From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Wed Aug 7, 2002  1:15 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Stan Freberg
 
STAN FREBERG

Born Stanley Victor Freberg, 7 August 1926, Pasadena, California

Satirist / comedy writer / radio and TV performer / impersonator / actor, etc.
Stan Freberg was a satirist who experienced great popularity during the '50s
in the USA. Freberg pioneered the style of satire and parody later used on
such television programmes as "Saturday Night Live". He performed on radio
and television, acted, wrote books as well as his own comedy material, worked
in advertising and was even an accomplished puppeteer. The son of a Baptist
minister, Freberg had his first showbusiness experience at the age of 11 as
an assistant to his uncle, a magician. He became enthralled with the radio
during his youth. As well as performing, he wrote and produced student shows
and became his high school's speech champion, going on to win a statewide
competition. He was awarded a drama scholarship but turned it down to work
with Mel Blanc, who provided the voices of Warner Bros cartoon characters
such as Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig. Freberg provided voice-overs for other
characters. In the mid-40s he appeared on radio for the first time and soon
became a regular on such programmes as the Jack Benny Show and on the
Armed Forces Radio Network. After two years in the army, he and actor Daws
Butler (later the voice of Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound) wrote and performed
for the cartoon show "Time For Beany", an Emmy-winning programme which
served as inspiration to Muppets creator Jim Henson.
In 1951 Freberg signed to Capitol Records and recorded "John And Marsha",
a spoof of soap operas in which the only lyrics were the two names of the title,
repeated dramatically throughout the record. The record became a # 21 hit,
and was followed by parodies of Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin",
Johnnie Ray's "Cry" and others. In 1953 Freberg scored a # 1 record with
"St. George And The Dragonet", a parody of the Dragnet television series.
The record sold a million copies in just three weeks time, making it the
fastest selling disc ever at that time. A lover of jazz and swing, Freberg
hated rock 'n' roll and R&B and lampooned such hits as "Sh-Boom" and
"The Great Pretender" (where he does both voices, the singer and the
frustrated cling-cling-cling pianist). In 1956 Freberg took on Presley's
"Heartbreak Hotel" ("That's too much echo") and Lonnie Donegan's "Rock
Island Line", while the following year found him satirizing Harry Belafonte's
"Banana Boat (Day-O)". Other Freberg targets were Lawrence Welk, Mitch
Miller and the television medium itself. In 1957 Freberg was given his own
17-week radio programme, some of which was collected on the Grammy-
winning album "The Best Of The Stan Freberg Shows".
His controversial 1958 single "Green Chri$tma$" attacked the commercialization
of Christmas. Freberg's final chart entry (1960), "The Old Payola Roll Blues"
(parts 1 & 2), was the culmination of his one-man crusade against rock 'n' roll,
missing its target by being far too explicit on side 2. Still, it created an
immortal
character in the shape of Clyde Ankle, the teenage idol with the pretty face and
the pompadour.
This was not only Freberg's final musical satire, it was also his last single.
Freberg thought that pop music was so bad it could no longer be satirized
and found a new challenge in releasing a concept album, "Stan Freberg
Presents The United States Of America" (1961). A wildly ambitious satiric
history of American life, the album won widespread acclaim, and remains
a pivotal landmark in the evolution of recorded comedy. A sequel was finally
released in 1996. In the time between, he worked in advertising, still lending
his voice to the occasional cartoon and returned to broadcasting in 1990.

Autobiography: Stan Freberg, It Only Hurts When I Laugh. New York : Times
Books, 1988. (Out of print.)
Discography: http://www.cyberonic.net/~atrain/comedy/freberg.htm
Unofficial homepage: http://freberg.8m.com/
Interview: http://www.davesfunstuff.com/demento/14ivw018.htm
Compilation: Tip Of The Freberg : The Stan Freberg Collection, 1951-1998
(Rhino). 4 CD-set plus videotape.
If that's a bit too much Freberg for you, try the Stan Freberg CD in the
Capitol Collector's Series (CDP 7916272), though "Old Payola Roll Blues"
is absent from that compilation.