A floppy-haired teenager woke up after a party he’d hosted while his parents were away in one of the best-known advertisements for the Yellow Pages phone directory.
Before the rise of the internet, we had the Yellow Pages, a comprehensive directory of local businesses – from advice centres to zoos – all vying for your custom, packaged in a hefty, distinctively coloured phone book. In the 1990s, the Reading-based company became famous for its unforgettable TV adverts, each new release bringing a buzz of anticipation akin to the unveiling of a new John Lewis Christmas advert today.
These TV commercials even turned their stars into temporary celebrities, long before the era of reality TV, and gave birth to several catchphrases. Anyone around at the time will easily remember the Yellow Pages ad featuring elderly man searching for a book titled Fly Fishing by J R Hartley, with the surprising twist that it was Mr Hartley himself seeking his old publication.
READ MORE: Pop Idol star Rik Waller unrecognisable with brand-new career 24 years later
The cheeky youngster attempted to kiss the cheeky boy under the Christmas mistletoe while he was standing next to the stack of Yellow Pages. And in 2003, Cold Feet’s actor, James Nesbitt, hired to resurrect the company by using the Yellow Pages to navigate difficult circumstances. The actor channeled his character Adam’s helpless persona from the show.
However, one of the most memorable advertisements, which first aired in 1991, showed a shaggy-haired teenager hosting a house party while his parents were away. He stumbles upon a stranger on the bed as he enters the bedroom and declares, “Wake up! As a small group hastily cleans up the house, my parents return today. Then, after discovering a scratch on a wooden table and being horrified, he searches the trustworthy Yellow Pages for a solution.
“Hello, French polishers,” He calls in and says, “It’s possible you could save my life.” The unfortunate lad discovers that someone has doodled a beard and glasses onto a woman on one of the family’s prized paintings at the last minute and manages to salvage the scratch.
Simon Schatzberger, a Nottingham actor who later portrayed Adrian Mole in a stage production in London’s West End, played the teenager in the commercial and has since since reprised his role in a Woody Allen-like role in a stand-up comedy show.
Now aged 57, he’s also had a stint as David Klarfeld on the BBC soap Doctors and made appearances in EastEnders as a Rabbi, both in December 2018 and again in January 2019. His other television roles include Band Of Brothers, Daniel Deronda and Father Brown.
In 2019, Yellow Pages announced it would cease printing its iconic directories, after more than half a century. The final editions of the once-indispensable guide were delivered in Brighton, the city where the directory’s original copies were distributed.
It boasted 104 editions, each customised to specific areas of the UK, with nearly 23 million copies circulated each year. And in 2023, a perfume was launched that even smelled like Yellow Pages, proving the brand lives on… sort of.
READ MORE: NARS’ new summer collection includes cream eyeshadow that ‘doesn’t budge’ on oily eyelids
Source: Mirror
Leave a Reply