In today’s NYT, an obit by Douglas Martin, “Stan Freberg, Madcap Adman and Satirist, Dies at 88″:
Stan Freberg, a humorist whose sprawling imagination fueled a multifaceted career that included pretty much inventing the idea of using satire in commercials, died on Tuesday in Santa Monica, Calif.
… Mr. Freberg was a hard man to pin down. He made hit comedy records, voiced hundreds of cartoon characters and succeeded Jack Benny in one of radio’s most prestigious time slots. He called himself a “guerrilla satirist,” using humor as a barbed weapon to take on issues ranging from the commercialization of Christmas to the hypocrisy of liberals.
Freberg on a 1957 comedy album. Photo: Capitol Records.
On this blog, in a 5/23/14 posting, bits of “Banana Boat Song” of 1957. Piercing, man, piercing.
Over the years, he gave much pleasure, in his comedy songs and his remarkably entertaining commercials. “Who put eight great tomatoes in that little bitty can?”
