Birthday wishes to one of the legends...101 Wall of Famer "Your Dave Young"! Here's a 101 Reload from Dave~
"Hey Greek. To SS who asks about Ron Ashburn here is the story. Ron was
from Kansas where he attended the University of Kansas. At the end of WW
II, Ron was discharged from the U.S. Army and arrived in NYC. His goal
was to work in New York possibly on Broadway, in an agency or for a
network. He applied at all the networks and was told there were no
openings at the time. At CBS, Ron was well received and was told about
an opening in Knoxville at WNOX. At that time there was auditions for a
national account at an ad agency. Not knowing who the client was, nor
the pay, Ron auditioned for the read. It was a short read only 4 words,
but, those 4 words are probably the most famous in advertising history.
For his work, Ron received $50.00 and a carton of the product. The last
line of the commercial....Pell Mell famous cigarettes, "Outstanding",
AND THEY ARE MILD". Ron arrived at WNOX in the late 40's where he
remained until he retired in the 80's. He had a sweet delivery and
nothing you could do would shake him up while on the air." (Dave Young)