EARL HAGEN, 88
Composed and "whistled" the theme to the Andy Griffith Show. That alone would put him on this page. But he also did the themes of I Spy, The Mod Squad, That Girl, Dick Van Dyke Show, and Gomer Pyle, USMC. This is quite a lineup.
He was born in Chicago in 1919 and moved to LA. He co-wrote "Harlem Nocturne" and performed with the Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey big bands.
After service in World War II, he also wrote "Make Room for Daddy" for the Danny Thomas Show.
ROBERT W. SMYTH, (1922-2008)
Died May 7th. Graduated from Northwestern in 1948 and instead of going into the family business, the John M. Smyth furniture stores in the Chicagoland area, he went into advertising and given credit for coming up with one of the most-successful-ever campaigns for a cereal.
He devised the "Klondike Big Inch" campaign for Quaker Oats where 20 million square inch deeds were given away in Quaker Oats cereals from 1954-1955 which really pushed sales.
He joined the family business in 1974 and hired Shelly Long to be the face of the store which she was for ten years. She later went on to star in "Cheers." The obituary didn't say, but he might have been responsible for the John M. Smith, or do you say Smythe" campaign which was also popular around here.
He served in WW II in Italy.
No comments:
Post a Comment