My Paul Newman story

[nsidestrate]

One of my customers used to carry a small subset of the Newman's Own products. They only carried his salad dressing, if I recall correctly. The Newman's Own people really wanted them to carry the entire line, but they had been rebuffed in their numerous attempts to convince the powers that be to add the other products.

One day they scheduled a visit where Mr. Newman himself would make a personal appearance to attempt to use his charm and powers of persuasion to change their minds. Prior to this time, the most well-known celebrity who had visited the headquarters was Morris the Cat (which is a whole different story). Needless to say, many of the employees were very excited to catch a glimpse of the famous actor. Eyes were distracted scanning the approach road and parking lot for signs of a big black limo that would indicate the big stars arrival.

Word began to filter through the building that his meeting was scheduled for 10:00 AM -- the admin assistants had heard from the admin who schedules the conference room, one of my guys had been asked to set up the conference room projection system and told to be on standby should any glitches occur, someone who takes smoke breaks with the head buyer got the word. The building was abuzz, but 10:00 AM came and went with no sign of the limo.

A few minutes after 10, a new rumor quickly made the rounds. It turns out that a few people had seen him slip quietly in the building. He drove himself in a rental car. This was unprecedented. Morris the Cat had a limo. Even Paula Abdul (pre American Idol, no less) had a limo. Nonetheless, it appeared to be true. My tech guy reported that the meeting had kicked off and his LCD projector was working smoothly.

Determined not to miss their chance, a crowd began to gather in the lobby near the elevators as the meeting drew to a close. Somehow, I found myself in their midst. Since it could not be that I was star-struck, it must be that I just happened to be downstairs getting a soft drink when the meeting ended. I must have just gotten stuck in conversation after that.

As the doors to elevator opened and Mr. Newman and the director of teh agency appeared. Paul looked out at the assembled throngs, which by now numbered in the hundreds and turned to the director and deadpanned "Your staff really seem to like you." Despite a lifetime of inspiring this kind of reaction, he seemed genuinely shocked and touched. He made a short impromptu speech thanking everyone for their display of affection and praising the mission that we support. He was self-deprecating and charming.

As his brief talk wound to a halt, a brave soul from near the elevator spoke up and told him how much she admired him for donating his profits from the Newman's Own brand to charity. He laughed and said that he deserved no such praise, that when he decided to give all the profits to charity it seemed a trivial thing since he never expected to make any. He said that if he had known it would make so much money he wouldn't have done it, but no one in the crowd believed a word and he didn't expect us to.

We started carrying most of the Newman's Own line within a month. Last year, we sold about $3 million of Newman's Own products. In my opinion, he was a true American hero.

YouTube video that tells some of the story

[Bullajami]

In an industry and culture where the average marriage decays as quickly as fresh fruit, Newman celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary to Joanne Woodward earlier this year. That alone speaks volumes about his strength of character.

Rest in Peace, sir!

[loyo1]

Nside, thanks for your story and the YouTube link. Was truly sad to hear of his passing this weekend. Went grocery shopping Saturday, and it felt odd, going down the salad dressing aisle, seeing his grinning mug on the bottle labels, and realizing he's no longer here. Been buying Newman's Own products for years, but made sure to get some salad dressing, pasta sauce, and Ginger O's.

RIP.

Edit/PS: Found this link to an older NYTimes article about the birth of Newman's own:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F07E4D91238F935A25752C1A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1[url][/url]

[B.U.Terriers]

The Boston Globe had an article about the town he lived in in Connecticut:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/09/29/westports_star_resident_was_cool/

About as un-Hollywood as you can get. Still think his best role was Reg in Slapshot!

BU

[PauliF]