Peter...
> Stan Freberg, one of my all-time favs, provided the voice of
> Cecil the Sea-Sick Sea Serpent.
I'll bet I was a fan before you!!!! When I was a kid, "Beany and Cecil"
was a local puppet program on KTLA, Channel 5, in Los Angeles. When I
was a junior in 1953, our high school class paid him $25, as I recall,
to give us a class assembly. He was a bit melancholy, telling us that
he had been a failure in his career, and that the only thing he was
known for was a comedy song he recorded, "Pass the Other Udder to My
Udder Brudder". It was an incredible 45 minutes and we gave him a
standing ovation, complete with whistles. He seemed quite touched, and
promised to come back the next year if we wanted him.
Unfortunately, in the following year, his career took off, beginning
with "St. George and the Dragonette" and other hit comedy records (ah,
the days of 45's). He didn't make it back the next year, a fact that he
apologized for when I talked with him a few years ago.
From high school, skip forward to the time I was in Memphis and was
"taken in" by a wonderful Memphis couple, Al and Carol Clemens.
(Obligatory LEC content: Al and Carol purchased their Sprite at the
same time and from the same deal as I did.) Al had obtained a copy of
Freberg's controversial 1959 spoof of Madison Avenues approach to
Christmas, "Green Christmas".
Do you have a copy of "Green Christmas". If not, I will send you a copy
if you wish. It is truly a classic. The following is the "label"
information I have to go with the cassette cases that I give to friends.
Buster Evans
Green
Chri$tma$
It was the mid 1950's when commercialization first began to crop up in
Christmastime across America. Being both creative and indignat at how
it had become a massive merchandising exercise, Stan Freberg recorded
"Green Chri$tma$" the most controversial Christmas song of all time.
Madison Avenue immediately swung into action. Although the 45 rpm
record had been released, it was quickly recalled before fewer than 500
copies had been sold to the public.
One of those that escape the sweep was purchased by a friend, Al
Clemens, who was a photographer and resident audio-visual expert for
television WHBQ in Memphis. Al made some recordings on the big
reel-to-reel tape recorders of the time. (cassettes were still far in
the future).
Among those Al gave copies to were some of the guys in the station's
advertising department. One day, some Madison Avenue advertising people
came in from New York to discuss advertising contracts they were going
to be giving the station. Thinking they would get a kick out of the
recording, on of the WHBQ salesmen set up a tape recorder and played it
for the guests. Rather than enjoying the entertainment, the Madison
Avenue types packed up their briefcases, walked out, and returned to New
York.
The furor over "Green Chri$tma$" would later die down, and Freberg
included it in some future albums in the late 1990's, but never achieved
the impact on Madison Avenue of the original.
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