-Cash in them there hills. Oh, yeah.
A treasure of cash for your gold jewelry and watches.
-Trick or treat! -Hello.
-If you grew up in Toronto, you'd be like,
"Oh, yeah, that guy."
-I'm Cashman!
I'll turn any gold into cash.
-A pawn shop kind of guy.
-Has those, like, really kitschy commercials.
-The Cashman. -I'm the Cashman.
-♪ I'm the Cashman ♪
-All this booty on hand.
And he's got -- You know, he's flashing the cash.
-Lots and lots of cash.
Cash, and more cash.
-At the end, he would say, "Oh, yeah."
-"Oh, yeah." -Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah. -"Oh, yeah."
-Oh, yeah. -"Oh, yeah".
-Oh, yeah.
-Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Is he still alive?
-You know, when I know that somebody recognizes me,
I get an endorphin rush.
If I would have had another life,
I would have, you know, been a movie star.
I got the cash.
Do you guys want some cash?
-The downside is that he's known for cash for gold,
and it's harder to get the public
to now associate him with buying
luxury goods as well.
-I know that there was some weird stuff.
He got kind of implicated in something.
-Are you perhaps rethinking your Cashman persona
just on tackiness alone?
-No.
I've never been scared to change.
I've always changed, and not slowly.
I can change on a dime.
I don't want the street in the shot.
We're all going to die,
but the business can live on forever.
-I'm Russell Oliver,
and I am the Cashman.
Oh, yeah!
♪♪
Okay, so here, we have an area that's established
where all of the merchandise comes from all the locations.
These cameras show all the locations at all times.
You see a customer here in Oakville.
This is mine. I have my Bachelor of Arts.
Graduated, but I never went to classes.
I had a discotheque.
For those days, the late '60s,
I was making, like, $3,000 $4,000 for myself every week.
I mean, that's like saying $30,000, $50,000 these days.
And I blew it all. I blew it all.
But I went from the nightclub into the jewelry business,
and I couldn't afford to buy the jewelry business.
The guys wanted $12,000. You'd think I'd have it,
you know, just a few weeks of working.
But no, no, no, no. I blew it all
on drugs and girls and gambling.
Oh, we used to play throughout the night. We'd play poker and,
oh, man, it was a beautiful time.
I started in 1971, and I knew nothing about jewelry.
In the beginning, I was doing the fliers
on the street and benches. I did bench advertising.
I was always very creative on advertising,
but it wasn't enough.
I had to make more money than that to support four kids.
And then one day, I decided to go on television.
Hello, I'm Russell Oliver of Oliver Jewelry,
and I pay cash for your used jewelry.
Made a $20,000 investment. That was a lot for those days.
It turned out to be quite exciting and quite relevant.
Come on down to Oliver's.
Have fun. Let's make a deal.
There's no fool's gold at this here mine.
Only cold, hard cash.
I am the easiest, fastest loan arranger in town.
Come and see me, Russell Oliver.
Let's have fu.
When I went on television, there was lineups.
Right away, they were lineups. It was very busy.
I got the cash, and I'm coming out there.
Do you guys want some cash?
[ Cheers and applause ]
Justin, what year was WrestleMania?
Do you remember? '98 or '99?
-'98. The late '90s.
-They said, "Bring some cash and you'll go up and down
the aisles handing out cash."
-They came at us and they started grabbing all the cash.
-Oh, right, right, right, right, right, right.
-And you were holding onto the cash
and you were running through. -I had to hold it real tight.
Alright. We got to go around this way.
It was such a thrill to get that kind of fame.
I have four sons -- Justin, Jordan, Jared. and Jonas.
This is all four of them. Now, don't ask me who is who.
They're all presently working in the business,
and so is my wife, Barbara.
No, she will not be on camera under any circumstances.
It's impossible to get a picture of her.
Even the family don't have pictures of her.
She can be very embarrassed.
Of course, she has very good boundaries,
healthy boundaries.
I have very unhealthy boundaries.
This is Janice. She does the refurbishing of bags.
This is Fatima. She does the photography.
And this is where Justin works.
He does a lot of work at home, too,
because, unlike me, he loves his family.
[ Chuckles ]
Tongue in cheek.
Now I'm at a stage in my life where I'm kind of retired,
you know, just keep my finger in the company,
but kind of retired.
Anyway, this is where I worked up
until a couple of months ago, and then I went away.
And not only Justin took over my job,
but he eliminated my job in terms of automating
everything and more upscale and more high end
and more ethical.
