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Edie Adams - Spokesperson in the
1960s for the Muriel Cigar Company where she provocatively coaxed
the male viewers with her seductive sales pitch: "Hey big spender,
spend a little dime with me" and "Pick one up and smoke
it some time."
Edie Adams says, "Why don't you pick
one up and smoke it some time"
In a number of the Muriel commercials singer/comedienne Edie Adams
appeared in different ethnic settings―German, French, Spanish,
Chinese―to sing the Muriel song in many accents.
Edie also did her own series of singing commercials for the
"Muriel" brand of cigarillo "It's the light cigar that keeps a
cool head," she crooned in a sultry voice.
Edie Adams was the first of the sexy commercial females on
television. Susan Anton later took over her role in the late
seventies.
Edie Adams sings her classic TV spot
The minute you walked in the joint
I could see you were a man of distinction
A real big spender, good looking, so refined
I figured that you're the Muriel cigar smoking kind.
So let me get right to the point
You're right in style when you're in Muriel's company
Hey! Big Spender, spend a little dime with me.
Hey! Big Spender, spend a little dime with me.
{Edie Adams speaks]
"Join the Muriel mild crowd. Pick one up and
smoke it some time."
Ad lyrics based on the song "Hey, Big Spender"
from the Bob Fosse Broadway play "Sweet Charity"
Edie Adams says,
"Spend a little dime with me"
Muriel Cigar sponsored a series of "Here's Edie" specials on the
ABC Network in the late 1960s. One 1968 promotional ad for the
show came in the form of a Decca LP album ($3.98 value) called
"Behind Those Swingin' Doors" where the "Fabulous Edie Adams"
interpreted twelve top all-time classics.
To get it you had to
"Simply send $1 (Case, check or money order), five bands from any
size Muriel and your name and address to: Muriel Record offer P.O.
Box 150, Pinckneyville, Illinois. Like Now!"
In the 1950s, before
Edie Adams, Muriel Cigar commercials featured a cartoon female who
sang the lyrics "I'm today's new Muriel, the fine cigars..." (the
animated ads also included a husband and $5 child cigar).
TRIVIA NOTE:
Edie Adams patented a cigar holder-ring which she used in TV ads
for Muriel cigars in the 1960s. It was designed to show women that
it was "lady-like" to smoke cigars.
Edie's husband (at the time) was comedian Ernie Kovacs who did
competing ad spots for Dutch Master Cigars
Edie Adams died from complication of pneumonia and cancer in Los
Angeles October, 2008, She was 81.
The company that produced White Owl cigars broadcast an ad
campaign that featured a women fresh out of the shower holding an
unlit White Owl miniature cigar between her lips. Looking
seductively into the camera, the woman says, "If I were a man, I'd
smoke White Owl Miniatures. If you are a man, take up with the
small, trim, good-looking cigar that makes you look good."
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