A Minor Genius Dies
April 1, 2015


For any of you who are unfamiliar with the Pet Rock, they are advertised for sale from Rosebud Entertainment on Google, however when I looked at it there were several shown, none of which was the original. Without the “care manual” it would be boring, so the shopper should examine the ad to see what is included. There is one on the Google site which includes a leash.

I got mine the year it first came out at Christmas time. When I read the book I laughed so hard my diaphragm began to hurt. I went back to the store the next day to get one for my father for Christmas and already they were sold out. When I told the sales clerk what I wanted he started laughing. He said he had some more on order and what day to come back. I did, and my father loved his, too. We kept it on a bookcase along with other knicknacks. When my mother died and we emptied the house it was still there, and I took it to Jacksonville with me. It sits on my dresser now and I read it every now and then. The novelty has worn off, of course, but it still gives me a chuckle. The creator of the rock died today. His biography on Wikipedia is below after the CBS news article on his death. That rock made him a millionnaire.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pet-rock-creator-gary-dahl-dead-at-78/

Pet Rock creator Gary Dahl dead at 78
AP  April 1, 2015

Photograph – Undated family handout image shows Gary Ross Dahl  AP

JACKSONVILLE, Ore. -- Gary Ross Dahl, the creator of the wildly popular 1970s fad the Pet Rock, has died at age 78 in southern Oregon.

Dahl's wife, Marguerite Dahl, confirmed Tuesday that her husband of 40 years died March 23 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The smooth stones came packed in a cardboard box containing a tongue-in-cheek instruction pamphlet for "care and feeding." Dahl estimated he had sold 1.5 million of them at roughly $4 each by the time the fad fizzled. The Pet Rock required no work and no time commitment.

Born Dec. 18, 1936, in Bottineau, North Dakota, Dahl was raised in Spokane, Washington.

In 1975, he was a Los Gatos, California, advertising executive when he came up with the Pet Rock idea.

Dahl also penned "Advertising for Dummies."

In 2000, he was a grand prize winner in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for dreadful prose. His winning entry: "The heather-encrusted Headlands, veiled in fog as thick as smoke in a crowded pub, hunched precariously over the moors, their rocky elbows slipping off land's end, their bulbous, craggy noses thrust into the thick foam of the North Sea like bearded old men falling asleep in their pints. "

He and his wife retired and moved to Jacksonville in 2006.

The Pet Rock craze "was great fun when it happened," his wife recalled in a telephone interview. Over time, however, "people would come to him with weird ideas, expecting him to do for them what he had done for himself. And a lot of times they were really, really stupid ideas."

By 1988, Dahl told The Associated Press he had avoided interviews for years because of what he called "a bunch of wackos" appearing out of nowhere with threats and lawsuits.

Of the little rock that became a household word, he said, "Sometimes I look back and wonder if my life wouldn't have been simpler if I hadn't done it."

Dahl designed and built the Carry Nations Saloon in Los Gatos, his wife said.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a sister, Candace Dahl of Spokane; daughters Chris Nunez and Samantha Leighton; son Eric Dahl; stepdaughter Vicki Pershing and grandchildren.

Dahl and his wife were avid sailors on San Francisco Bay, where she plans to sprinkle his ashes in May.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_Rock
Pet Rock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photograph – The Pet Rock "Pet Carrier", which doubled as its packaging

Pet Rock was a collectible conceived in 1975 by advertising executive Gary Dahl.

Development

In April 1975, Gary Ross Dahl was in a bar (which is now Beauregard Vineyards Tasting room inBonny Doon) listening to his friends complain about their pets. This gave him the idea for the perfect "pet": a rock.[1] A rock would not need to be fed, walked, bathed, or groomed; and would not die, become sick, or be disobedient. He said they were to be the perfect pets, and joked about it with his friends.[2] Dahl took the idea seriously, and drafted an "instruction manual" for a pet rock. It was full of puns, gags and plays on words that referred to the rock as an actual pet.

Marketing

Pet Rocks were a smooth stone from Mexico's Rosarito Beach.[3] They were marketed like live pets, in custom cardboard boxes,[3] complete with straw and breathing holes for the "animal."[1] The fad lasted about six months, ending after a short increase in sales during the Christmas season of December 1975. Although by February 1976 they were discounted due to lower sales, Dahl sold 1.5 million Pet Rocks for $4,[3] and became a millionaire.[4][5][6]

A 32-page official training manual titled The Care and Training of Your Pet Rock was included, with instructions on how to properly raise and care for one's new Pet Rock (notably lacking instructions for feeding, bathing, etc.). The instruction manual was the real product: it was full of gags, puns and jokes. It contained several commands that could be taught to the new pet. While "sit" and "stay" were effortless to accomplish, "roll over" usually required a little extra help from the trainer. "Come," "stand" and "shake hands" were found to be near-impossible to teach, but "attack" was fairly simple (also with some additional help from the owner). The owners also found that potty-training their pet rocks was fairly simple, given that they were, in fact, rocks. Dahl's biggest expense was the die-cutting and manufacture of the boxes. The rocks only cost a penny each, and the straw was nearly free. For the initial run of booklets, Dahl had a printing job for a client and "tacked" the pet rock booklet onto the main job. This resulted in a batch requiring only a cut and trim, at almost no cost except some labor.

With his money Dahl purchased the ironically named "Carry Nations" bar in downtown Los Gatos, California, which he nearly ran into the ground and sold after eight months.[4] He continued to work in advertising but avoided interviews for years, because "a bunch of wackos" harassed him with lawsuits and threats. Dahl said in 1988, "Sometimes I look back and wonder if my life wouldn't have been simpler if I hadn't done it."[5]

Availability

The Pet Rock became available again on September 3, 2012. Rosebud Entertainment currently holds the United States trademark rights to the Pet Rock.[7]