If You Want a Better Bedspread, Go See Al; If You Want a Better . . .

Call Al Greenwood the Cal Worthington of the boudoir.

The “Bedspread King,” dressed in a scarlet robe with fake fur collar that has seen better days and a cardboard crown with plastic jewels, is a fixture on late-night television ads.

He always wears his royal headgear at a rakish angle. “It’s racier that way,” says the Long Beach celebrity businessman.

The spry 85-year-old entrepreneur is marking his fifth year writing and producing his own ads, a task that began almost accidentally. In return for drapes he had made for Anaheim television station KDOC, he was given air time for 153 commercials.

He admits though that he has toned down their original exuberance. In his early days he once shared a bed with a comely model who cooed, “Ooh, it’s king size”--to which the octogenarian retorted: “You’re darn tootin’ it’s king size! It’s the biggest sale of bedspreads we’ve ever had!”

Greenwood also became king of bedspreads by accident. When he started to sell the items 30 years ago he wanted a new logo featuring a cartoon character of himself wrapped in a bedspread and sporting a cowboy hat. But when the artist gave him a crown instead of a cowboy hat, he hit the roof. “Too pretentious,” he complained.

In an effort to calm him, his wife, who has since died, asked, “What difference does it make? So you’ll be a king instead of a cowboy. What’s the difference?”