What famous product demonstration commercial had its start on West Shore Road?

Don’t answer yet!

How many Ginsu knives have been sold around the world since the first Ginsu commercial aired in 1978?

But, wait! There’s more!

What is the name of the small, hitherto unmarked slice of road between Bald Hill Road and Quaker Lane just past the La-Z-Boy showroom?

“It’s been 31 years since we took an unremarkable kitchen knife [called Eversharp] with a serrated blade and called it the ‘Ginsu,’” said Ed Valenti, the chief operating officer for PriMedia advertising on Bald Hill Road. “We used it to cut frozen vegetables, pineapples tree branches and soda cans and sold over 60 million knives.”

Valenti was speaking to a group of media sellers and other folks gathered to unveil the little green street sign that forever designates the short cut from Route 2 to the Kent County Courthouse “GINSU WAY” in honor of the men whose television commercials made “Don’t answer yet!” and “How much would you pay?” into enduring catch phrases and turned the Ginsu knife into a cultural icon and changed the way gadgets were marketed on television forever.

Ed Valenti began marketing the knives in 1978 with his partner Barry Becher and there are probably commercials for Ginsu knives playing somewhere in the world even today. The 1970s saw the remarkable rise in popularity of Oriental martial arts in America and the “Ginsu” name hinted at some secret ancient Asian potency forged into the knives. The success of the name could not have been anticipated by anyone at the time.

Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian was present for the naming ceremony at 1 p.m. on Friday.

“You may remember that we made a great deal about the fact that Lincoln was at the opening of the Pontiac Mills,” remarked Avedisian. “That turned out to be untrue. But we can forever boast about Warwick being the home of the Ginsu knife.”

State Rep. David A. Caprio (D-Narragansett) sponsored legislation that made the naming possible and he credited retired Warwick state Senator John Revens with getting the bill into consideration during the last minutes of his long career in the General Assembly.

No word yet about when the new name will be included in Google’s map database, but it will be on the stationary at PriMedia, which is at the intersection of 1775 Bald Hill Rd. and Ginsu Way.