But wait, there's more: The Popeil Collection

Long before sleek home gadgets were unveiled at overhyped conventions, household gizmos were hawked door to door or pitched on TV by slick shucksters. The men who paved the way for infomercial greats like the Clapper and the Topsy Tail, made millions inventing the pitch to post-50's moms. The Popeil brothers, Sam and Raymond, and later Sam's son Ron, were responsible for such 50's era arcana as the vegetable-dicing, Veg-O-Matic and its close cousins, the Chop-O-Matic, Whip-O-Matic and Peel-O-Matic. Other kitchy gems the Popeils made famous, include the Pocket Fisherman, a folding fishing rod, the Miracle Broom, battery-powered sweeping, and the smoke-sucking Smokeless Ashtray. In an exhibit at the Chicago Cultural Center, showing through mid-May, a collector shows off 150 pieces from his collection of Popeil's Americana. And though the Veg-O-Matic sold for less than 10 dollars a piece, don't knock the business model, the Popeil family continues to churn out an gadgets from their home in Beverly Hills.