...Empire.
A sad day for Chicagoans. Our favorite local tv pitchman has passed away.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/n...at-89-120793194.html

awww I liked that guy, though he was mostly an animated guy when I saw his ads...


know that jingle well...

OOOOHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! A chicago-land legend has passed!

No joke, "Five Eight Eight Two Three Hundred, Empire!" was the first sentence I ever said. It was new on TV at the time, I was a little over a year old. Then I would throw my arms up in the air while saying Empire and give the touchdown signal.

My sister's first words were similar, but from 'Nelson Brother's Furniture'... "Nelson Brothers loves me, and they love you too!" And then she would give herself a big hug.

Growing up in Chicagoland with a TV babysitter had its moments. I loved Mr Rodgers and The Bozo Circus growing up.

[This message has been edited by tbone42 (edited 04-27-2011).]

We lived in an area with that same prefix, 588, so you'd hear a lot of kids give it as their number lol This was before all the new area codes though.
It's so strange how this guy didn't do anything spectacular but people just love him. They did a bit with him on one of the local football pregame shows and people just went nuts when they saw him.

quote Originally posted by tbone42: 'Nelson Brother's Furniture'... "Nelson Brothers loves me, and they love you too!"

The Empire guy and Nelson Bros. Furniture are right up there with Lincoln Carpets ("When you're thinkin' Lincoln... Lincoln... Better carpeting.... For LESS! Call National 2-9000" and whatever it was at "Hudson3-2700" as Chicago-area commercial institutions when we were kids.

All familiar commercials here, as we used to watch the Cubs everyday on WGN...our local cable company carried it.

I grew up with those commercials as well.. And on a regular basis, I STILL just burst out with a healthy 5 8 8 2 300 EMPIRE!!!

My wife thinks I am nuts.

We have one of those. "Gallery Furniture will SAVE----YOU----MONEY!! (as he throws handfulls of $1 bills up in the air)

I'm sick of him after all these years. Wasn't me, but someone burned his business to the ground a few years back--maybe I'm not the only one tired of his screamin. (he had ins and was back on air in a month screaming about "The BRAND NEW GALLERY FURNITURE WAREHOUSE WILL SAVE YOU MONEY!!!)

Had those commercials on St. Louis TV, too. Either they had stores in the area, or the delivery guys racked up some miles

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1986 SE 350 V8