The Empire Today Voice Is Missing!

“Is that a different voice on the Empire Today commercials?” Uh oh. It is!

If you’ve been reading this blog any length of time you know I like to identify and often follow the voices you hear on-the-air. That’s why a question from Helaine was so shocking.

“Is that a different voice on the Empire Today commercials?”

Uh oh. It is!

For years we’ve listened to Lynn Hauldren (thanks Wikipedia) as the voice of the little old animated TV guy rolling out carpet.

Hauldren was working on the Empire Carpet account in 1977 and could not find an actor the company approved of for the role of The Empire Man in a commercial scheduled to be shot. Instead, then company owner Seymour Cohen asked Hauldren to play the role of The Empire Man himself.

He’s 88. Anything’s possible. I checked online. There are no reports of ill health or worse. I can’t help but worry though I didn’t even know his name until a few minutes ago.

12 thoughts on “The Empire Today Voice Is Missing!”

  1. Hi Geoff- I read somewhere that you’re a fellow grad of Emerson. I knew I liked you from the start! Glad to see you’re still in the game on geoffox.com. My question to you is, did you ever get random calls at pay phones from the ‘Boss of Boston?’ He was quite popular in in the early 90’s. I wonder what he’s doing nowadays. Best of luck.

  2. Interesting. However, I would figure that if any news had surfaced over the Empire Carpet guy, Robert Feder would have written about it. Empire Carpet was, I believe, originally based in Chicagoland (I can remember when it was 312-588-2300 EMPIRE! in the commercials!) so it would make sense for the media guy in Chicago to mention something. I’m a pretty religious reader of his column and haven’t seen anything. (He also tweets as @RobertFeder.)

    But here’s hoping he’s ok!!

  3. I’ve come across the posts wondering about Lynn as the Empire Carpet Man. Lynn continues to represent Empire Today as a spokesperson.

  4. Hey Geoff -identifying voices in ads is a quirk of mine, too, and I also wondered about the Empire commercials. Not all seem to be different, though. Some still carry his voice. I hope he’s retiring to some sunny clime.

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