Oh, I'm so happy with it.
I'm so happy that they've taken over, number one,
and I'm so happy that the company has gone
in a different direction.
-I just started, just a couple of years ago.
It's kind of embarrassing,
but I don't get embarrassed, though, you know?
Like, I just don't get embarrassed.
But my boys are embarrassed and Barbara's most embarrassed.
You know, I was always somebody, as a child brought up
in South Africa, that sought fame.
I always wanted to be famous before rich.
Wherever I go in Canada, for sure, people know me,
but especially Toronto. I actually like it.
I actually like it, and I've never gotten tired of that.
-I've just always grown up with people
coming up to my dad and saying,
"Oh, hey, Cashman, how's it going?"
They grew up watching him and they're nostalgic for him
and it's just something they're like,
"Wow, you're a real person."
And it's always interesting to see.
-This is the office where I did most of my paperwork.
This is a picture of 1984.
Two kids came in with guns and they robbed me.
Okay. So we're at Cumberland Street.
We were here from 1975 until 1991.
I guess around 1984,
11:00 in the morning, two guys came in with guns.
My staff scurried through the back, up the stairs
to go to the rooftop,
but I stayed alone with these two guys.
First guy shot the gun
and the bullet went past my head into the wall.
I didn't realize until later that it was so close.
It could have just gone over a little bit
and I would have been dead.
Then they pull out a crowbar
and they smash the glass with a crowbar.
That scared me way more than the gun with a bullet
because the noise,
and they started grabbing rings and putting them in the bag.
And as they're grabbing, I'm pushing them away,
and the other guy said, "Shoot him, shoot him."
And I could see he wasn't going to shoot me.
So I chased after them.
And as they got to the door, I grabbed one guy because
they were on a motorcycle or about to hop on it.
We started struggling for the bag.
I went for the bag and the guy pulled out the gun.
Now, rather than struggle for the bag,
I was struggling for the gun, until finally, it went off
and shot a bullet right through my foot,
which was, you know, a little painful. It stung.
I still tried to chase them, but I couldn't,
and they drove off.
So I was close. Very close.
Then they operated and it was beautiful
because I got the nicest drugs you could ever imagine.
Oh, was I high. Oh, my God. I didn't feel anything.
Operation, nothing. It was just wonderful.
The truth is, I was very excited
about going to the hospital and getting drugs
and getting on the front page again, the publicity.
I was on the front page of the newspapers.
I was the lead story on the news that night.
I just crave that. I crave the excitement.
I crave the highs.
Russell Oliver, and I pay cash to hundreds of customers a week.
Oh, yeah. Over a thousand people each week come to me
with their unwanted gold, jewelry, Rolexes...
-This is your first "Oh, yeah."
This is the first time you ever said "Oh, yeah"
in a commercial. -Oh, is it?
That's what this one is. Yeah.
It came from "Seinfeld". Kramer.
He said that and he said it like that.
"Oh, yeah."
I mostly buy your gold and diamond jewelry,
but now I'll pay top dollar for your sterling silver jewelry.
Oh, yeah.
You see the evolution of the "Oh, yeah."
I always believed in a lot of body language.
I'll bet you think that I'm Russell Oliver.
But when you see me in my store...
I'm Cashman!
I'll turn any gold, even broken or scrapped jewelry, into cash.
That was the best, and was so well noticed
that Warner Bros. in Hollywood noticed it
and they sued us for $300,000.
But it turned out to be the best publicity
that we've gotten so far on.
I don't think anything has been better publicity than that.
It was all over the world.
♪ I'm the Cashman ♪
♪ I'll give you money for your... ♪
We were used to spending a few thousand and a production team
of 2 or 3 people at the most.
I write them, and we get the commercial out there very fast.
Oh, yeah.
-And that one really was the most exciting
and the most referenced one.
And people always refer to it as the Dancing Girls.
Last year, after the virus,
Justin decided that we should go high end.
Cash. Cash. Cash. Oh, yeah.
For your gold, diamonds, watches, handbags.
Oh, yeah!
-♪ I'm the Cashman ♪
♪ I'll give you money for your... ♪
-That was $100,000 for very high end, professional dancers.
To me, they weren't as attractive as the original four,
but I was younger then and now,
most things are not attractive to me, so...
[ Applause ]
-Hi, know are you? Welcome to Oliver Jewelry.
I'm Russell Oliver. I buy your jewelry.
Princess Di. That was cool.
-That went on, and then she died.
