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Obit: Stan Freberg, 88

Sad, sad news. Freberg is one of my greatest comedic influences. My father got me hooked with the entire run of Freberg's radio show on cassette when I was a kid, and that naturally expanded into his other ventures: the comedy albums, the voice acting, the commercials, and all the rest. The man was a true satirical genius, able to turn any topic into fodder for comedy and good-natured mockery, the latter being something severely lacking in today's climate. It takes a sense of humor to make something funny. It takes talent to make something funny while still being (mostly) kind about it. Stan had the talent unlike anyone else before or since.
 
Stan Freberg, Dies at 88

Stan Freberg, acclaimed satirist died at 88. He did many commericals as well - some famous local companies - think Salada Tea was one of them. Callled his company, Freberg, Limited but not very". He also scewered dangerous politicians like Tailgunner, Joe McCarthy (R) Wisc. the drunken Republican US Senator who began the blacklisting of suspected Communists without any proof in the early 1950's. Stan Freberg's record was called, "Point of Order"
 
I discovered who Stan Freberg was through The Dr. Demento Show, although I know I probably heard or saw his material before that and didn’t know who he was. I’ve always loved Green Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5IXlfJSEi4&list=RDI5IXlfJSEi4 and Christmas Dragnet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1vJ4sXetw4&list=RDI5IXlfJSEi4&index=2 and my daughter loves his version of I’m Getting Nuttin’ for Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br-__2KMd7U I discovered more of his material over the years after that.

I just recently discovered downloads of Stan Freberg’s radio shows from the 50’s here: http://www.radioechoes.com/stan-freberg-show?searchTerms=stan freberg#.VSS7UpV0zIU I had downloaded several other shows from this website recently, but these shows are definitely going to the top of the list. RIP Stan
 
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I've been sharing a story he told late one night while a guest of Tom Snyder's "Late Late Show" about one of the television commercials.

The cigarette brand Lark had a series of commercials in which they drove down the street in a truck with the sign "show us your Lark package" on the side and edited together the results from those who complied. The audio for same was the William Tell Overture. Freberg satirized the ciggie spot in the commercial he did for Jeno's Pizza Rolls, except it was set at a fancy dress reception and the concept was "show us your pizza roll". The audio was the William Tell Overture.

Near the end of the commercial, two Madison-Avenue types in grey pinstripe suits, brandishing cigarette packs looking suspiciously like Larks, tell the host of the party they want to talk to him about his choice of music. Pan right, and there are Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels, in costume as the Lone Ranger and Tonto, with Moore telling the ad men "funny ... we wanted to talk to you about the same thing." (Tonto: "Pizza roll, kemosabe?")

The spot was a big hit, except that CBS wanted a waiver from Silverheels about playing a "stereotypical Indian" before they would air it. Freberg's response? "But he's Tonto!" Nevertheless, the network insisted so he trotted over to Jay's house to get the waiver. Silverheels' response? "But I'm Tonto!"

The punch line: At the time, CBS owned the syndication rights to the Lone Ranger television series.

The commercial was included on the VHS videocassette in the Stan Freberg box set Rhino released some 15 years or so back, which also had four CDs of his commercial releases (including "The United States of America") and some of his radio advertising work. I'll have to pull it out and listen to it all again tomorrow.
 
Times were different then..his record company squashed a spoof of Arthur Godfrey,That's Right Arthur because they didn't want to offend him (it does appear on Tip of the Freberg box set).1960 single Green Chri$tma$ satirized the over-commercialization of the holiday yet stations feared offending sponsors ("Tiny Tim chestnuts roast hot,like a chestnut ought...AND..they are MILD,mild,mild...") In the 90s he had a song about how Monica Lewinsky,Tara Lipinski and Theodore Kazinski's names all rhymed (w clip of Hillary saying "it's a vast right wing conspiracy")The Conspiraski Theory- Stan Freberg:
https://youtu.be/PSIlWUrG0-Y
 
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One of a kind, and one of the all-time greats. I always enjoyed his spoofs of pop records from the 50's, whether it was Mitch Miller (The Yellow Rose of Texas,) the Platters (The Great Pretender,) Les Paul & Mary Ford (The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise,) Harry Belafonte (Day-O!) or best of all, Elvis (Heartbreak Hotel.) He ushered musical parody out of the baggy-pants clowning of Spike Jones into a more modern, satirical vein; and was obviously the major influence on his modern-day counterpart Al Yankovic.
 
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I've read where Freberg's parodies didn't sit too well with Arthur Godfrey or Lawrence Welk, but that Jack Webb had a great sense of humor about the Dragnet parodies and actually let Stan use the real theme music.
 
Stan Freberg dead at 88

Stan Freberg has died. Those of us who were regular listeners to Jim Healy's sportscasts know that one of Healy's most-played sound bites was Freberg mimicking Lawrence Welk's "A-wunnerful, a-wunnerful!" Here is what I wrote for a radio fanzine:

Stan Freberg died April 7 at a Santa Monica hospital. He was 88 and had suffered from several age-related ailments, including pneumonia. Born in Pasadena, Freberg cited Jack Benny, Fred Allen and Norman Corwin as his inspirations. He began doing voice work for Warner Brothers in 1944 and supplied animal sounds for CBS Radio's Sunday-morning children's program Tell It Again. In the late 1940s, he performed stand-up routines with the Red Fox & His Musical Hounds comedy orchestra, then teamed with former Warner Brothers animation director Bob Clampett to create the Time For Beany puppet show for KTLA-Channel 5. The Emmy Award-winning series aired for five years and featured Freberg as the voice of Dishonest John and Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent. Daws Butler voiced Beany and Captain Huffenpuff. Freberg also provided the voice of Junyer Bear in the 1948 Looney Tunes cartoon What's Brewin', Bruin and portrayed the wolf, all three pigs and the singing narrator in the 1957 cartoon Three Little Bops. He voiced Beaver in Disney's Lady & The Tramp (1955) and portrayed a baby bear in Looney Tunes Back In Action (2003).

