Creator of iconic Pet Rock has died
Gary Dahl began national phenomenon
Over beers in a San Francisco Bay Area bar, Gary Dahl’s drinking buddies spewed tales about incontinent dogs, destructive cats, overly fecund gerbils and vacations foiled because no one could babysit the bird.
Everyone had problems with a pet except for Dahl, who claimed his was hasslefree. “I own a pet rock,” he quipped.
His friends cracked up and turned it into a running joke. Dahl laughed his way to the bank.
Dahl, who was 78 when he died last week in Jacksonville, Oregon, was the creator of the Pet Rock, one of the most successful gag gifts of all time. Although it was only sold during the three-month holiday buying season in 1975, it endures in pop culture history as the inane fad that resonated with the “Me Generation.”
Inspired by the riffs in the Los Gatos bar, Dahl, then an underemployed advertising copy writer, began writing a booklet modeled on dogtraining manuals. Soon he had pages full of such pearls of prudence and perception as what to do if a pet rock seems anxious: Place it on some old newspapers, he wrote, and the rock “will know what the paper is for and will require no further instruction.”
Teaming up with a designer, Dahl produced a cardboard carrying case complete with 14 air holes. On the outside was printed “This box contains one genuine pedigreed PET ROCK.” Inside was the instruction manual and a smooth Mexican beach stone on a bed of straw.
Dahl’s quirky brainchild became a phenomenon, selling more than one million Pet Rocks at $4 apiece. It hit the market at an opportune moment. A president had resigned, the Vietnam War had ended and the nation was ready for a giggle. “This takes them on a fantasy trip — you might say we’ve packaged a sense of humor,” Dahl told People magazine in 1975.
Besides his wife, Marguerite, who confirmed his death March 23 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Dahl is survived by two daughters and a son.
Although Dahl turned a rock into gold, the aftermath wasn’t all fun. Sued by two of his investors who accused him of shortchanging them, he wound up paying a six-figure settlement.