepared for the returns and said the huge cost of unsold merchandise eventually made his Stereo-Pak business unprofitable.

The receivers were built in Muntz's headquarters in Van Nuys, California. Sony's U.S. sales division was unaware that Muntz was dealing directly with Sony's Tokyo original equipment manufacturer (OEM) department, which shipped him the TV chassis directly. and prefabricated aluminum houses. ($ in ). At the time of his death, he was the leading retailer of cellular phones in Los Angeles.

Legacy

thumb|Muntz with his son Jim Muntz, in 1969

The "Madman" method pioneered by Muntz was later copied by other retailers, including California car salesman Cal Worthington and New York area electronics chain Crazy Eddie. In Crazy Eddie TV commercials, radio personality Jerry Carroll leapt at the camera and jumped around while jabbering at high speed, always ending with the line, "Crazy Eddie: Our prices are insaaaaaane!" As a result of his Crazy Eddie commercials, Carroll became a significant 80s icon, even appearing in the film Splash. The Lost Get-Back Boogie by James Lee Burke, and Franklin Mason's Four Roses in Three Acts.

A production called Madman Muntz: American Maverick was screened at film festivals through 2007.

See also

  • Jacque Fresco

References

  • Earl Muntz Biography, a short biography from the Consumer Electronics Association website
  • Madman Muntz: American Maverick, a biography from the website of a biopic about him
  • History of the Muntz Jet
  • , from a website maintained by fans of 8-track tapes (archive.org)
  • Madman Muntz Story, a biography at FreeEnterpriseLand.com (archive.org)