Johnny Roventini the Phillip Morris Bellhop Start Page

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This page is duplicated from another page that I found on the internet.  Unfortunately I forgot to make a note of where that was.  My intent is to have  a backup of that page or "mirror" so that if the other page goes down this information will still be available. So if the other page owner sees this please email me because I lost track of your email about getting the express consent to reproduce this..  LD Pierce

 

Johnny Roventini had been a real New York bell-hop, a four-foot midget with a distinctive high-pitched voice, discovered by advertising agency head Milton Biow in 1933, who was suddenly inspired, and had Johnny page Philip Morris on the spot. He was first used in radio spots, sending out his "Call for Philip Morraaaaaiiss," and supposedly was able to hit a perfect B-flat every time. He was used for years on Philip Morris sponsored radio shows, such as "Crime Doctor," "It Pays to Be Ignorant" (for a time), "The Milton Berle Show," and even "The Philip Morris Playhouse" and the variety series whose title he inspired, "Johhny Presents." It was a successful campaign, but I confess, slightly more so than with many other radio ad campaigns, Johnny does get on my nerves after while (though not as much as the faux Indian chants for Post Toasties, the "Heap Good Cornflakes.") Still, again, it was used for years, with Johnny serving as a living trademark, making personal appearances, apart from the radio, print ads, and billboards, "stepping out of storefronts all over America." (This last slogan was parodied in a "Bullwinkle Show" episode, when moose and squirrel confront a Johnny-like bellhop about this aspect of his work, and "Johnny" replies that he had to stop, because "he kept cutting his fingers on the broken glass.") Interestingly, Johnny apparently read his "Call for Philip Morris" line from a script, following one occasion when he flubbed the line and the announcer had to take over, in a poor falsetto imitation; the agency refused to take any more chances after that. Though later "Johnny Juniors" were used as understudies and stand-ins (as he could hardly be everywhere at once), Johnny was given a lifetime contract, which continued long after cigarette advertisements were banned from radio and television, and Philip Morris moved on to new advertising angles. Johnny Roventini finally passed away on November 30, 1998, making that "last call for Philip Morraiss," as one obit put it.

In 1959, NBC Radio aired a special half hour program to celebrate the 25th anniversary of an advertising giant. This "giant" was all of 4' tall. He was dressed in a bellhop uniform complete with red coat and brass buttons. He became famous for saying only one line with a robust voice.

The radio listeners knew him as "Johnny Philip Morris". In real life, he was Johnny Roventini, born August 15, 1910. In 1933, while he was working at the New Yorker Hotel, he was billed as the “World’s Smallest Bellboy”. It was there he met advertising agent Milton Biow, who had an idea for a cigarette ad.  Biow gave the Bellboy a dollar to locate Philip Morris. The Bellboy strode through the hotel shouting “Call for Philip Mor-rees.”

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Johnny - The World’s Smallest Bellboy at the Hotel New Yorker in 1933.

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Later, Roventini confessed that the very first time, when Biow asked him to locate Philip Morris, he had no idea Philip Morris was really a cigarette. Throughout his career, it is estimated that he called out the slogan more than a million times and shook hands with more than a million people. Johnny Roventini lived a long life, passing in 1998.