Putney Swope and Stan Freberg made me want to create an anti-capitalist ad agency that made nothing but transgressive, subversive advertising, if only to avenge the death of my father and Jeno Paulucci's Chun King/La Choy Dragon. His writing was truly parody as meta-criticism.
Satirist Stan Freberg, who influenced generations with his witty comedy albums and cartoon voices and memorable advertising campaigns, died Tuesday in Santa Monica. He was 88 and had been suffering from respiratory problems and pneumonia.
His son Donavan posted the news on his Facebook page, saying, “He was, and will always be, my hero, and I will carry his brilliant legacy forward as best I am able.”
The writer-producer crafted some of the funniest TV commercials of the 1960s and ’70s, including “Today the pits; tomorrow the wrinkles. Sunsweet marches on!,” and Contadina’s “Who put eight great tomatoes in that little bitty can?”
He also scored such novelty-record hits as “John and Marsha,” “Saint George and the Dragonet” and “Green Christmas.” His 1961 comedy album “Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America” remains a classic of the form and an influence for a generation of comedians.
He scored a national No. 1 hit in 1953 with “St. George And The Dragonet,” a riff on Dragnet that was the first track on the genre-spanning 1977 triple LP 25 Years Of Recorded Comedy. That same year, while under contract to Capitol Records, Freberg became a hero to many when he poked fun at McCarthyism.
His record “Little Blue Riding Hood” featured the line, “Only the color has been changed to prevent an investigation.” In the following year’s “Point of Order,” he lampooned Sen. Joe McCarthy’s hunt for communists in the State Department and the U.S. Army.
The send-up featured a McCarthy-like character interrogating Baa-Baa Black Sheep about how many bags of wool he has.
The record company, however, deleted one of the record’s best lines, in which the McCarthy character solemnly intones, “I hold in my hand the list of 27 black sheep…”
It was a direct jab at McCarthy’s famous line: “I have here in my hand a list of 205 names – a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department.”
Mass production will benefit mass consumption, but will also financially benefit the ... when present, constitutes, to use a well-worn trope, false consciousness.
Contrary to general belief, an artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs. -Edgard Varese