Rusty Citron, Come on Down!

There are a few people who really made an impact on my career. Johnny Olson was one, but not in the way you might think.

Johnny Olson is best known as the 'voice' of The Price is Right. For years, millions of people heard him tell winners and losers to 'Come on Down'! I don't know who came up with the slogan, but he made it famous.

This story starts on Lincoln's Birthday in 1967. I took the train to NY and went to NBC. I had been down to the studios before many times. I think I took the NBC Tour about 5 times. For me, it was a magical place. They were setting up for a full day of taping of The Match Game. That was the first time I heard and met Johnny Olson.

In order to keep the audience happy, Johnny would come from backstage and would play the game with members of the studio audience. He had a stack of crisp new $5 bills to give away every time someone raised their hand with the correct answer.

A concrete brink couldn't have kept me in my seat. Johnny would ask a question, and I would jump up. By the end of the day, I was a rich kid...with three crisp new $5 bills in my hot little hands.

I walked back to Penn Station to catch the train home. I was crossing Broadway in front of Ripley's Clothes on 44th Street, and there was a kid giving away free tickets for The Merv Griffin Show. I noticed that he didn't seem to be much older than I was. Another free television show. Yes!

After the show, went to the box office, and asked for a job application. They asked if I was 16. I lied and said yes. I took that application and went home. My head was spinning. Could I possibly get a job in NY working as a page on a TV show? It didn't seem possible.

I worked for weeks on the letter and filing out the job application and finally sent it in. It was over a year later when the call came to my house. I was at school, but my sister was home sick and took the message.

And that's how I got my first real job, as a page on The David Frost Show....but that's not the end of the story.

Fast forward 15 years. I have my own entertainment agency in Hollywood. One of my biggest clients was Melvin Simon, the shopping center developer. We were working on some new campaigns and I had an idea. What about 'Come on Down'. It was perfect, and they said yes.

The next day, I met Johnny Olson for lunch in Hollywood at the Cock and Bull on Sunset. He agreed to the campaign, and then we talked for hours. I told him the story about how me got me started and what a fantastic experience that was for a kid of 15.

We had a great time, and Johnny honored me by saying (in his on air voice), Rusty Citron...Come On down!

A really good cigar

I started my first company, with a box of 25 cent cigars from George Burns.

In July of 1974 I drove out from New York to Los Angeles to get back into Television. I was 21 with my BA Degree in hand. Within two weeks I was working on the 1974 LA segment of the Jerry Lewis Telethon (more on that later) and very quickly built up a great rolodex as a talent coordinator.

About 2 years later Tom Hallick, who was one of the stars of 'The Young and The Restless', told me about a personal appearance he just finished in Springfield Illinois opening a shopping center. He was like a kid in a candy store. They paid him more money for one day then he made all week on the show. And he loved it.

They treated him like a movie star. He signed autographs, did local interviews and it was all first class.He told me that it took them almost a month just to book his appearance. The people in Springfield called the local CBS affiliate, who then called the network, who then called the agent, who then called the manager. And it went back and forth.

He said to me; '"Rusty, you've gotta meet these guys. You have everyone's number and it would be so much easier". I was game. I had two problems to overcome; first how do I make money and second why would I want to book personal appearances in shopping centers?

It took me about two seconds to figure out how to make money and make everyone happy. It took a month of planning, a trip to Dallas for a meeting with a guy named Buck Sappenfield, and a box of George Burns Cigars to figure out the rest.

George 'Buck' Sappenfield was the VP of Marketing for Melvin Simon and Associates. We had a 10 minute meeting in Dallas at the Shopping Center Convention, which was exciting enough by itself. I told him that I booked celebrities for TV shows and did a quick pitch on how I could make his life a whole lot easier for a 'small booking fee' which would include coordinating the travel and make it pretty much a 'turn-key' operation.

But I needed to 'prove' that I could deliver. He was holding a celebrity auction in 8 days at the Towne East Square in Wichita and needed something really 'big' and from Hollywood. If I could get something that would impress him, we were in!

We shook hands, and I knew exactly what to do.

Five days later, I got the call from Buck. He was ecstatic. A box of George Burn's Cigars autographed for his fans in Wichita.

It was the start of my first business, CTS and a 7 year relationship with one of the country's largest shopping center developers.

I went from a free box of 25 cent cigars to booking hundreds of movie, TV and music stars. We were booking multiple appearances every week all over the US and Canada. At one point, we had 12 pre packaged acts including; Fabian's Fabulous 50's Revue, The Ruby Red Slippers, Pac Man, Universal Studios Hollywood on Tour, Alvin and The Chipmunks and even Bob Speca The Domino Wizard.

It was crazy...and I don't even like Cigars!