Joan Rivers visited Luskin's for autograph and photo session
Jack Luskin — who for three decades was better known as “The Cheapest Guy in Town” — recently recalled when the late Joan Rivers made a guest appearance at his Towson appliance store in the 1960s.
“The circumstances that bought Rivers, who was just starting out, was an arrangement we had with Club Venus and Painters Mill to arrange for stars to appear in our stores for an autograph and photo session. I guess the promotion went on for three or four years,” said Luskin, who is now 86.
“We didn’t pay them anything and gave them a gift. We were able to put in our newspaper and TV ads that such-and-such a star would be appearing and it was a way for us to get people to come to the store,” he said.
“Joan was one of the first of our celebrities to appear at a signing and this was before she had cosmetic surgery and was really considered a major star,” he said.
Luskin added that in addition to wearing a hat and pearls, she had a Louis Vuitton purse slung over her shoulder.
“She was ahead of the curve with the Vuitton bag. She was very friendly and outgoing, but was a little reserved the first time she came,” he said. “She was a very kind, wonderful and cooperative lady. I guess she stayed about an hour.”
The list of stars who called at the various Luskin stores reads like a whose who of 1960s and 1970s show business and sports royalty.
“We had Al Martino, Bob Feller, Johnny Unitas, Jack Jones, Jerry Lewis, Barbara Eden, Dan Blocker, Theodore Bikel, Jim Nabors, Eddie Arnold, Fabian and Bobby Richardson of the New York Yankees, among so many other stars and sports figures,” said Luskin.
Luskin recalled the day when he and his associates were speculating on the “lavish wedding gifts Princess Margaret received when she married Anthony Armstrong-Jones” in 1960.
“So we decided to send her a toaster oven and we received a wonderful reply from her,” he said, adding, “We’ve had a few laughs over the years.”
