Talk:Stan Freberg/Archives/2012

Untitled
We need a bit on Time for Beany/ Beany and Cecil, since he was quite involved with that show as well. --Weyoun6 18:22, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

The remarks about Lawrence Welk's "Musical mediocrity" and "Abysmal accordion playing" are VERY POV- definitely not neutral.Saxophobia 03:46, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Much of this article is plagiarized from the liner notes to the Tip of the Freberg box set. 23 January 2007.

"I've Got You Under My Skin"
I'm suprised that Freberg's parody of "I've Got You Under my Skin" (Cole Porter via the Weaver's "On Top of Old Smokey") was allowed in 1952. I'd read that Cole Porter (d. 1964) hated parodies of his songs and had blocked versions of his songs proposed by Spike Jones and his City Slickers. M Bateman-Graham 203.171.196.113 13:48, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Dawsandstan.jpg
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BetacommandBot 20:51, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

POV problems
This article is another example of why Wikipedia's insistence on POV-neutral writing needs to be reconsidered.

I've been listening to Stan Freberg for more than 50 years, and there's no question he's one of the all-time great satirists. He's the absolute master of the radio sketch. His work is not only hilarious, but is almost as funny the 50th time you hear it as the first.

But the article says nothing about the way he fell into smug self-righteousness (and self-centeredness) as he got older, and more significantly, it neglects to mention that The United States of America volume 2 is perhaps the most-unfunny "comedy" album of all time. (For that matter, it doesn't mention that volume 1 has been voted best comedy recording of all time by Dr. Demento's listeners.)

Wikipedia needs to include a separate section for each article that allows responsible critiques, both positive and negative.

WilliamSommerwerck (talk) 12:58, 21 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Just create your own fansite, then. That's not what wikipedia is for. Kouban (talk) 01:23, 22 November 2007 (UTC)
 * "Wikipedia needs to include a separate section for each article that allows responsible critiques, both positive and negative." This is exactly not the place for any sort of critique. - kevin  talk [mailto:kevinebaugh@gmail.com email] 16:26, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

Song parody reviews
I think this article has too much emphasis on reviews of individual song parodies. They add little except for bloat to the article. Kouban (talk) 00:37, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

"Incident at Los Varoces" corrections needed
The article states that "Incident at Los Varoces," presented on the premiere episode of "The Stan Freberg Show" on CBS Radio on July 14, 1957, was altered before broadcast because the network wanted to remove references to the hydrogen bomb which destroyed the city at the play's end. According to the article, "the two cities" [sic] were instead destroyed by an earthquake in the broadcast version, but that the Capitol Records release of "The Stan Freberg Show" restored the original ending. In fact, the broadcast (downloadable at the Internet Archive http://www.archive.org/download/stan_freberg_show/01_1957-07-14_Musical_Sheep.mp3) did use the hydrogen bomb ending, although other details were changed for the Capitol recording. Gordonsdjinn (talk) 16:14, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

Typo correction needed?
Regarding the words "His first was Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears", his first what? (We all remember our first, but presumably this was not that.) That first job in L.A.? His first job as a cartoon voice artist? Eplater (talk) 02:41, 23 August 2008 (UTC)
 * You can blame User:Pepso for this mistake, from March 7, 2007: I think the intent is "His first voice work for WB..." Pepso's last entry was from May of 2007, so I doubt he would respond to queries. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? 07:47, 23 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Rereading the the March 7, 2007 entry, I can see that when I typed "His first" I meant it to refer to the paragraph above which had the words "animation", "Warner Bros." and "voice actor." Thanks for adding the amplification and clarification. Pepso2 (talk) 13:40, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Discography?
I think there should be a discography article for Stan Freberg, to reduce the bloat on this sizeable article. Kouban (talk) 04:01, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

Banana Boat - title
Belafonte's recording was titled Banana Boat (Day-O). Freberg's parody was also titled Banana Boat. Sources differ on whether the subtitle appeared on the label.

The Banana Boat Song was a derivative version, only slightly resembling the original, recorded by the Tarriers, with several cover versions, NOT by Belafonte nor parodied by Freberg.76.247.166.200 (talk) 14:54, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

MAD magazine?
Is it my faulty memory misconnecting different things from the 1950's and '60's, or did Stan Freberg ever edit, draw or write for MAD magazine? Is this something I should ask at Reference desk/Entertainment, or are there more specific working groups about MAD or comics? —— Shakescene (talk) 20:42, 30 July 2009 (UTC)


 * According to the search feature on the CD-ROM collection released in 1999, he wrote only two articles for MAD: "Anyone for Wrist Slashing?" in issue 25 of August 1955, and "Uninterrupted Melody" in issue 27 of April 1956. Richard K. Carson (talk) 07:04, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

Crazy "Guggenheim" in 1952? Seems like both an anachronism and a misspelling
One sentence of the article reads:

"[Freberg] was the voice of Pete Puma in the 1952 cartoon Rabbit's Kin, in which he did an impression of Frank Fontaine's "Crazy Guggenheim" voice."