-And it was on a weekend that she died,
and I had to try and cancel it because of the bad PR,
and they were all closed at the TV stations.
I couldn't get ahold of anybody.
So the whole weekend, it ran alongside
with her funeral and stuff.
-You know what we should do tomorrow?
You should say, "I'm the Classman,"
and you should wear, like, an ascot or something.
You know an ascot? Like, something fancy,
something classy.
Something, like, over the top classy.
-Yeah. -I mean, you could even have,
like, a monocle or something.
-Yeah, well, that, I don't know.
-[ Laughs ] We'll dress you up like Mr. Peanut.
-Yeah.
-It's been quite challenging to transition the brand
to more of a luxury brand because our original advertising
was so crass and so in your face.
It worked really well for what we were doing at the time,
which was just cash for gold.
But in terms of selling Louis Vuitton and Maze
and Chanel and Cartier jewelry and expensive stuff,
people don't associate those crass commercials with that.
So how can we tell them we've transitioned from Cashman
to high end brands?
So I thought, "How about Classman?"
So we're going to try it tomorrow.
In the commercial, he's going to say,
"I'm in Yorkville, so I'm now the Classman."
And, you know, he'll dress up more than
in his normal commercial and we'll have
the beautiful Yorkville scenery, and we'll see how it goes.
-Classman. I have become the Class Man.
I have to stretch that.
-The Classman. -The Class Man.
-It's like Cashman, but Classman.
-Yeah, but it sounds like cash or clash or something.
So it's got to be...
-Classman. -Yeah. Class.
Class Man. -Classman.
-Class Man. -Classman.
-Something like that. And just name the brands.
You know, it's going to be an easy, simple commercial.
No more blasting the Cashman all over the place,
and it's not necessary. Fine.
Just good the way it is now, just phasing out very nicely.
Smooth.
I was going to use this. Okay. Come in, guys. Come in.
-So I went over the top fancy.
How do you make it look very fancy?
-And yet, you still want -- -But more fancy.
Like, over the top. -Tom would know.
It's going to be busy with the jacket, but who cares?
-No, no, actually, it'll look very, very nice.
-Oh, okay.
But they don't sell ascots anymore, eh?
Nobody has them, really.
-I haven't seen ascots in the longest time.
-Yeah.
-I'm not sure -- I prefer the scarf.
-Yeah. Well, we'll take a picture.
And you prefer what scarf? This?
-Yeah. I preferred what you have.
-I prefer the scarf too.
I don't think... -I don't like that.
-Let's see. How would you do the scarf?
-I wouldn't do anything.
-Do you think that looks formal, eh?
Because we want to make it as formal as possible.
-This is the same idea. -Yeah, kind of.
Yeah. An ascot would be better, but anyway...
I want to spend five seconds showing the outside
at the very beginning, but I don't want to waste
15 seconds or 5 seconds crossing the road.
-Okay. -What for?
I definitely consider myself a showman.
I mean, obviously, a lot of people do commercials,
but they don't go way out like I do,
and they don't put their whole body and soul into it,
and they don't consider it a performance.
Oh, you took out "I am Russell Oliver."
You took out "I am Russell Oliver"?
This commercial will be done in a very calm,
not a raised voice, a different image now.
You know, we're going upscale now.
Hopefully be the exact opposite is my goal.
Okay, you ready?
-Three, two, one.
-Hello. Now that I'm in Yorkville,
I am changed my name to --
I'm the -- Fuck. I got...
-Start again.
-Hello. Now that I'm in the heart of Yorkville,
I am the Ca-- I am the --
Jesus Christ. Alright, start again.
All of a sudden, there'll be ten big trucks.
This guy in their way.
Jesus Christ.
It's probably close to my 100th shoot.
But the problem is, as I get older and older,
I can't memorize anymore.
Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Tiffany, Rolex,
and -- Oh.
I used to be able to memorize a 60-second spot.
Then I got older and it was a 30-second spot.
Then I got older and it was a 15,
which I had no problem with.
Hermes Birkin's and Kelly's
Look rich, stay Rich, all that nonsense now. I can't...
Now, today I can't even memorize the 15.
It's so hard,
and you wouldn't be crossing a fucking street.
I don't want the street in the shot.
-That's fine. That's fine.
-It looks so good just where you are.
It looks great crossing the street.
Okay. Just where you are. Look in the camera.
-I really wanted to slow down,
show a relaxed Cashman, Classman, whatever.
But it's against my nature
so much that I just couldn't help myself.
