Madman Muntz Got His Start in Glendale

The “madman” salesmen trope has been around for decades. Crazy Gideon was LA- based, always being shown being hauled away by doctors. Crazy Eddie sold electronics (until he ended up in prison for fraud). Of course there was Cal Worthington and “his dog” Spot. Recently we had Sit n’ Sleep saying it was selling so low it was killing their accountant (“You’re killing me, Larry!”). Even Burger King dipped its toes in this trope by implying its creepy “The King” had gone insane – thus the low prices. 

We had a local version in the form of Rebal’s Mad House, a local grocery store, “the store that made Verdugo City famous,” and you could shop during “visiting hours.” Rebal’s made it “fun to shop – Have you had your fun today?”

But the one to originate this madman persona was Madman Muntz – and he got his start right here in Glendale. 

In the 1930s, Earl Muntz dropped out of high school and opened a used car lot in his hometown of Elgin, Illinois. Hearing that used cars sold for more money in Los Angeles, he moved here and in 1940 opened a used car lot on the corner of Brand  and Los Feliz boulevards, at the very end of what is today Glendale’s auto row. It was here that he developed the “I’m crazy to sell cars this cheap” sales technique. In red long-johns and a Napoleon hat (a bicorne), he screamed that if he didn’t sell this car today, he would destroy it with a sledge-hammer (and he occasionally did). 

“I buy ’em retail and sell ’em wholesale – It’s more fun that way.” 

“I wanna give ’em away, but Mrs. Muntz won’t let me! She’s crazy!”

Muntz’s business exploded thanks to his madman persona and he flooded early TV with his “crazy” ads. The big comedians of the time – Bob Hope, Jack Benny and Red Skelton – told Madman Muntz jokes, expanding his fame nationwide. His used car lot had become one of the major tourist attractions in Los Angeles with tour buses stopping in to see his antics. By the end of WWII he branched into selling new cars.

There was no slowing down for this young entrepreneur. In 1948, he established Muntz TV, selling his own brand of low-budget TV sets. 

“Stop staring at your radio!” he screamed. 

He continued his crazy persona by mailing TV knobs to potential customers. 

“Call and we’ll show up with the rest of the set!” He even named his newborn daughter Tee Vee.

His own brand of automobiles was his next venture. Car designer Frank Kurtis had developed a largely unsuccessful sports car in his shop in Glendale. Muntz bought the license and modified the car, dropping an even larger engine in it, adding luxury features and rebadging it as the Muntz Jet. The car featured a cartoon of Muntz in his Napoleon hat on the hubcaps. It is widely recognized as the first personal luxury car. It was very fast and very expensive. Because of low production, he actually lost money on each car he sold, but that didn’t bother him. He lost a fortune, but he said, “It was so damn much fun making another one!”

And make another one he did, pioneering his own car audio systems, the Muntz Stereo-Pak, which played a four-track cartridge that predated 8-tracks. In the 1960s, the rich and famous had the Muntz Stereo-Pak in their cars. But the rise of 8-tracks lost Muntz another fortune. However, he made it back when he jumped into the home video market, producing the first big-screen TVs. Muntz was still selling, selling, selling – satellite dishes, cellphones and prefab aluminum homes and even renting out motorhomes when he died of lung cancer in 1987. 

He was throughout his life the consummate entrepreneur. He churned through several fortunes won and lost, and seven marriages. Next time you pass the intersection of Brand and Los Feliz, think of Earl “Madman” Muntz in his red long-johns and Napoleon hat. He gave birth to what is truly an American form of salesmanship.