Freberg began recording musical parodies in 1950. His hits included the soap opera parody John & Marsha, a parody of Johnnie Ray's Cry titled Try, a Dragnet parody titled St. George & The Dragonet and a Lawrence Welk parody titled Wun'erful Wun'erful. His 1960 recording of Green Chri$tma$ criticized the commercialization of the holiday. In 1958, Freberg opened an ad agency, Freberg Ltd. His slogan was "More honesty than the client had in mind" and the agency's motto was "Ars Gratia Pecuniae" ("Art for the sake of money"). Among his clients were Heinz Soups, Chun King Chow Mein, Contadina Tomato Paste and Jeno's Frozen Pizza. Freberg's radio and television ads earned him 21 Clio awards. His 1961 satirical album Stan Freberg Presents The United States Of America was followed 35 years later with a sequel, Stan Freberg Presents The United States Of America, Volume 2: The Middle Years. Freberg's 1988 autobiography was titled It Only Hurts When I Laugh. A 1966 episode of The Monkees which featured Freberg as an efficiency expert who wanted to replace an elderly toymaker with animation can be seen on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQlpQ2TBFg8
 
Remember Freberg’s parody of Harry Belafonte's Banana Boat? A song was being recorded in a studio but the singer’s shouts of “day-o” were too loud so he was forced to go out in the hallway. Then he discovered that he was locked out. There was a loud crash of breaking glass and he explained, "I come through the window." You can hear the song at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-9h1pjTP74
 
Being a radio site, it is appropriate to feature Stan Freberg's famous Why Radio is Special over Television routine [the one about filling Lake Michigan with hot chocolate and having an avalanche of melted marshmellow with a 22 ton cherry being dropped into it by the Royal Canadian Air Force] . It takes 60 seconds. The Radio Industry used this for years to promote radio advertising. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPbvFv6BJvU
 
K.M. Richards said:
I've been sharing a story he told late one night while a guest of Tom Snyder's "Late Late Show" about one of the television commercials.

The cigarette brand Lark had a series of commercials in which they drove down the street in a truck with the sign "show us your Lark package" on the side and edited together the results from those who complied. The audio for same was the William Tell Overture. Freberg satirized the ciggie spot in the commercial he did for Jeno's Pizza Rolls, except it was set at a fancy dress reception and the concept was "show us your pizza roll". The audio was the William Tell Overture.

Near the end of the commercial, two Madison-Avenue types in grey pinstripe suits, brandishing cigarette packs looking suspiciously like Larks, tell the host of the party they want to talk to him about his choice of music. Pan right, and there are Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels, in costume as the Lone Ranger and Tonto, with Moore telling the ad men "funny ... we wanted to talk to you about the same thing." (Tonto: "Pizza roll, kemosabe?")

The spot was a big hit, except that CBS wanted a waiver from Silverheels about playing a "stereotypical Indian" before they would air it. Freberg's response? "But he's Tonto!" Nevertheless, the network insisted so he trotted over to Jay's house to get the waiver. Silverheels' response? "But I'm Tonto!"

The punch line: At the time, CBS owned the syndication rights to the Lone Ranger television series.

The commercial was included on the VHS videocassette in the Stan Freberg box set Rhino released some 15 years or so back, which also had four CDs of his commercial releases (including "The United States of America") and some of his radio advertising work. I'll have to pull it out and listen to it all again tomorrow.
Click to expand...

He refused to take Cigarette manufacturers as clients.
 
You know what's truly beautiful about that sketch? Freberg was sticking it to the network censors because they'd been fighting him on social and political content from the very beginning, and the sketch itself was titled "CBS Censor," but you'll notice that in the script, it was changed to "a censor from the Citizen's Radio Committee." Apparently the censors didn't like the fact that he was taking potshots at their stupidity, so they dug their heels in and got more stupider. But that's not even the best part. The best part is that Stan had the last laugh. The sketch was wildly popular, and it was one of the most requested sketches to be repeated in the final episode of the show. CBS can NOT have been happy about that, but what the hell were they gonna do, fire him again?
 
Today on LARadio.com, Don Barrett ran my Stan Freberg obituary (previous page). I had mentioned the Monkees episode in which Freberg wanted to replace a toymaker with animation. Of course I meant "automation." Sorry, Stan!
 
Freberg created the "Who put eight great tomatoes in that little bitty can?" ad campaign for Contadina Tomato Sauce. A hilarious 1964 Mad magazine parody for "Concertina Tomato Sauce" showed a chef trying to hammer eight tomatoes into a can that resembled a concertina:

http://www.madcoversite.com/mad084.html
 
What can I say about him? His "Green Christmas," which parodied the crass commercialism of Christmas was banned by many radio stations across the world in the 50s. And his "Prince" parody for Prince Spaghetti Sauce in 1984 caused the artist named Prince to go ballistic! I love that guy and I miss him. Thanks, Stan!
 
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