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For decades, the late Tom Peterson's commercials were part of the fabric of Portland life.
If you were a TV-watching Portlander in the 1970s through the 2000s, Tom Peterson commercials were part of the soundtrack of your life. Peterson, who died Monday at age 86, was part of a great tradition of local TV pitchmen, retailers and salesman whose boundless enthusiasm for their products and perpetually running TV ad campaigns became a shared part of life in the community.
Whether you bought anything at one of Peterson's furniture and appliance stores or not, you knew who he was. And Peterson's cheerfully bellowed catchphrases -- "Wake up!" and "Free is a very good price" -- are slogans you may still use all these decades later.
Fortunately for us nostalgic longtime Portlanders, You Tube has some vintage Peterson ads. Here a few to take you back to the Tom Peterson -- and Gloria's too! -- era.
Tom Peterson was also seen on the big screen, in Portland-raised director Gus Van Sant's movies, including "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" and "My Own Private Idaho," and via glimpses of his commercials in "Drugstore Cowboy," and "To Die For." Peterson also appeared as a parade announcer in the filmed-in-Portland movie, "Mr. Holland's Opus."
-- Kristi Turnquist
kturnquist@oregonian.com
503-221-8227
@Kristiturnquist