Wrong on two counts, I'm almost certain:

1) The Crazy Guggenham character's last name was spelled "Guggenham" and not "Guggenheim" (perhaps because a famous wealthy family in the U.S. is and was the Guggenheims).  This error occurs in the Jackie Gleason and Frank Fontaine articles as well.

2) The Crazy Guggenham character had not appeared anywhere until the second major version of the Jackie Gleason show (1962-70), not in the fifties version(s).

I'm almost sure of these facts, but not 100% sure. Maybe I'll contact the Museum of Radio & Television to get the final word.Daqu (talk) 20:56, 2 September 2009 (UTC)


 * The Fontaine article says it was "Guggenheim", which is how I remember it also. And the article also states that the character originated on the Jack Benny radio show in 1950. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 23:28, 2 September 2009 (UTC)


 * The last place I would use to check spelling is Wikipedia, because for all its wonderful characteristics, correct spelling, especially of proper nouns, is not among them.


 * Time magazine, on the other hand, has spelled it "Guggenham", which is also how I remember it from watching the show.


 * Finally, here is a clip from the show with Jackie Gleason clearly pronouncing the name as "Guggenham" -- just after 2:22 into the clip: < http://www.notchet.com/youtube_video/iGPCHT_NAus/crazy-guggenheimthe-jackie-gleason-show.html >.Daqu (talk) 20:47, 5 September 2009 (UTC)


 * Jackie certainly said it as "Crazy Guggenham", although whoever posted the clip titled it "Crazy Guggenheim". You can also see the resemblance to Pete the Puma in Fontaine's bizarre laugh. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 21:01, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
 * One thing to keep in mind is that the show was done live, and if he mispronounced something, it stayed in. Looking at some other clips on youtube, Gleason would occasionally flub a line, but he would plunge right on ahead, ignoring snickers from the audience. So it's possible he got it wrong on that occasion. We would need to see some more clips and see whether he was consistent in that pronunciation. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 21:15, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
 * It's also worth pointing out that although Fontaine originated that goofy voice in 1950, the character wasn't being called Crazy Guggenheim (or ham) yet. So the article short-cuts it a little bit and creates some confusion. It points out in the Frank Fontaine article that the voice, but not the name, originated in 1950. So clarifying that in this article would seem appropriate. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 21:18, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Here's an eBay for one of Fontaine's albums. It's a little blurry, but if you download it you can tell it's "Guggenheim", not "Guggenham". Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 21:46, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
 * This one's much clearer. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 21:52, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

Freberg's radio show was not cancelled
It's common knowledge (though I don't have a reference) that Freberg idolized Jack Benny. (In the "Declaration of Independence" sketch, he does a good imitation of Benny saying "Now cut that out!".) So when offered the chance to be Benny's summer replacement at CBS Radio (by whom I don't know), he jumped at it.

To the best of my knowledge, this was not intended to be permanent. Freberg was not cancelled after 15 episodes; Jack Benny returned. I'm constantly berated for refusing to edit articles (though I occasionally do make minor changes), but this is one case where the creator should confirm this change and make it himself. WilliamSommerwerck (talk) 14:49, 26 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Considering that this is a group effort, there is no one "creator" to make a change.


 * According to The Jack Benny Program, Benny stopped making radio shows in 1955, with CBS airing old shows as "The Best of Benny" until 1958. So Jack Benny wasn't around to return; CBS went back to airing reruns.


 * Freberg seems quite clear that he was canceled, per :"Anyhow after 15 weeks they gave me the ax, that's all. I bought an ad in the trade papers when that happened, and I ran a review by a woman named Kay Gardela, radio and TV critic with the New York Daily News, and she said that 'Radio's tired blood is being revitalized by Dr. Stan Freberg.' So in this picture [for the ad] I was sitting there in a white coat and there's an ax severing my head. And the ax says CBS on it. It was very devastating. Anyhow that's how that show ended." -- Foetusized (talk) 16:01, 26 April 2010 (UTC)

"Wunnerful, Wunnerful"
I've removed the reference to the Johnny Mathis hit "Wonderful, Wonderful." I can't find any source to suggest that the Freberg record targets the Mathis hit in any way, directly or indirectly. Freberg's title is a catchphrase so associated with Lawrence Welk that "Wunnerful, Wunnerful" was even the title of Welk's autobiography. Unless someone has a source I've overlooked, the Mathis recording of a similar title the same year appears to be mere coincidence. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Meservy (talk • contribs) 13:43, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

John and Marsha
I was surprised to read that "John and Marsha" came out in the early fifties. I remember it being a hit around 1960. Was there a re-issue around that time? Kdammers (talk) 06:48, 25 April 2012 (UTC)