1. My name is really John. I was born John Steven Kordich on August 26th, 1923. The name Jay came to be because when i first started to do television back in the 1950s, the announcer called me J. the Juiceman. He thought J. sounded better. (shortened from John) and so it stuck. That's when I changed my name to Jay Kordich.
2. I didn't speak a word of english until I was about 7 or 8 years old. My parents, up until they died, spoke broken english because we were from an island called Vis, Yugoslavia.
3. Unlike my wild lectures, tv and radio interviews, I am actually quite shy, very private, quiet and reserved.
4. My wife, children and old friends from the 1940s would all tell you that I wouldn't say S___ if my mouth was full of it.
5. My father died, peacefully from "overeating at a party" at the age of 103. My mother died less than a year later, from a broken heart at the age of 98. I grew up in San Pedro, (Los Angeles Harbor) California.
6. In 1948, after I contracted cancer and got well, I was homeless. I learned to live off the streets in New York City until I could afford an apartment. I learned to make a living back then, giving private juicing demonstrations door to door with the Norwalk Juicer.
7. In 1955 I helped a company from Germany called the Perfect Juicer design the first pulp ejector ever designed. Before then, the only kinds of juicers you could buy were either the Norwalk/Champion or the Acme(where the pulp spun around and around and around). Nowadays people call pulp ejectors (Centrifugal) but in truth, they were really called pulp ejectors for many decades.
8. In 1962 President Kennedy came to visit me at a health food store in Washington D.C. for a private juice demonstration. He stayed for 15 minutes and then ordered many dozen for his friends and family. When he left, he said: "Keep up the good work Juiceman".
9. In the 60s I used to work at the National Health Convention for many decades. This is where I worked, side by side with Adelle Davis, Paavo Airola, Bernard Jensen as well as Paul Bragg and Gypsy Boots. These are people, who, unfortunately are not living anymore but have inspired me, including of course Dr. Walker and Dr. Gerson, who cured me of cancer.
10. In the early 70s, I lived in Chicago. I met Harry Chapin at one of those Beatnik coffee houses where he was singing. We became friends and used to spend hours talking through the night about music, love and the mysteries of life. (He wrote Cat's in the Cradle and the song, Taxi). He was a really good man.
11. Back in the late 70s, I met Gloria Swanson, while demonstrating at a health food store in Hollywood. She was very charming and interesting to meet. She bought several juicers from me as she was highly interested in health.
12. In 1970, I was demonstrating juicing in Hanna Kroeger's health food store in Denver Colorado, and while doing so, I met Mo Siegel and Peggy. They were gathering lots of herbs for their new visionary herbal tea company called: Celestial Seasonings. Mo worked for me, helping to teach others about juicing so he could continue his dream. They ended up becoming great friends. Now Celestial Seasonings is worldwide, and the largest tea company in the world.
13. In 1978, I was at the Hollywood Park in Los Angeles, waiting in line to bet on a horse I wanted to win. An elderly woman in front of me was taking a long time to make her bet and some young men were yelling at her to get out of the way. I turned around and told them to pick on somebody their own size. One of the guys threw a beer in my face, and the three other ones tackled me. I fought them off as best as I could. They were arrested. That night I woke up in the middle of the night and lost the vision in my eye. I had suffered a retina detachment which has kept me about 85% blinded in that eye ever since.
14. In 1979, after a big breakup with an old girlfriend, I drove my volkswagen van down to Tijuana and lived on the beach for 2 years growing a long beard and mustache. I lived on fresh fruits, veggie juices and nuts and seeds.
15. In 1994, Doubleday Publishers called me up, asking me to do a sequel to my first book, The Juiceman's Power of Juicing. The editor who was anxious to work with me was Jackie Kennedy. I was thrilled to work with her, hoping she would remember me from the 60s but by the time we got into contract discussions, she had left Doubleday and died a few months later.
16. I have owned many race horses in my lifetime. After Juicing being #1 in my life, horses became my second passion in life. Unfortunately, I had to give it up because of the drugging of horses and abuse of training horses.
17. I've never been admitted to a hospital for health reasons, nor have I ever taken any kind of medication prescribed by a doctor. The only prescriptions I take are from Nature: sunshine, organic foods and juices, nuts, seeds and greens. The last checkup from last year gave me a perfect clean bill of health. Heart, lungs, liver all in great shape.
18. In 1994, Jim Carrey did several spoofs on me on the tv show: In Living Color. After the first show aired, he rang me and Linda up and said, now that I've made you famous, can you please send us some of those darned juicers???? Of course we sent out many juicers to all the Wayans brothers and Jim too. The day after that show aired, I walked our two boys to the bus stop, and each window opened up, with kids yelling at me: Hey, there's the Juiceman! (I guess I had on one of my warm-up suits on). That day changed my life, inspiring millions of people to start to learn about juicing.
19. in 2008, Linda and I lost our savings/pension/
20. In 1965 I was working at a health food store, teaching people about juicing when a woman who was very pale, wearing grey during my entire week's stay, would sit in the back, listening but never asking any questions. On the last day, while I was cleaning up, and as everyone left, she came up to me and told me gently that I was never to feel forlorn, lost or depressed because my mission in life was a very important one. At that time, I was leading a very lonely life, traveling from city to city, not really resting my laurels anywhere but in hotels or in the back of my van. This went on for decades. I thanked her for what she said, and as soon as I turned around to put my juicer into my traveling bag, she was gone. Her words changed my life and I am very grateful to her for helping to inspire me to keep on working hard, trying to share the beauty and healing powers of fresh juicing. I think she was an angel.
I've had a very juicy, fulfilling, and somewhat traumatic life, but I would do it again in a heartbeat! Just remember, life is beautiful and each day is a gift. Make each day rewarding by helping someone else, by taking care of you and/or your loved ones and eat well. What you think about and what you eat determines how healthy you are going to be. Fresh organic foods and juices are vital to our health, but so is how we treat ourselves and others.
I pray that your dreams throughout your life is as rewarding as mine has been! All my healthy best to you,
Jay Kordich [the Juiceman]
[via facebook]
see also Max Gerson [including this]
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