Richard Hyatt: Gotta minute for local TV commercials

Sanford Hussey is still kicking tires and still answering the same old question: "Gotta minute?"

Before there was TSYS and before you could walk across the Frank K. Martin Bridge, there was Hussey's Tire Jungle, a gaudy store on 14th Street that was guarded by an oversized gorilla that never stopped waving.

Hussey worked in that jungle more than 40 years, but he isn't remembered for his steel belted radials. It's those late-night TV spots, the ones with girls standing behind a fence that coyly hides their feminine attributes, the one that asks: "Gotta minute? I wanna show you somethin' reeeely fantastic."

He moved from downtown in 1998 and the tacky commercials were already off the air, but even now, when people hear his name, he knows what's coming.

"Just remember, those spots sold a lot of wheels and tires," Hussey said, defending a series of commercials that are part of our local pop culture.

Hussey collaborated with Jack Poole, a salesman at Channel 38, then known as WYEA. The idea came from a segment on "Laugh-In," an innovative network comedy from 1967 to 1973.

A casting call went out and in came Pat Spurlin, the original girl behind the fence.

"She picked us," Hussey said. "She wanted to do it, but then she wouldn't do it again. She said it made her sound too country and look too big."

The spot made its debut on Channel 38 in 1972, airing around 11 p.m. They chose that hour carefully but still caught flak from local churches.

"We intended to buy time on the other two stations but they wouldn't run them."

Girls came and went. There was a set of twins, two sisters, an employee at the TV station and, for a time, a black woman replaced the blondes. But the theme stayed the same.

"Skin will sell anything," Hussey said.

A recent flutter of comments on Facebook brought up those old spots and their ageless slogan. You won't find copies online, though scattered tapes still survive.

"The original ones were lost in a fire at Channel 38," Hussey said.

The jungle was torn down years ago and Hussey is long since retired, but he throws out hints that local viewers may not have seen the last of the girls and the fence.

Now wouldn't that be fantastic?

-- Richard Hyatt is an independent correspondent. Reach him at hyatt31906@knology.net.

This story was originally published January 17, 2015 at 9:59 PM with the headline "Richard Hyatt: Gotta minute for local TV commercials."