Will it play in Peoria?

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The saying, "Will it play in Peoria?" is traditionally used to ask whether a given product, person, promotional theme, or event will appeal to mainstream (also called "Main Street") America, or across a broad range of demographic / psychographic groups.

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[edit] Peoria as metaphor

Peoria, Illinois, has developed quite an unusual reputation over the years—so much so that a kind of folklore has grown around the name. The famous catch-phrase about "playing in Peoria" has origins buried in vaudeville or burlesque. Don Marine, professor of theatre at Illinois Central College (East Peoria), commented:

If one were to choose the city in the United States most victimized in jokes and anecdotes by theatrical personalities, the selection of Peoria, Illinois, would be a popular, if not likely choice. Two of the more popular quips are: "Say, I hear you got married. How did that ever happen?" "I was playing a split-bill in Peoria—and it rained!" and "Have you ever played Peoria?" "Peoria? Oh, yes—I spent four years there one night!" The widespread appeal of this verbal maligning by comics, actors and other performers suggests Peoria as a paramount example of the dull, banal, and provincial theatrical road stop. But the popularity of the "put down" suggests as well that the city possesses a theatrical heritage of considerable longevity.[1]

A 1945 comment in American Notes and Queries offers a different point of view, one that is perhaps more accurate:

Peoria (Ill.) has been an old stand-by with comedians for years—but not only because of the 0 sound. Nor because of the four vowel sounds that give it a nice noisy resonance. But largely, I suspect, because of the fact that it is a whiskey town and a river town and not particularly famous for what is known as the genteel tradition.[1]

The phrase originated during the vaudeville era and was popularized in movies by Groucho Marx.[2] The belief was that if a new show was successful in Peoria, a main Midwestern stop for vaudeville acts, it would be successful anywhere.

Old booklet, How to enter Vaudeville.

Marine made a common mistake; he judged Peoria the way Peorians in the late 20th century usually seemed to judge themselves. That is, dull, banal, and provincial. But just ask older residents of Peoria, and they will tell about whiskey, gambling, prostitution, and whatever else goes into making a city "wide open." Only since the 1950s was the lid put on Peoria; but the reputation, and thus the gibes, has existed since vaudeville.[1]

Jack Mabley, writing in the Chicago Tribune, concluded that "if it plays in Peoria it has good taste," but a more apt meaning is, according to James C. Ballowe, former dean of Bradley University’s graduate school, that "Peoria is a tough audience." In other words, "it bombed in Peoria" or "it was great in Peoria" had recognizable meaning from one coast to the other.[1]

The phrase subsequently was adopted by politicians, pollsters, and promoters to question the potential mainstream acceptance of anything new.

Although vaudeville left Peoria many years ago, the slogan was revived in 1969 when John D. Ehrlichman said to a newsman, "Don't worry, it'll play in Peoria,"[1] in reference to a decision by President Richard M. Nixon that seemed calculated to upset Easterners.[3] Peoria, Illinois, cashed in on the free publicity with a successful advertising campaign to lure new business to the city.[1]

[edit] Peoria as test market

In the United States, Peoria, Illinois, has legendary status as a test market. Peoria has long been seen as a representation of the average American city, because of its demographics and its perceived mainstream Midwestern culture. In the 1960s and 1970s, Peoria was deemed an ideal test market by various consumer-focused companies, entertainment enterprises (films and concert tours), even politicians, to gauge opinion, interest and receptivity to new products, services and campaigns.[4]

In the 1980s and 90s, comedians like Sam Kinison and musicians such as Bob Dylan, Robert Plant, Metallica and Phil Collins all perfected and launched concert tours in Peoria. During Presidential campaigns, major TV networks would visit Peoria to "take the pulse" (gauge the response) of everyday Americans on national issues and candidates.[citation needed]

Peoria's historical test market status can be attributed to a number of factors. At one time Peoria was at the country's population center (a point which has since moved South and West, as more Americans move away from the Northeast to the Southwest). The term 'Heartland of America' refers to this region,[5] though over the years the moniker has been embraced by other markets as well.

The city is also located approximately halfway between two major Midwestern cities: Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri.

Perhaps most important, at one time Peoria closely reflected the diversity of the United States population in terms of race, income, age, rural and business interests, educational background and other key criteria.[citation needed]

While Peoria is still considered the "test market capital of the world," other cities such as Albany, New York; Greensboro, North Carolina; and Santa Barbara, California, are more commonly selected as test markets today for greater testing precision.[citation needed]

[edit] Peoria in popular culture

 Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (May 2009)

Peoria appears in movies and books, on television and radio, and in countless advertisements as a generic place name.

[edit] Movies, television, and radio

  • In an episode of I Love Lucy, Fred and Ethel reminisce about their vaudeville act playing in Peoria.

[edit] Advertisements

  • Gillette Atra magazine advertisements once asked, "Do they pivot in Peoria?"

[edit] Fictional allusions

Peoria is usually used in a complimentary—and positive—fashion in advertising; whereas most fictional allusions are an obvious affront and literary usage often implies that "Peoria" is indeed equivalent to "provincial."

  • In Emma Lathen's When in Greece: "Charlie’s responsibilities took him far too often to places he preferred leaving to vacationing college students or retired Peoria car dealers."
  • In 1977, the news magazine Time used Peoria as a form of "et cetera" (and perhaps a hidden insult) in an article on the proliferation of new vineyards in America, calling them "the new Chateaux Peorias...."
  • A film review by Jean Strauss in Newsweek concludes: "...(the) films are small, 'foreign,' unlikely to play in Peoria."
  • In 1977, a Christian Science Monitor editorial cartoon shows Jimmy Carter pleading to a "big business booking agent": “But sir—they love me out in Peoria." (An oblique reference perhaps to Nixon?)
  • In 1999, B.C. was more blunt: The girl asks at Peter’s Drug Store, "I want the most exotic perfume you got": "That would be 'Evening in Paris, Champs-Élysées' ... sixty dollars an ounce"; "What do you have for three bucks?"; "'Midnight in Peoria, Route 24, Junction Eight'"!
  • Peoria, being the hometown of Richard Pryor, also became the hometown of Pryor's most famous alter-ego, "Mudbone." Mudbone would refer to Peoria during his appearances in Pryor's stand-up routine.

[edit] Slang

Peoria, and its nickname Peory have been immortalized, however briefly, in spoken slang as an imaginary "hick" town, although most printed uses belie the adjective "hick." Further, vagabonds and hobos have used peoria, peory, or peory water since ca. 1920 to describe a thick soup. This concoction is usually made of potato water and onions, although the recipe surely varies. Strange to say, the terminology is actually a corruption of purée, although the sound of purée must have suggested a major stop to those riding the rails in the Midwest—Peoria.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Scheetz, George H. "Peoria." In Place Names in the Midwestern United States. Edited by Edward Callary. (Studies in Onomastices; 1.) Mellen Press, 2000. ISBN 0-7734-7723-3
  2. ^ Marx asks the question in A Night at the Opera
  3. ^ William Safire, "Playing in Peoria," New York Times, September 19, 1985
  4. ^ The Peoria Area Convention and Visitors Bureau: Will it Play in Peoria?
  5. ^ Bruce Weber, "A Shifting American Landscape; In the Heartland, A Cornucopia Of Culture", New York Times, December 6, 1998

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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