Wednesday, April 22, 2009

TV Trouble

When your tubes go bad the Pep Boys were there to help







7 comments:

Major Pepperidge said...

Were the Pep Boys based on real people? I mean, was there really a Manny, Moe and Jack?

Tikimama said...

So easy back then...now all you have to do is call the cable/satellite people and be on hold for 20 minutes.

And look! No plumber's crack on these boys!

tikiranch said...

The Pep Boys were real guys and the cartoons are base on them.
Here is some info I found

Emanuel "Manny" Rosenfeld, Maurice "Moe" Strauss, Moe Radavitz and Graham "Jack" Jackson were the original Pep Boys. They were four industrious young Philadelphians who pooled $200 each in 1921 to establish an auto parts supply company that would become the $2.2 billion industry leader it is today.

While the Manny, Moe and Jack characters were modeled after founders Rosenfeld, Strauss and Jackson, many people do not know there were originally two Moes. Moe Radavitz left after only a few years in the business. While the names and faces behind the founders draw immense interest, so too does its serendipitous naming, which is now a legend.

tikiranch said...

Before his death in 1982, Moe Strauss recounted this story about the company's humble beginnings: It was 1921, and Pep Auto Supplies was a new Philadelphia business. "We were trying to think of a name for our store, but we needed a name that was as short as possible. Our first storefront was only a few feet across." The partners were sitting around the store drinking nickel sodas and kicking around ideas for a name. Then, someone noticed a shipment of Pep Valve Grinding Compound in the store, which inspired the name "Pep Auto Supplies."
The change to the name Pep Boys came from a Philadelphia policeman who worked near the first store on 63rd and Market Streets. Every time he stopped a car at night for not having an oil wick burning, he would tell the driver to go see the "boys" at Pep for a replacement. Common usage gave rise to the name Pep Boys.

Moe Strauss' trip to California around 1923 brought about the official name of "The Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack." Moe noticed that many successful businesses there used first names. One of the dress shops he noticed in particular was called Minnie, Maude and Mabel's. "When I came back from California, I had a friend, Harry Moscovitz, create the three big caricatures of Manny, Moe and Jack," Strauss said.
Ironically, the three faces that have become so recognizable around the world as Manny, Moe and Jack, are not truly Manny, Moe and Jack. Jack's face appeared briefly when the caricatures were first penned. However, after Mr. Jackson left Pep Boys, his face was replaced with that of Moe's brother, Isaac (Izzy) Strauss.
After Izzy left the company, Manny Rosenfeld's brother, Murray, joined the team. However, Izzy's face remained and continues to be a part of the company's icon to this day.

Major Pepperidge said...

Thank you for all of the info! I love stories of businesses that started humbly and became hugely successful.

Of course we all know the song by the punk band The Dickies entitled "Manny, Moe and Jack"! "When you're on the road, and your car won't pull that load...."

Anonymous said...

Excellent! Love these stories.

Anonymous said...

I'm confused, I thought the man who drew Manny, Moe and Jack was Edward Joseph Moras. He was born in Phila and moved later to California to illustrate for Disney.

Can anyone help with frther information?