Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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FREBERG, Stan

(b 7 August 1926, Los Angeles CA; d 7 April 2015, Santa Monica) US satirist, shredding ridiculous aspects of pop culture in the mid-'50s, then writing radio commercials that seemed to turn the advertising industry upside down (though the industry didn't always appreciate it).

He grew up on Pasadena, worked on stage with his magician uncle at age eleven; did funny voices on radio for Cliffie Stone in teens, then after WWII for WB, Disney, Lantz, Paramount animation studios, then with Daws Butler on kiddie TV show Time For Beany (Albert Einstein was said to be a fan). His satires on records for Capitol began in 1950 with 'John And Marsha', sending up radio soap operas, John and Marsha just repeating each other's names in cod-dramatic voicings. His biggest hit was 'St George And The Dragonet' '53: there were queues at record shops for the roast of radio/TV cop show Dragnet, using famous 'dummm-da-dum-dum' theme by Walter Schumann, Sgt. Friday's catchphrases ('Just the facts, m'am'), outrageous puns, impeccable comic timing aided by Butler and June Foray.

The music director on the priceless sendups of pop was usually Billy May. On 'The Yellow Rose Of Texas' they tried to kick the snare drummer out of the studio, so he came in through the window; on 'The Great Pretender' a bop pianist refused to play 'that kling-kling-kling jazz'; on 'Banana Boat (Day O)' Peter Leeds played a wonderfully straight A&R man who wouldn't allow dialect. Lawrence Welk was sent up '57; 'The Old Payola Roll Blues' was topical '60: the character Clyde Ankle captured the era's hype of non-talents so effectively that there was no more to be done. Freberg thought that pop music was so bad it could no longer be satirized and turned to advertising; his instant coffee commercials etc were wildly funny and won industry awards. HIs concept album Stan Freberg Presents The United States Of America charted '61 with music by May; there were two volumes of that on Curb/Atlantic CDs, radio shows from '57 on a Radiola CD, and comedy singles compiled on Capitol.