One of Ross Cortese’s strengths was his marketing skills. The homes were okay, construction was better than most but as a developer he paid attention to the little things and then made sure everybody knew about them.
Cortese hired top name designers and architects — as much for their name as their work. He made sure every article mentioned the General Electric medallion Homes, or Betty Furness kitchens. Cortese first employed many home marketing styles that are standard now. He purchased full-page ads in the LA Times each week. He notn only ran ads he made sure the home sections included Cortese-supplied stories about all the thjings happening in Rossmoor — lines of 650 people long on opening day, the brand new Little League, the womens club that already had 200 members. And when the sales of certain style homes started to slow down — as was reportedly the case with certain the original gingerbread-y style homes — Cortese knew how to turn that into a marketing plus as well.
He donated one of those homes to be given away on the TV show “Queen for a Day,”
On mid January his company released the following press release which was dutifully covered in the Jan. 22, 1959 local Enterprise on page 3.
ROSSMOOR HOME WILL BE PRIZE FOR LUCKY LADY —
Plans for a $20,000 to be awarded as a grand prize on the Queen for a Day television show, were announced by Ross W. Cortese, devloper of the new 1200 acre community near Long Beach.
The ranch-style home will be won by a “queen” who selects from 40 keys the one which fits the front door of the home. If the contestant is unlucky, the key will be discarded and the contest will be continued until the lucky key is selected.
Winner of the contest, which starts Jan. 26, will receive the deed to her new home on the program and the following day she’ll be driven to the new subdivision to inspect her home and the community.
The prize home, the New Englander , provides three bedrooms and features a spacious living room and with a wood-buring fireplace and dining room. It’s all-electric kitchen with built-in Frigidaire range, oven and garbage disposal unit and coppertone hood over the island-type cooking center.
Rossmoor which currently has 1,300 families as residents is planned as a 4,000 home community.
The news was carried not only in the Enterprise but in other area newspapers as well.
In 1959 those homes were listing for less than $20,000. Minus his margin, Cortese probably had $12-15,000 into the house. In return he got all the print publicity from being in the local newspapers, but he also all the on-air publicity from being on Queen for a Day. As one of NBC’s top-rated daytime shows, commercial air-time was selling for $4,000 a minute. Throw in the tax deduction for advertising/marketing expense — he came out okay on the deal.
And then on February 12, the Enterprise carried
Downey Woman wins new $20,000 home in Rossmoor on TV Show.
An unemployed mother of four children is $20,000 richer as a result of picking the lucky key to a home provided as the grand prize on a television program.
Mrs. Shirley Woodlock, 28, Downey, who won a $20,000 home in Los Alamitos’ Rossmoor subdivision could only say, “This is too good to be true. I’ve never even before won a dollar.”
Mrs. Woodlock, separated from her husband, said her original wish was on the program was for a garage partition to set up a small nursery as a means of income.
My building plans are changing now,” she smiled.
She was driven to her new home in a gold Cadillac and after inspecting the house she excitedly said, “I’m going to move in as soon as possible.”
In addition to the prize home, Mrs. Woodlock was awarded more than $3,500 of household and personal merchandise on the “Queen or a Day” propgram.
Apparently, Mrs. Woodlock would not stay in her Rossmoor residence that long. Neighborhood legend is that economics soon forced her to sell the home and relocate. (If you know of any better information, please let us know.)
But Cortese did well by the giveaway. He disposed of a slower selling model, got lots of publicity, and would soon sell off the rest of his Rossmoor tract — which he had updated with a more contemporary ranch-modern design — the Estates — from architect Chris Choate.
Below is a double truck example of Cortese’s marketing in the LA Times from January 25, 1959, the day before the Queen for a Day Rossmoor home give-away was to begin.
And here are a couple links to videos of Queen for a Day, so you can see how far television has come — thank god.
- Queen for a Day – Part 1 (bad video bar at top)
- Complete episode from 1960
