…though it may only mean something to folks who watched TV in Los Angeles in the sixties and seventies. It's for Edward Nalbandian. Now, who the heck is Edward Nalbandian?
He was the proprietor of the huge discount men's clothing store down on Wilshire, Zachary All. In fact, he was Zachary All, which was a made-up name. Eddie turned up constantly on L.A. TV doing his own commercial spots and in one, which only ran eight times an hour for about five years, he said, of his store's prices on the new double-knit suits, "My friends all ask me, 'Eddie, are you kidding?' And I tell them no, my friend, I am not kidding." This line prompted rocker Frank Zappa to write and record a very funny, successful (at least in L.A.) record, "Eddie, Are You Kidding?"
I had one personal encounter with Eddie. I wrote about it in this article though I didn't use his name. But read down to the last part and you'll recognize he's the guy I was talking about. And if you'd like to know more about Eddie and Zachary All, here's a link to an article from The Los Angeles Business Journal that tells about him.