The Four Preps Part 1 (classic? radio commercials)

Once again it's time to go back to those thrilling days of yesteryear; the Old Disk Jockey rides again! Over the years I, and I am sure other Disk Jockeys, have used some take off on just about ever famous line from a classic TV or radio show. I was no exception to be sure. Working in small market radio gave me lots of opportunities to do different jobs and it was not uncommon for me to be a “Combo Man” being on the air a few hours each day and selling advertising the rest of the day. Again because of the size of the station, I more often than not wrote commercials for my advertising accounts, and would rely on twists of well know phrases. Such was the case when the owner of the local A & W Drive In Restaurant wanted to promote chicken meals. I remembered the old radio comedy bit by Dick and Sandy Orkin, (from My raiod hometown Williamsport, PA) called “Chicken Man” and thus “The Adventures of Chicken Legs was born.” For a local loan company, Haven Consumer Discounts, the classic song “Pennies from Heaven” (Skyliners) became “Pennies From HAVEN.” Yes I can hear you groan now. Also along the way many stations used the “hook” of offering a free singing jingle to a client for signing a long term contract. Yes, we were often called on for our input for lyrics. One that stands out in my mind was for Paul F. Glunk Florists. My first lines were not accepted, to this day I can't see why they didn't like “If your flowers are old and shrunk, order new ones from Paul F. Glunk.” The final jingle was Think Paul F. Glunk for fresh floral fashion.” Then the spoken phrase, “Think Glunk!” Was it better? Well, I still liked mine better, even though the real jingle sold a lot of flowers for Mr. Glunk.

I know I have mentioned The Four Preps in passing before as another group from the 1950's and 60's that I felt had a lot of talent. “The Preps” gave us timeless classics such as “26 Miles”, “Down By The Station”, Big man, comedy take offs, “More Money For You And Me,” and The Big Draft Medley. One the latter two songs the Preps with there amazing versatility mimicking other hit groups of the day suggesting that their talents might be better served other than the music business. If you get the chance, “The Four Preps Greatest Hits” CD has these songs and some lesser known, but classic Four Preps harmony that makes for great listening. I did 2 interviews with Bruce Belland; he along with Ed Cobb, Glen Larson, and Marv Ingram made up the original Four Preps.

Bruce describes himself as “one of the most famous people you never heard of,” From recording artist, record producer, actor and TV Network Executive, I guarantee you know his work.

His first television role came on The Ozzie & Harriett Show. Originally The Preps were hired as a band to backup Ricky Nelson at a party at David Nelson's TV Frat House. For a couple of seasons The Preps continued to appear on the show as Frat Brothers, and then Bruce was asked to continue as David's college roommate. As often happened, our interview took a side track to that great TV show and I gained a bit of insight into TV's iconic family. Bruce actually was a good friend and classmate of David Nelson at Hollywood High and eventually got to know Ricky as they both got more involved with the music business. Like most of the young males on the show, Bruce admitted a crush on Harriet Nelson. Harriet (Hillard) was a singer with future husband Ozzie Nelson's band, and Bruce describes her as a great singer, dancer and actress. At one point a major studio wanted to put her under contract, but she missed Ozzie too much and came back to the East Coast and of course they eventually got married. Bruce said “she knew everybody's name that worked on the show and their birthdays, and had quite a sense of humor.” Oh, Bruce also said she was “very beautiful and had great legs!”

Bruce told me a bit of trivia I never knew, that Life magazine coined the term “teen idol” to refer to Ricky when he was on the cover. After the TV show David ran a production company making TV commercials.

As one of the most famous people you never heard of, Bruce was the West Coast Programming Executive for N.B.C. And helped put together a rather famous show called “The Wheel of Fortune” with first year host Chuck Woolery. Chuck left after a year in a money disagreement with show creator Merv Griffin and was replaced by Pat Sajak. Bruce stayed with N.B.C. for a little over two years and then went on to head Ralph Edward Productions for five years. You may remember Ralph Edwards was also a well known producer of TV game shows. To this day Bruce tours, writes and sings “still in the same key” , but more about that in Part 2 next week.

Trivia: Johnny Maestro was the lead singer of two popular groups what were they: The Crests that did “16 Candles,” and The Brooklyn Bridge “The Worst That Could Happen”. Birthday and wedding were the subjects.


Trivia: In the Four Preps song “Down by The Station” how many girls does the boy fall in love with?