“Forgotten Hollywood”- The Man Behind the Wiener…
Manny P. here…
He was the individual who got generations of hot dog lovers singing. Richard D. Trentlage helped solidify a company’s hot dogs as a piece of Americana with the words:
Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener. That is what I truly love to be. Because, if I were an Oscar Meyer Wiener. Everyone would be in love with me…
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Submitted as part of a contest, Trentlage (right) finished composing the tune in about an hour and recorded it in his living room. The jingle he wrote appeared in a 1960s television commercial featuring cartoon kids marching along and singing. The song would become the sound of Oscar Mayer for 45 years, until the company retired it in 2010. It went on to be heard in 21 English-speaking countries (including all 50 states), and even played by symphony orchestras. Oscar Mayer used the jingle as an underlying theme that promoted, among other things, the wienermobile.
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Trentlage was born in Chicago and began penning jingles as a high school student. He later transformed his home into a makeshift recording studio, inviting his own children to sing on audition tapes. They even recorded on-air sessions.
However, he was no one-hit wonder, writing: WOW! It sure doesn’t taste like tomato juice for V8; Buckle up for safety, buckle up! for the National Safety Council; and McDonald’s is your kind of place! for the burger chain.
The very clever Richard D. Trentlage was 87.
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Friday, September 30th, 2016 at 11:26 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
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