Dictator Cullison loaned me a hardcopy of this 1979 Enterprise ad from Raley’s Home Furnishings Store. It features owner Bill Raley atop a Christmas tree of his employees. I found the original ad in the Enterprise archives (click here.)
I tried (below) to do what I could to improve the quality of the above and also added everyone’s name so you could see who’s who. With 46 employees shown I’m betting that most of you will recognize the majority of them.
(Note that most employees are listed alphabetically. However, Dictator and three other employees appear in the last two rows. Somewhere along the line, someone must have realized they needed to be in the tree too and were added after the Wright guys – Bob and Snooty!)
Leonard Thompson, John Tyler, Mike Wheeler, Bob Wright, Snooty Wright, Tater Cullison and Jack McFadyen. Lesley Bryan and Kevin Green complete the Raley’s Home Furnishings family tree.
Song-wise, initially I thought I would include the We Are Family tune from Sister Sledge. However, I have hated that song ever since it became associated with the Pittsburgh Pirates when they beat the Orioles in ironically enough the same year that this ad appeared – the 1979 World Series. Thirty eight years later and it still pisses me off that the Orioles blew a 3-1 lead to let Pittsburgh come back and win.
Instead of Family, check out this version of Elton’s Step Into Christmas. Don’t know who these guys and gal are, but I like their version of this Christmas tune.