Highlights Archives
Oscar Mayer Banjo-ukulele Finds a Home
Mass communication made the Oscar Mayer wiener jingle one of the most successful advertising songs of all time, and mass communication helped the Wisconsin Historical Society preserve a special part of its story. This past June, Doug Moe, columnist for the Wisconsin State Journal, wrote an article titled "Where should Oscar Mayer banjo-uke go?" Moe wrote about the fate of a four-stringed musical instrument with a banjo body and a ukulele neck. Its owner, Richard Trentlage, pictured above with musician Scott Lamps and his daughter Linda, had used it to compose and record The Wiener Song ("Oh I Wish I Were an Oscar Mayer Wiener…") in response to a jingle contest held by the Madison, Wisconsin, meatpacking company in 1962. Moe noted that Trentlage was looking for a "final resting place" for the instrument and was weighing his options. Handing it down to his children, who performed on the demo tape and subsequent radio ad, was a possibility, as was selling it on eBay. But Trentlage wondered if the banjo-ukulele would be better off in a place where people could see it and it could be preserved for posterity. The Museum of Broadcast Communications in Trentlage's native Chicago came to mind, as did the lobby of Oscar Mayer's home office in Madison. Moe liked the idea of seeing the instrument come to Madison, but the matter was unresolved … until Moe's article was published.
Museum staff of the Wisconsin Historical Society read the article with great interest and quickly contacted Moe, who put the staff in touch with Trentlage, and less than two weeks later, the jingle writer donated the banjo-uke to the Society in a public event held at the Wisconsin Historical Museum. Madison musician Scott Lamps played The Wiener Song on the instrument one last time before the venerable four-string was retired.
Banjo-ukulele Now on Display
The instrument is now on display at the museum as part of its ongoing and ever-changing Odd Wisconsin exhibition, and it is the latest addition to the Society's Curators' Favorites. The Society is proud to have the banjo-uke in its permanent collections. Its importance to one of Wisconsin's best-known companies and its instrumental role in the creation of one of the world's longest-running advertising jingles make it a truly historic artifact.
The Society's museum staff routinely seeks collecting opportunities in stories published in newspapers, aired on radio and television, and posted online. Just weeks before Moe's article about the banjo-uke appeared, another Moe column helped the Society secure the donation of a pair of running shoes worn by Wisconsin track athlete Don Gehrman in the 1948 Olympics.
:: Posted August 17, 2009
|
