Still 'Crazy' after all these years

4/12/09
crazy eddie
By Rolando Pujol

Still 'Crazy' after all these years

Photo credit: Urbanite

By Rolando Pujol

A subway ad we ran across recently for J&R Music World offers a who's who of once-famous New York electronic chain stores that have bitten the dust.

The J&R ad reminds us that the lower Manhattan store has been around since 1971, and in the years since has been "Crazier than Eddie," "Towering over Tower," and "Beating the Wiz." Tower Records is long gone, and the Wiz, which promised that nobody could beat its prices, also sleeps with the fishes.

But if there's one defunct electronics chain that really revs up the nostalgia engines, and non-native New Yorkers inevitably learn about if they stick around here long enough, it's Crazy Eddie.

For decades, actor Jerry Carroll appeared on the New York airwaves playing Crazy Eddie, a character who animatedly and breathlessly hawked deals on reel-to-reel recorders, eight-track tapes and Beta VCRs.

Yes, it's been a long time since Crazy Eddie existed, but all you have to say to any New Yorker over the age 30 is "Crazy Eddie, his prices are insane" and soon they're talking about the Ritz Thrift Shop, the Money Store and other classic NYC commercials.

Anyway, Crazy Eddie went belly up in 1989, and its founder, Eddie Antar, fled the country after some shady business dealings and eventually landed in jail.

But, believe it or not, J&R may soon be competing with Crazy Eddie again. Someone's actually working to bring the chain back to life, and if that weren't enough, Danny DeVito is said to be directing a movie about the real Crazy Eddie. Now that's positively insane.
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crazy eddie

Still 'Crazy' after all these years

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