Johnny Roventini, also known as John Louis Roventini and popularly as Johnny Philip Morris, (August 15, 1910 – November 30, 1998), was an American actor.
Less than four feet tall as a fully developed adult, Roventini was working as a bellboy at the New Yorker Hotel in 1933 when he was discovered by an advertising mogul, who had him perform a page, issuing a "Call for Philip Morris". He reportedly could always vocalize a perfect B-flat tone as he repeated those words, literally over a million times during his career, according to his own estimate.
He soon became famous as a product spokesman for Philip Morris brand cigarettes in radio, television and print advertising media. He was described by Philip Morris personnel as a "living trademark", and represented the company for over 40 years. He also played roles in the growth of broadcast media, most notably helping Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz with the initial success of their innovative I Love Lucy comedy series beginning in 1951.
Early life
Roventini was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian immigrants. Physically, he was a dwarf. As an adult, he was 47 inches tall (3'11") and weighed 59 pounds. Employed as a bellman (or "bellboy") in the New Yorker Hotel in New York City, he was promoted by the hotel as the "smallest bellboy in the world".
Discovery
The famous "Call for Philip Morris" advertising campaign predates Johnny Roventini's role and began during World War I. A drawing of a bellboy carrying a tray with a box of cigarettes on it was the original mascot. The campaign had been successful and was used for 15 years with artistic variations as the only significant changes.
In 1933, advertising executive Milton H. Biow, the principal of the Biow Agency in New York City, was managing the advertising account of Philip Morris cigarettes. Biow had an idea to bring new life (literally) to the mature "bellboy with tray of cigarettes" campaign. He had heard of the distinctive voice and appearance of Roventini. Biow and Philip Morris executive Alfred E. Lyons went to the hotel where Johnny worked. They sat in the lobby and observed him, noting both his diminutive size and distinctive voice.
In those days, hotel lobbies were typically elaborately furnished and used as meeting places, so situations with persons seeking each other were not uncommon. Biow and Lyons had apparently been unnoticed by the 22-year-old bellboy, when, according to the legend, Biow approached him and paid Johnny a dollar to page a "Mr. Philip Morris" throughout the lobby. The small bellboy repeatedly cried out "Call for Philip Morris" in his distinctive high-pitched voice, several times, not knowing that there was no such person. He did not realize that he had been performing an audition. "I went around the lobby yelling my head off," Johnny recalled later, "but Philip Morris didn't answer my call." Roventini initially thought that his call had been both legitimate and unsuccessful. He was soon to learn that he had been wrong on both counts. He was later quoted in Variety: "I had no idea that Philip Morris was a cigarette."
The page had been a huge success, one that was to lead the young bellboy to a 40-year career. Biow and Lyons both visualized the performance of the small bellboy as ideal to bring life to their fictitious character. In April 1933, Roventini was hired to make a "Call for Phil-ip Mor-rees" on the different radio programs sponsored by the tobacco company. Roventini had been earning $15 a week at the hotel (about $ today) and received $100 (about $ today) for his very first radio commercial. He later recounted that he only accepted the new job after checking with his mother, with whom he lived much of his life. He was soon earning $50,000 annually, a substantial wage for such work in those years (as it was about $ in today's money), according to his biography.