Somewhere, The Wienermobile – and TSO – are Crying
Richard D. Trentlage died on 21 September 2016. He died of congestive heart failure.
Mr. Trentlage was 87. He’d lived a full life.
You may not recognize his name. But I’ll guarantee you know his most famous work:
Yep, he’s the guy who wrote the “Oscar Meyer Wiener” jingle.
Trentlage wrote other advertising jingles, too – some of which were used in national ad campaigns. But one he wrote for Oscar Meyer is by far his most famous.
Fox has a short obit on the man; the NYT has a longer one. The Wikipedia Article on the man is also a good read. Any of them IMO are worth the the few minutes it will take to read.
Rest in peace, Mr. Trentlage. And thanks for giving us a piece of Americana.
Author’s Note: in case anyone is wondering about the TSO reference, check out this link. (smile)
Category: We Remember, Who knows
Yep, I remember that commercial.
Wasn’t Huma Abedin singing that song? 😉
It was interesting to discover that there are now actually eight wandering Wienermobiles. Six are based on a GMC motorhome chassis, two on a Mini Cooper. The Mini versions are apparently for those times when you need a small emergency backup wiener.
They will take him to his final resting place in a Weiner Hearse.
All those times I saw one of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobiles during my time as a Trucker and I never got one of their whistles…
No more Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. No more Spin & Marty, Mickey Mouse Club, Lone Ranger, Gene Autry, Fury, Sky King, Hopalong Cassidy, Slinky, Silly Putty, 10 cent comics, 10 cent Cokes, penny candy, 5 cent Snickers, or $.25/gal Regular gas.
I am sad.
Farewell, Mr. Trentlage.
One with mustard, onions, relish and pickles, please.
I pumped 25 cent a gallon gas (and a whole lot more, including the filtering and decanting of used motor oil- 5cents a bottle) for 82 cents an hour.
But man, Sky King.
That 310.
That Penny!
Can’t believe you left out “Rin-Tin-Tin” and “Captain Galant of the French Foreign Legion.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyNqVOZT6TI
J.S. Feller
Sorry, I meant to include them, and Sgt. Preston of the Yukon, his horse Rex and his wonder dog Yukon King.
And then, there was also Have Gun – Will Travel, Gunsmoke, and Maverick.
Ok Ex, no cheating, what was Marty’s horse name?
I think it was a palomino named Skyrocket. Not sure.
EX——you are spot on! I loved that series on the Mickey Mouse Club.
I remember being in the third grade when a classmate showed up at school wearing a girls Mouseketeer outfit. I followed her around during recess. I thought for sure she was a Mouseketeer.
Check out a song by Steve Ripley, I believe called “Gone Away” – think it’s the first song on his solo CD. Puts it all in a nutshell. Then from there go on to Tractor music.
In memoriam:
Oh I wish I were a lying posing preener,
That is what I’d truly like to be-e-e,
Cause if I were a lying posing preener,
Everyone would hate and despise me
I’m just sorry I couldn’t work in a Bernath reference somehow.
Think of the gas pump hose as the Weinermobile’s catheter,
If Daniel Bernath was driving the Weinermobile, you just know that it would run out of gas.
But you got a clinton send off just right LOL
Ah, yes, the old Wienermobile. And that little wiener whistle. Fond memories of both. What great marketing tools.
All these decades later, the Oscar Meyer logo invariably triggers Mr. Trentlage’s jingle playing, and replaying, in my head. RIP, sir.
They just released the cause of death. It turns out that he swallowed an Oscar Mayer Weiner whistle, and he ended up choking on it.
I guess he’s singing a different tune now.
I remember walking the roads picking up pop bottles, cleaning them and turning them in for 5 cents during the 60s.
Damn, that was a lot of money for one bottle. I remember going for Sunday rides with the family in the 50s and stopping to pick up every bottle we saw. Why, you could get the princely sum of $0.02 in those long ago days. Damn near found enough bottles on a drive to pay for the gas for the ride. Sometimes even came out ahead.
usedta walk to the Phillips 66 station a mile away and pick up discarded bottles from the roadside along the way. At $.02 a bottle, five would buy you a $.10 soda from the machine at the station. The bog choice was between the smaller Coke and the larger Pepsi for the same dime. When you’re that young, hanging onto 5 soda bottles while you’re walking was quite a chore.
If TSO is crying, it’s b/c the Pats went down in flames today to that perennial football monster, that powerhouse of pigskin prowess, the Buffalo Bills.
Now that I think of it, the Bills and the Pats are, I believe, the only two NFL teams who had double murderers on their rosters.