Brian:
Great site!
I don’t know if you’ve heard of this….
My brother is a studio musician in LA and played on some cartoons that Frees had voiced at, I think, Eldorado recording studio.
He had a copy of a jingle that Frees did.. It was a slupry string section playing “I’m in the Mood for Love” and Paul does this tender narration…. then a trumpet fanfare and Paul announces “the greatest invention in the history of rubber.. Imagine, a condom that glows in the dark!”.. Paul continues “Goodyear, the greatest name in rubber announces its greatest achievement.. Imagine, no more fumbling in the dark!… when the lights go down, you’ll light up.. the little lady will be bug eyed when she see this thing coming at her!….”
Paul played it totally straight, a joke and it was the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. I used to have a copy on reel to reel but I may have misplaced it. I got it in 1975 or so and it was a few years old by then. I will try to locate it and burn you a CD if I find it. You would appreciate it. Seeing your site reminded me of Paul and the “jingle”.
My niece’s husband (a big shot at KNX radio) is a friend of Stan Freberg and is going to get me his address and phone number so I can contact him. I’ve always been a fan of Stan’s and I want to get his autograph and get to know him before we lose him too. Have you ever had contact with him?
Keep up the good work…
Best,
Pete V
Memphis, TN
That was a very interesting email, Pete! Though I may run the risk of offending some people by posting your remarks, I will chance it because what you had to say was very well written. I can indeed see how humorous that jingle would be, with Paul playing it straight. As I said in THE INCREDIBLE MAGIC OF PAUL FREES, sometimes he had a way of making the funny absolutely hilarious, with that serious, straight voice! Thanks for showing us a completely different and unique side of Frees.
People do ask me, from time to time, about Stan Freberg. I first learned about Freberg, from June Foray, in 1973, when she wrote to me about her career, and mentioned that she and he did record albums, together, back in the early 50s. I think that Stan may have even written quite a few of those stories, for the records.
I had read, somewhere on the internet, that Stan was also one of a “cast of thousands” (or hundreds, anyway) who did voices for Warner Bros. cartoons, but was never credited, because Mel Blanc’s contract gave him exclusive credit for voices. In case you didn’t know, even Paul Frees did some voices on these cartoons, but I believe that Warners only used him once or twice. Freberg was used a lot more than that.
Freberg actually starting doing voices for Warner Bros. cartoons when he was only a teenager. He said that even when he was in the military, he would record a few cartoons, for Warners, when he was on leave and came home. He also was only in his early to mid 20s when he began recording those comedy albums for Capitol Records.
You probably already know this but, Stan Freberg and Daws Butler were the two men who did all the voices for the TIME FOR BEANY puppet show on TV (1948-1953).
I always tell people, when they ask if I had made contact with Freberg some of the following details: I saw Freberg on TV, from time to time, and I also knew that he was so very famous, and more well-known than many of Jay Ward’s voice-over stars. So, for me, anyway, there was nowhere near as much mystery, or intrigue, about him. For those reasons I did not try to find him or write to him. This is also the same reason why I never wrote to Hans Conried or William Conrad.
Brian