Neil Leeds came to Hollywood to pursue an acting career. Last week he achieved his dream. Well, kind of.
As a struggling young actor, Leeds found a job selling mattresses. In 1996, he opened his own store, which foundered until he taped a TV commercial. Sales immediately took off, and the “Neil With a Deal” commercial with its “I won’t be beat” tag line has continued to air for more than 12 years. He now has 25 Leeds Mattress Stores in Southern California.
“I have sold beds to a lot of celebrities,” said Leeds, now 38. “They come in because they see my commercials, and I joke that I’m on television more than they are.”
The celebrity connection paid off when producers from the late night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” decided to tape a candid comedy skit in his store.
“They were taping so I said, ‘Would you guys mind if I poke some fun at myself?’ And right there, without any script, we came up with it.”
On Jan. 27, a national television audience watched Leeds try to film a commercial in his store while Kimmel’s cousin Sal argued and body-checked him onto a mattress.
Leeds believes other entrepreneurs should follow his example of self-parody because, in his words, “humor sells.”
Better yet, the experience fulfilled Leeds’ dream. He received a check for his role in the skit his first paycheck for TV acting.
Strict Confidence
They may not have the same cachet as the Oscars. But for about nine years now, Andy Sale, 45, has directed the team of accountants responsible for secretly tabulating and maintaining ballots for the Emmys and Golden Globes. The tasks get the same rigorous routine as the Academy Awards.
“We take the job extremely seriously,” said Sale, a partner at Los Angeles-based Ernst & Young.
So seriously that he won’t disclose where it’s done, let alone exactly how.
“Nobody touches those ballots,” the accountant insists, “except for individuals from Ernst & Young who double- and triple-check everything.”
Over the years, Sale said, he’s learned to live with the pressures of such a weighty charge. Handing sealed envelops to celebrity presenters as they walk on stage “is not as glamorous as people might think. We have to make sure that the right envelope is handed off to the right individual. We do a lot of coaching backstage.”
But can’t his wife and kids ask for an early peek at the results?
“They know better,” he said.
Banker of Good Cheer
When Richard Lawrence speaks about what he does for a living, he normally gets a smattering of polite clapping in response. Lawrence is executive vice president and regional manager in the Santa Monica office of First Private Bank & Trust.
So he was not prepared for the wild applause from a usually buttoned-down audience at the annual State of the City event organized by the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce late last month.
“We are making loans. We are making business loans, commercial real estate loans and jumbo home mortgage loans,” Lawrence told the crowd of roughly 200 local businesspeople, some of whom cheered. “So come down to our offices.”
Staff reporters Joel Russell, David Haldane and Howard Fine contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].
