Philip Kives, a Canadian entrepreneur whose company, K-tel, saturated North American airwaves for decades with ads for a gaggle of gadgets (the Patty Stacker, the Miracle Brush and the emblematic Veg-O-Matic) and a cornucopia of compilation albums (“Hit Machine: 20 Original Hits, 20 Original Stars,” “25 Polka Greats” and “A Musical Journey: Pan-Flute”), died on Wednesday in Winnipeg, Canada. He was 87.
His family confirmed the death.
An accomplished salesman from the age of 8, Mr. Kives (pronounced KEY-vis) was an early master of an influential midcentury art form — the televised product demonstration — in which mass communication and mass material culture conspicuously converged.
Throughout the 1960s, ’70s and beyond, K-tel commercials were as omnipresent a part of the American experience as long sideburns, wide ties and leisure suits. In some markets, they were broadcast more than 120 times a week on television and radio combined.
