Arthur Schiff Dies; Copywriter Behind Ginsu Knives

If there is an afterlife and any cosmic justice, the first words Arthur Schiff heard when he died were: “But Wait! There’s More!”

Schiff, the copywriter behind those immortal words and the name Ginsu knives, died on August 24 of lung cancer at his home in Coral Springs, FL. He was 66.

During his career, Schiff reportedly wrote an astounding 1,800 DRTV short-form commercials pitching everything from the amazing Steakhouse Onion Machine to Tripledge Windshield Wipers.

According to Schiff, the name Ginsu came to him in his sleep in a flash of inspiration.

Ed Valenti, who in 1975 co-founded Dial Media, the company that would launch Ginsu knives, said he doesn’t remember exactly how the name Ginsu came about. “But if that’s how Arthur remembered it, I have no reason to doubt it. He contributed greatly to my success and to the direct response industry.”

Schiff is also credited with writing the phrase: “But Wait! There’s More!”

Today, the phrase and the knives are an indelible part of American kitsch culture, a universal reference for anyone aiming to parody the DRTV industry, and a true tribute to how ubiquitous and successful the original DRTV Ginsu spots were.

Valenti recalled Schiff’s original script saying: “How much would you pay for this set of knives? And there’s more!”

“Somebody else may have come up with ‘But Wait’ but we’re talking about something that happened 27 years ago,” he said.

Valenti, who now the owns PriMedia, a national media buying and direct marketing firm in Warwick, RI, said that shortly after hiring Schiff in the mid 70s, he noticed Schiff often sat in is chair, hands behind his head, smoking a pipe and staring off into space.

“At first I didn’t think much of it, but after the second, third and fourth times, I thought, ‘This guy’s screwing me. I’m paying him big money and he’s sitting around staring into space,’” Valenti said.

So Valenti confronted Schiff: “I said: ‘this is not fair, you’re supposed to be working.’ And he said ‘I am working. You pay me to think. What do you suppose thinking looks like?’”

Valenti said he never bothered Schiff about sitting in his chair and smoking a pipe while staring off into space again.

Among the other well-known products Schiff developed scripts for were the Betty Crocker Bake N’ Fill, the Audubon Singing Bird Clock, GS 27 Scratch Remover, Auri Car Polish, D-Snore and Duzzit Handy Hangars.

Schiff was born in Boston in 1940 to Louis Schiff, a podiatrist and Pearl Schiff, a novelist.

Schiff majored in broadcasting at Emerson College, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1961. He served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force before starting his career in radio and advertising in multiple New England ad agencies.

In 1983, Schiff formed Direct Response Associates, a creative and production ad agency in Sunrise, FL.

Schiff is survived by his wife, Barbara and two children from a previous marriage.