Writing (last night) about that classic Corona Christmas tree ad during summertime, and being in New York City right now (which is where I'm from), it reminded me of the old Crazy Eddie "Christmas in August" sale ads from the 1980s and '90s. Crazy Eddie is gone now, but those ads (the "Christmas in August" one, and all the others, with that bombastic announcer guy, and all those silly props and gags) were such a big part of New York City, I really feel like they should be mandatory to run them forever just for the sake of nostalgia, whether there are Crazy Eddie stores around anymore or not. Losing those ads is like losing so many other of New York City's defining things, like CBGBs, or the Wetlands, or Save The Robots, or that great little jazz bar around 106th St. (I'm sorry, I've forgotten the name of it, but sadly, it's gone now, too.) near Columbia University where all the jazz music students from Julliard, Manhattan School of Music, and Mannes used to come and play free-form jazz together every night (it was listed as a must-visit hot-spot in the Michelin Guide, so people visiting New York from Europe used to pack the bar stools every evening), and it's a shame! We're letting our important cultural history slip away bit by bit! (Okay, maybe it's not as much of a cultural achievement as the others, but it was certainly very recognizable as being a New York City institution!)
And speaking of institutions, Crazy Eddie used to say his prices were "insane" (!). And apparently, our mentally-unstable friend Eddie allegedly made off with a lot of money from the business and tried to flee the country for Israel, only to be deported back to the United States. And this has always made me wonder: could this whole buildup to establishing himself as "Crazy Eddie" have been an adept plan to establish himself as actually crazy so that when he allegedly perpetrated his alleged criminal act, he could plead insanity? I could hear his attorney in court saying: "My client is clearly not in full possession of his full mental faculties. After all, how could someone set such ridiculously low electronics prices if they weren't hopelessly insane? Only a madman would want us all to get such great value for our money, or at least, that's how it seems to me, a lawyer: I am sane, yet I'd chisel you all eight-ways-to-Sunday, so this clearly proves my client is batty as hell." And then, perhaps this New York institution could have found his way into another New York institution. And wouldn't that be somehow appropriate? (After all, he is "Crazy Eddie" {or "Eduardo Loco" in Spanish}!)