I had to go fast to get those 40 words in 15 seconds.
Don't just look rich. Stay rich.
88 Yorkville, baby. Oh, yeah.
-Perfect. Time?
-18:56. -That's too long.
-Too long. -I'm satisfied with it.
It was all very good. I'm glad that we did it today
because we're almost a year at this location.
So finally, we did a commercial.
Cashman is definitely a character. It's a persona.
It's not me, really. It's my persona.
-Cecil Schwartz. -Oh, Cecil. How are you?
Oh, there's no handshakes anymore.
-No. Sorry. -Oh, yeah.
-My wife, Linda. -Oh, hi, Linda.
-But when I know that somebody recognizes me or uses my name
or I'm famous, I get an endorphin rush,
something that I identify with
and something that I really like.
Yeah. You're from Toronto? -Yeah.
-How are you? -I've seen your commercials.
-Yeah, that's right. Cashman.
-How are you doing? -How are you? Hi.
It's nice to have people, you know, admire you and say,
"Oh, thank you for what you do
for the city and your commercials. We love them."
-I saw the new store. Looks great.
Yeah. Oh, thank you so much.
-Well, nice to see you. I love the touch with the cigar.
-Oh, yeah. Thanks.
-Take care. -Classy.
And it's nice. They get a thrill out of it.
You know, people enjoy that.
I enjoy watching people enjoy that.
Have you been in Toronto all your life?
You've probably seen me since you were a kid.
-Oh, yeah. -Yeah.
-Cash in hands and "Oh, yeah."
-Oh, yeah. -Oh, yeah.
-Do you guys think that Russell is a legend in Toronto?
-A legend? -I think a legend is a stretch.
I think he's a tack man. Tacky man.
-Cashman. -Tacky.
You're the Cashman. -Now I'm Classman.
Class. No, we're changing that to Classman.
We opened at 88 Yorkville Avenue.
-I know, I know, I know.
-Upscale merchandise. Upscale. And me,
I wear a jacket now, and I've become classy. Cigars.
I'd like to say I don't care,
and sometimes, I'll behave in a manner
that looks like I don't care.
But the truth is, of course I care. I do.
If people say bad things, that kind of hurts, you know?
Obviously, in retirement,
this is where I will be spending most of my time.
Here, when I swim, I usually go naked.
I'm not going to do that for you, but...
I don't think they can see over there.
Nobody can see it, but I go naked in the pool
because it's a nice feeling of freedom, you know?
The depression didn't come from anything reasonable.
You know, people are depressed because of something
maybe sometimes, but also just depressed.
Just depressed, you know? Oh, nobody would believe it.
Nobody would believe it. But they don't know what I know.
Nobody can know what I know. Nobody can feel what I feel.
But I was so busy and it was not a priority
and I wasn't thinking about it. I may have had it all my life,
but I recognized it a few months ago
as being, like, ten out of ten depression,
like, it was so bad and so painful
and I was always in a bad mood and bitchy
and, you know, terrible, terrible, terrible.
I could just say to myself, "I'll go the rest of my life,
which can't be very long.
What could it be? Five, ten years?
I could just go miserable like that and wallow in the shit
that I'm in, you know, and just stay depressed,
stay down, not enjoy anything, or I can go and change it."
And at this stage, it might be hilarious to some people,
but I don't care. I'm going to try it.
Fortunately, because of my boys being in the business,
I could do it.
So my exercise in the pool consists of this, basically.
It was like a clinic
where people went down there for six weeks.
We gave up our phones, we gave up our computers.
We had no connection to the outside world.
It taught us how to connect better with people,
family, friends, and to have a better life.
But for me, what I got most out of it
was the fact that I now can relax.
Between the work that I did and the medication
that I received, just totally lifted,
and it lifted to the extent where today, I can walk around
and if nobody recognizes me,
you know, so they don't. So who cares?
You know, it doesn't really matter.
That doesn't matter anymore.
But sometimes, somebody will say,
"Who are you?" And I'll say,
"You don't know Cashman?
You don't watch TV?" "No, I don't watch TV."
You know, people say, "I read a lot. I don't watch TV.
TV's for dumb people. So I don't know who you are.
What are you?" You know what I mean?
If you've been in Ontario for a year or two,
but five or 10 or 20 years, you don't know who I am,
you're full of shit.
Hello. Now that I'm in Yorkville,
I am the Classman. Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Tiffany,
Rolex. You name it, we've got it.
Look rich, stay rich. 88 Yorkville, baby. Oh, yeah.