Will the gentleman who just coughed, step out of the box office for a package of Old Golds?
American comedian and actor Julius Henry “Groucho” Marx (1890-1977) endorses Old Gold in this advertisement. He jokes that he sometimes feels like saying, “Will the gentleman who just coughed, step to the box office…for a package of Old Golds?” when he is delivering a performance on stage. He claims that Old Golds “prevent the ‘cough-tickle’” and he feels it is only “friendly” to give his fans the “first aid” that Old Golds provide. This is also a “tit for tat” ad, competing directly with Lucky Strike whose slogan at the time was “Reach for a Lucky Instead of a Sweet;” Old Gold counters this slogan by telling its consumers, “eat a chocolate, light an Old Gold, and enjoy both!” Groucho Marx was the youngest of the three Marx Brothers, who made 13 movies together. He starred in 26 films total and was also the host of the radio (and later TV) game show You Bet Your Life. In 1977, Marx was admitted to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for pneumonia, where he passed away two months later.
Cough, Health, Throat
