This morning I’m celebrating the life and mourning the passing of Stan Freberg, a closet Baptist and certifiable communications genius.
His LP album, “Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America,” was widely regarded as the best comedic audio recording in the English language. I can still recite long passages from it, including Freberg’s send-up of patronizing liberals as the pilgrims sing, “Take an Indian to Lunch.”
Freberg would have left fictional Mad Man Don Draper in his dust. In the sixties and seventies he generated some of the most effective commercials on television, including the incomparable “Hi, Ho Pizza Roll,” which elevated a mundane snack to a sublime experience.
In the seventies, Freberg was a powerful influence on my colleagues and me in the American Baptist Division of Communication, and we listened with conviction to his minute-long demonstration showing radio stretched the imagination more effectively than television:http://youtu.be/ppZ57EeX6vE
Great bit, Stan. Cue the Cherry.
Cakes and Ale 