J. Peterman Rides Again... Excellent Book...

I'll post a few pearls of wisdom I've gleamed from it, tomorrow. It's a great expose' on how a "real guy" started a mail order business.

-A.

Adam,

Sounds great...! I hadn't heard of the book till you mentioned it, though I've heard of the legendary J. Peterman and his catalog. I can't wait to hear more about what the book is like. :)

- Dien

> I'll post a few pearls of wisdom I've
> gleamed from it, tomorrow. It's a great
> expose' on how a "real guy"
> started a mail order business.

> -A.

The guy is a genius:

1.mail-order catalog is "witty, entertaining....the stuff of literature" (New York Times Magazine)

2.Regular appearances of a "J. Peterman" character on the popular Seinfeld TV show
(how often THIS happens?).

Exact title:
Peterman Rides Again : Adventures Continue with The Real 'j. Peterman' Through Life and The Catalog Business

Agreed.

Most of my thoughts on this book are quite a bit more eloquently summarized by the people who've written the reviews at Amazon.com. It's worth your time to read them.

However, you won't find the following in the reviews. Maybe they didn't realize how profound these two points are, but they completely knocked me on my butt, they're so brilliant:

"Clearly, people want things that make their lives the way they wish they were."

[Wow! Think about that for a moment... it's profound!! -- A.]

And...

"Uncle Joe, Thunderbolt is the worst horse on the track."

"John, put the five dollars on Thunderbolt."

I reluctantly obeyed and was then astonished when several horses collided near the finish line, miraculously allowing Thunderbolt to come in second. Suddenly I was holding more cash than I'd ever had before at one time. "How did you know to bet on Thunderbolt?" I asked.

Uncle Joe reached out, clasped my shoulder, and gave me a somber look:

"John, the races are fixed."

Once you realize that most people are keeping up appearances and putting on a show, their approval becomes much less important.

[Take a few moments to absorb that. --A.]

-- John Peterman, from the book.

-Adam.




J. Peterman Web Site... what's left of it...

Hi Adam,

Thanks for bringing this up! I love catalog copy -- maybe because a lot of the great catalog copy is a reflection of an ideal world.... Where you are surrounded by super-cool technology (Joe Sugarman-style), or where you travel to exotic places and times (J. Peterman-style)....

> However, you won't find the following in the
> reviews. Maybe they didn't realize how
> profound these two points are, but they
> completely knocked me on my butt, they're so
> brilliant:

> "Clearly, people want things that make
> their lives the way they wish they
> were."

> [Wow! Think about that for a moment... it's
> profound!! -- A.]

Yeah, this is great! It's true.... he's selling a fantasy, an emotion, an experience....

For example, he's not selling a "shoe" in the following piece of copy from his catalog.... He's selling the experience of the French Foreign Legion!

The Foreign Legion. 1947. French Legionnaires adopt a canvas and heavy lug shoe for horrific slogs through Southeast Asia. (The shoes, it turns out, have a certain unmistakable character.) Next month, enlistment quadruples. The French Army and Air Force see no choice but to follow the Legion's footsteps. Over time, a scant supply leaks out of France. Now, of course, the idea has spread to Spain, Germany, Holland and Belgium: The French P-27 has become the unofficial "official" shoe of Europe.

What a way to sell a shoe.... :)

Since reading your posts on this, I've been searching out and reading articles online about J. Peterman.... In one article I read, he says that every product must have a story....

> And...

> "Uncle Joe, Thunderbolt is the worst
> horse on the track."

> "John, put the five dollars on
> Thunderbolt."

> I reluctantly obeyed and was then astonished
> when several horses collided near the finish
> line, miraculously allowing Thunderbolt to
> come in second. Suddenly I was holding more
> cash than I'd ever had before at one time.
> "How did you know to bet on
> Thunderbolt?" I asked.

> Uncle Joe reached out, clasped my shoulder,
> and gave me a somber look:

> "John, the races are fixed."

> Once you realize that most people are
> keeping up appearances and putting on a
> show, their approval becomes much less
> important.

> [Take a few moments to absorb that. --A.]

Thanks Adam, very true too.... If anyone blazed his own style, it was J. Peterman with his company.... With both the copy, and the illustrations of the products (no photographs)....

I loved it!

Here's some more examples of copy from the J. Peterman catalog....

WHITEFISH POINT LIGHTHOUSE LINED, CORDUROY COAT, $273 Storm clouds were moving in. We crossed behind the summer house; made our way across the slanting ground towards the lighthouse. At first I thought she was talking to somebody else. "The Edmund Fitzgerald slipped to the bottom just out there," she said, shading her eyes with delicate long fingers. I actually felt a chill, but she lowered her hand, and slipping her arm under mine, put the sap back into my veins.

ON TOOLONKATU STREET HOODED JACKET, $295 I thought I saw you there last fall, walking along toward the National Museum, your breath making quick puffs of steam. It didn't feel right to interrupt you, just then. At Cafe Fazer (Helsinki can be a small place), I could swear it was you ... chin on the table, toying with what seemed to be an egg slicer of the advanced Finnish design. It looked like you could use some cheering up ... but then a man came over with two big cinnamon buns (Renny?), and you gave him a mile-wide smile. After two decades of lean and clever heroines, it's good to have you around.

HARRIET AND LORD PETER JACKET, $285, AND PLEATED SKIRT, $175 They met in her cell in the Old Bailey. Had she fed arsenic to her lover? Had she? He proved her innocent. Met again in Oxford. (She wore this outfit.) He courted her; punting on the Cherwell, quail's eggs, wit, an antique ivory chess set. Proposed in Latin: "Placetne?" Oh, yes. It pleased her.

SHOCKING RABBIT FUR HAT, $245 Shocking to see someone this young, this independent, so beautifully dressed. Shocking to find out she was not who she said she was. Shocking to see her walk off the QE2, into the arms of an unsuitable man, just an ordinary bounder. The other passengers couldn't stop looking. At what she wore, how she wore it, the way they looked at each other, the way they still do.

Thanks Adam.... Great post!

- Dien Rice


Here's an interesting recent article about what John Peterman's doing now....