Delco signmaker’s biz could be next reality TV show
When David Martino of Newtown Square was growing up in West Philadelphia’s Overbrook Park section, he had no idea that his graffiti work would one day turn into anything special. Now, as the owner of a successful sign business he’s hoping to tackle the television world.
Martino, owner of Martino Signs, has teamed up with filmmaker Chris Raab, better known by his TV name Raab Himself and for his work on the television show “Jackass.” The pair are hoping to put together a reality television show — working title, “The Great Martino.”
The show will deal with sign making, but will focus more on the interaction between Martino, his sons and the other people working at the business. Raab, a West Chester native, equates it with the shows “American Chopper” or “Pawn Stars.”
“What attracted me to him was the stuff that he does with his boys – the family element of what this business is all about,” Raab said during a recent interview at Martino’s shop in Yeadon, Delaware County.
Raab said some of what he has seen is reminiscent of the shows he’s done like Jackass and the later show, Viva La Bam.
“Seeing [Martino’s home] videos — it kind of reminded me of us [of ‘Jackass’],” Raad said. “Like a video where Dave is looking at the camera and saying, ‘Hey it’s Father’s Day and I wanted to wish the kids Happy Father’s Day.’ So he pulled his garden hose through the window of their bedrooms and sprayed them to wake them up. So it was funny and familiar, like from Jackass, and I could relate to that. That got me interested and made me say, ‘I want to work with this dude and I want to capture what is going on around here.’”
Martino said he has been a single dad to his three sons for many years, after his former wife left the family. Early on he was forced to work out of his home in Newtown Square to get the sign business off the ground. As the business grew, he opened up in a larger facility in Yeadon.
Going from those early days as a graffiti artist, Martino said, “I was really good and people hired me to do their store signs. I learned every aspect of the sign industry.”
One of his early projects was for the National Children’s Museum in National Harbor, Md., that has since closed.
“When they opened, they gave us a month and we did the entire city block,” Martino recalled. Along with a sign above the front entrance, he also did all the graphics and paintings on the first floor of the building. There was also a statue of Big Bird that was near the front entrance that he designed and built.
“When they came to me with the Big Bird it was originally just a cutout on the wall,” Martino said. But museum officials wanted it pulled away from the building and Martino said it had to be a statue because small kids would be climbing and hanging on it.
For the Big Bird, he had to excavate the brick that had already been put down, put down two cubic yards of concrete with sleeves and rebar to mount it and then the area had he said.
Next, he said, they had to make the structural steel that went on the inside of the bird and do the fiberglass on the outside.
“People asked if we make banners and stickers – yes, we make banners and stickers but we make so much more,” Martino said. “Our trade in the construction industry is completely different than anyone else’s.” What makes it different, he said is that they have to know everything – electrical, engineering, building, design work – he’s even had to write computer programs for some of his signs.
Martino said that his talent gives him confidence and makes him a showman.
“Because I do all of these trades, I have a very, very large ego. I call myself the Great Martino,” he said.
The showmanship along with the relationship between Martino and his sons is a big part of why Raab thinks the show can be a hit.
One of Martino’s side projects on which he’s currently working with one of his sons is reconfiguring the frame of a Ford F-150 and the body of an old Woodie station wagon that will become what they’ve started calling a Monster Woodie. “It’s something I do with my kids,” Martino said. “I’ve always done stuff with them and I always try to teach them talents and the fun projects. Joey [Martino], 17, learned how to weld, he learned how to pick wrenches – he learned while he was having fun and I’ve done that with all my boys.”
His stepson, Steven Dioguardi, 27, runs his service to be repaved, truck every day and installs signs and fixes signs. His son David, 21, comes in every day and runs a lot of the machinery and equipment in the Yeadon shop.
Raab said as he got into meetings with Martino, he learned not only about how complicated the sign business is but the other things he does like building the Monster Woodie with his sons. “And then I started seeing videos of him with his kids,” Raab said recalling the garden hose stunt.
Raab said he’s been working on a few show ideas but this one is a little different.
“On the other shows, we were trying to create something, and on this one, we are trying to capture what is already here,” he said. “There’s already a lot of fun stuff going on. It’s a lot of hard work going on but it’s a lot of fun, too, and it’s just the relationships between them. I just want to turn on the camera on and follow them around.”
In the pilot there scene were Martino is is a talking about the great work one of his installers is doing and the example he is setting for his sons. Then, when the camera turns to the installer, Quinn, there’s a set of “bleep, bleep, bleep” going on.
But, Raab added, there was still professionalism in Quinn. They were able to capture the signs getting finished for a CVS on time despite having to finish the job in the rain. The viewers will get to see that Martino and his workers are good at what they do, and how they work together, said Raab.
Raab said in the show you’re rooting for them to get the job done but at the same time, you are watching them have fun doing the work and the relationship between Dave, his sons and some of the other employees.
“It’s a family business and funny stuff just kind of happens,” Raab said.
Raab plans on shopping the show to networks this month and, if sold, it could be on TV in 6 to 12 months.