RON POPEIL REDEFINES MARKETING FOR A GENERATION.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

CHATSWORTH - Ron Popeil, the pied piper of infomercials, sold knives, roasters, egg scramblers and fake hair in a can. But most importantly, he sold himself.

The handsome man in the white shirt and tie didn't invent televised selling, but he became the master of the medium, injecting his personality into every pitch.

Some, like the Veg-O-Matic and Showtime Rotisserie, were a hit.

Others, like the spray-on hair, were not.

His latest offer netted a bundle of cash.

This year, Popeil is selling his Chatsworth-based Ronco Corp. for $55 million, and the company is now publicly traded under the symbol RNCP. The new owners plan to expand it far beyond the company's television roots. The buyer, Fi-Tek VII, Inc., has changed its name Ronco Corp.

``The easiest thing to do in the world is to sell a product I believe in,'' Popeil said Tuesday. ``If I spent two years creating a product, conceiving it, tinkering with it, I can get up and sell it. Who can sell it better than the guy who invented it?''

His inventions are numerous, and the way he sold them revolutionized the sales world. From pasta makers to flavor injectors, Popeil estimates that his products have produced a couple billion dollars in sales over the years, making him ``worth a lot of money.''

Ultimately, it wasn't just gizmos that made the deal - it was the unprecedented way he changed the industry.

The deal, first reported by the Los Angeles Business Journal, leaves the 70-year-old pitchman as the company's invention and sales consultant, responsible for promoting its products on television and in person.

He started selling at age 16 on Chicago's Maxwell Street, inventing, marketing and promising deals so good, he extended the pitch by trumpeting, ``But wait, there's more!''

Popeil's career in sales dates back more than 60 years, when his great- uncle Nathan Morris went into the kitchen gadget business. His father, Samuel J. Popeil, joined the business. He invented many of the items his son first pitched.

According to a 2000 New Yorker profile, the family business brought on patent lawsuits, unimaginably fierce competition and at least one assassination attempt on the senior Popeil.

Ron Popeil made this spirited past part of his personal lore, detailing his fractured childhood on his Web site and claiming he's blocked out most of his early years. He's also unusually good at turning potential flaws into advantages, converting a 1987 bankruptcy into a tale of personal integrity.

``It goes back to his old days selling on Maxwell Street,'' said Tim Samuelson, author of the biography ``But Wait! There's More!'' and owner of more than 140 vintage Popeil creations. ``You get their attention, then build from there, talk about the product, how it'll save you time, how it'll save you money, how you can do more than one thing with it. He slips in the superlatives - ``amazing!'' ``sensational!'' - to build the audience to a pitch where they feel like they have .. to ... have ... it.''

With the new company, headed by Chief Executive Officer Richard Allen, Popeil's products will move into broader retail channels, selling in Wal-Mart rather than mainly through direct sales. Ronco also plans to expand its marketing into Mexico and Latin America, previously untapped areas.

Interest around the deal has been good for the stock, which has only 478,000 publicly held shares. Shares, traded over the counter, hit $6 on Wednesday, up $1.25.

Popeil, of course, will feature heavily in any new commercials and continue to hawk his inventions, including the forthcoming turkey fryer. Ever the hustler, he interrupted his account of his own life to launch into a detailed pitch of the device, which he proudly proclaimed also does chicken, fish and french fries.

``His success speaks for itself; probably that has more to do with his personality,'' said Barbara Gross, professor of marketing at California State University, Northridge. ``He's comfortable and sincere. He comes across like he really believes in it. When you hear him talk, you never feel like he's lying to you.''

After putting that effort into talking up his beloved gadgets for 54 years, Popeil decided it was time to take a less active role in business operations and elected to focus on both his family and inventions. With daughters age 4 and 6, Popeil said, he was more interested in raising his kids than adding to his personal wealth.

``When you're in the hundreds of millions, it's not a money issue; it's a time issue,'' he said. ``What do I want to do for the rest of my life? I could deal with 170 people on the payroll, or I could sit back and let the people who paid me a fair price do it.''

Brent Hopkins, [phone]

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

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But wait, there's more