Snapped at Inglewood Park Cemetery on 11/10/2009
Anyone in SoCal who listens to the radio or pays attention to local television ads should recognize the tongue-in-cheek meaning behind Jack's name plate, which is an exasperated response to the announcer's botched attempts at getting his name right. Jack Stephanino, Jack Stephonsky, Jack Stephanovich. According to Reeves Journal, the campaign came about organically because the announcer really did keep making mistakes.
In case you missed it, here's the commercial courtesy of the actor portraying the plumber, Rob Brakenridge:
Further good reads about this commercial at losanjealous.com.
Or maybe you've seen one of their vans around, featuring the phrase incorporated into the company logo. This one was snapped by Flickr Pro, SoCalMetro:
An interesting bit of trivia gleaned from Jack's brother Harold's epitaph (or at least it was news to me seeing as I'm not up on local plumbing history) is that "Adee Do!" (established in 1949) is part of the Jack Stephan empire (established in 1946.)
Which leads me to wonder if competitor Mike Diamond "The Smell Good Plumber" has a pre-arranged burial spot. There's a built-in grave hunting joke at the tip of my typing fingers tongue, but I'm not going to go there.
a few months ago, my mother passed away. her name was DeSanka Stephan. Second wife of Jack Stephan, and all would say, his only true love. Jack was quite a guy, unfortunately it was DeSanka who had a great deal to do with this dude. it was her idea to put radio's in the trucks, and interestingly enough, if you would like to know the birth of the second company's name it goes like this. Dad wanted to open a company for DeSanka and her brother Bob (by the way, uncle bob (bob angelich) was the first to do the Adee commercials). the name came to play simply this way..."A" was at the beginning of the yellow pages, and dee was what everyone called mom, ergo, "Adee."
Warmly,
Michael Stephan (Dee's son and Jack's pain in the rear stepson who became a cop....plumbing, are you kidding)
Posted by: michael stephan | Jan 07, 2013 at 18:53
I worked for the Stephan family for years. It was fun seeing Jack Stephan, Sr. coming into the offices and kissing his sons Jack Jr. and Russell on the cheek as they all left together for lunch. Sometimes Barbara would drive him to work. He was driving into his late eighties and was sharp as an eagle. I once gave him a plaque that said "Award of Excellence presented to Jack Stephan, Sr, for your courage, determination and commitment to building a strong company and for your commitment to family". I believe the plaque hangs in his living room. I made him quite happy that day. He is the kindest most loving family man I've ever met from what I personally saw. He was always trying to stay on top of things although he was retired for many years. He would call in to the office and also bring us the best donuts ever. Jack Stephan Sr. remains a hero to me and his family is among the sweetest and kindest people I ever met. Continued blessings to the Stephan Family!
Posted by: Andy Rodriguez | Mar 07, 2013 at 19:05