[Dixielandjazz] Stan Freberg

[David Dustin]

³Advertising Man² Stan Freberg¹s sense for satire is amazing and his
time-warped interpretation of history and heavy use of music makes him my
favorite comedian.  Since Pat Ladd asked, ³Stan Freberg Presents the United
States of American, Vol. I² came out in the early 1960s as a stereo
performance because Stan loved radio and sound performance, touted his
³Theatre of the Mind,² and especially disliked television. (One of his other
shticks is ³Tele-Vee-Shun,² with backing by Billy May. Another is ³Anybody
Here Remember Radio?²)  I suspect I¹m another Freberg fan who has memorized
every line of that album in the decades since its release.

Freberg loved/loves (I believe he¹s still alive) big-band jazz and was a
conspicuous foe of rock and roll.  His bits lampooned Elvis, Calypso music
(among other targets) and he had a long professional relationship with Billy
May, whose big band performances on ³the United States of America² are so
hot they smoke.  The shtick about ³Bix,² the cool-jazz fifer who thought
he¹d be playing for officers¹ club dances in our war of independence instead
of working near the front lines, has always been a particular favorite.

Stan made a cameo appearance in the film ³It¹s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World². The
definitive Stan Freberg is ³The Tip of the Freberg: The Stan Freberg
Collection 1951-1998.²  It has 4 CDs of everything he recorded as well as a
videotape of some of his funny commercials and other bits and pieces. It
came out in the early 1990s.

David Dustin