Paging Johnny Philip Morris

August 15 was the birthday of Johnny Roventini (1910-1989) better known to the public of his time as Johnny Philip Morris.

The Brooklyn native was a Person of Small Stature — 3 feet, eleven inches tall. Roventini was employed as bell hop at the New Yorker hotel in 1933, when spotted by an advertising executive passing through the lobby. From there on in, Roventini (in the bellboy costume) became the spokesperson for Philip Morris cigarettes, an engagement that lasted for 40 years. His tagline “Paging Philip Morris!” was uttered thousands of times, and Roventini was featured on radio, television, in print ads and live appearances. He was also in the movie Stage Door Canteen (1943). For a good portion of his career, many surely assumed Roventini was a boy, although by the 1960s he began to show telltale signs of his maturity. He hawked his wares on I Love Lucy, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, etc. On at least one occasion, he put his small size to use outside the Philip Morris orbit: he was an extra in Superman and the Mole Men(1951). Roventini retired shortly after Congress banned the advertising of cigarettes and radio in 1971.

For more on show business history,please see my book No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous; and keep an eye out for my upcomingElectric Vaudeville: A Century of Radio and TV Variety. And For more on performing little people please check out Rose’s Royal Midgets and Other Little People in Vaudeville.