Old man Adler haunts my dreams…
When I was a kid, the creepiest radio ad used to come on, often enough that I memorized it. The ad itself was just for shoes, but it had some great sound effects that sounded really spooky, at least to a little kid. I don’t know what ever happened to the Adler Shoe Company of New York City, but they should know, their ads live on.
It went like this:
[echoey sound of footsteps, like in an abandoned alley.]
Man’s deep voice: When you buy a pair of Adler shoes, you never walk alone.
[Another set of echoey footsteps, trying to catch up to the first guy. I swear, the footsteps even speed up, like the first guy knows he's being pursued by the ghost of old man Adler, come to steal his shoes.]
Man’s deep voice in a Shakespearean cadence: Old man Adler stands behind//every pair//of Adler shoes.
Oh my God! It gave me nightmares! What a weird ad!
So check this out — I’m not the only one still haunted by Adler Shoes. The article says the later ads — the one I heard — were dull. No way. Nothing that puts that kind of shiver up your spine is dull. I also don’t remember the jingle. There was no jingle. There was only fear.
R.I.P. Old man Adler. R.I.P.
