By producing and directing some of the first television commercials, Hooper White was a pioneer in TV advertising. But he didn’t want to keep his skills a secret, so he lectured, wrote a how-to book and penned a regular behind-the-scenes column for Advertising Age.
“He was Mr. Nice Guy,” said radio personality and longtime friend Paul Harvey. “He was one of the rare individuals who took his job seriously without taking himself seriously.”
Mr. White, 82, a longtime Chicago advertising executive, died Saturday, May 25, in Mease-Dunedin Hospital in Palm Harbor, Fla., of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Mr. White was born in Elkhart, Ind. His father was a minister, and the family moved around the Midwest when he was growing up. He earned a bachelor’s degree from North Central College in Naperville in 1940, where he met his wife, Maris. They married a year later.
His first job was as a program director at WKZO Radio in Kalamazoo, Mich., where he worked alongside future radio legends Harry Caray and Paul Harvey.
After a few years Mr. White went to work for WBBM Radio in Chicago, where he produced and directed soap operas. One was a reality radio show that recorded the goings-on of a family, “Breakfast with the Johnsons.”
In the early 1950s, Mr. White worked for Earl Ludgin advertising, where he would fly to New York every week for live TV commercials for “What’s My Line.” He worked at J. Walter Thompson and also at Leo Burnett, where he was a vice president from 1959 to 1976.
Mr. White won awards in every major commercial competition in the United States, Europe and Australia, including the Clio Awards and the lifetime achievement honor from the Mobius Advertising Awards. Throughout his career he produced and directed many memorable commercial campaigns, including “Marlboro Country” and “The Friendly Skies of United.” His commercial for Helene Curtis hair spray was the first American commercial produced in Europe.
In the early 1980s, he wrote “How to Produce Effective TV Commercials,” a book that he updated in several editions. From 1981 to 1989, Mr. White wrote a column in Advertising Age, “How Did They Shoot That?”
“Hooper was a real scholar of television commercial production,” said Robert Goldsborough, who edited his column. “Hooper would tell you the story behind the story.”
He formed his own production company, Hooper White Co., in 1976, which he ran in Barrington for 22 years.
For many years, Mr. White traveled the world, lecturing about his craft. He also acted as a consultant for small and large companies working on commercials. He retired from the business in 1998 and moved to Tarpon Springs, Fla., last year.
“He loved seeing people get ahead,” said his daughter Carol. “`A commercial is as expensive as the idea behind it,’ he used to say. `If you don’t have much money, have a simple idea.'”
In addition to his wife and daughter, he is survived by two sons, Steuart and Tim; another daughter, Laurel Marc-Charles; a sister, Katharine; a brother, Hugh; and three grandchildren.
A memorial service in Barrington is being planned.
