What do Albert Einstein and I have
in common?
Answer: We were both huge fans of a
children's puppet show called "Time For Beany," which ran on TV in
Los Angeles from 1949 to 1955.
And the comic genius who made
"Time For Beany" so funny was Stan Freberg - the voice of both
Beany's sidekick, Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent, and the villain, Dishonest John
- who died on April 7 at the age of 88.
The early 1950s were a Golden Age
for comedy. The old-timers like Bob Hope, Fred Allen and the funniest of them
all, Jack Benny, were still going strong; and coming up fast was a generation
of brilliant newcomers including Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, Ernie Kovacs, Jonathan
Winters, Tom Lehrer and Bob Newhart.
But Freberg was special, even among
that august company. After Beany he went on to make satirical records like "Green
Chri$tma$," starring an adman named Scrooge who wants to make as much
money off Christmas as possible; "St. George and the Dragonet," a takeoff
on "Dragnet" set in the Middle Ages, with Joe Friday (voiced by
Freberg in a perfect imitation of Jack Webb's clipped monotone) rescuing a maiden
from a dragon; and "Sh-Boom," a parody of rock'n'roll, with the
singer frantically stuffing rags into his mouth while the producer keeps
complaining that he can still understand some of the lyrics.
But his fans – including Paul
McCartney, Steven Spielberg, George Carlin, Penn Jillette (the talking half of
Penn & Teller) and Weird Al Yancovic, all of whom cited Freberg as a major
influence - considered his 1961 album, "Stan Freberg Presents the United
States of America," to be his masterpiece.
It tackled every hot-button issue
of the day, from the McCarthy Red Scare, with Ben Franklin worrying about being
hauled up before the Un-British Activities Committee if he signs the Declaration
of Independence, to liberal hypocrisy, with the Pilgrims singing "Take An
Indian To Lunch Today" ("Let's give in and all do the brotherhood bit/Just
make sure we don't make a habit of it.")
The Los Angeles Times called it
"the 'Sergeant Pepper' of comedy albums," and every listener poll
conducted by Doctor Demento has named it the greatest comedy album of all time.
But I think he reached even greater
heights when he went over to the Dark Side and started making commercials for the
same corporations he used to make fun of.
Guided by the motto Ars Gratia Pecuniae - Latin for
"Art For Money's Sake" - his production company, Freberg Ltd. (But
Not Very), turned out adsß for everyone from General Motors to the U.S. Army,
including:
Chun King Chow Mein: An unseen announcer
intones, "Nine out of ten doctors prefer Chun King Chow Mein" as the
camera slowly pans to show ten guys in lab coats and stethoscopes – nine Asian
and one Caucasian.
Cantadina Tomato Paste: "Who
puts eight great tomatoes in that little bitty can?"
And my favorite, Sunsweet Pitted
Prunes: "Today, the pits! Tomorrow, the wrinkles! Sunsweet marches
on!"
He used to say, "Hey, folks.
This is pizza rolls we're selling, not the Holy Grail." But that wasn't
quite true. He once composed a jingle for the United Presbyterian Church that
asked, "Doesn't it get a little lonely, out on that limb/Without
Him?"
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