Growing up Freberg

Remember the Encyclopedia Brittanica ads featuring a teenage boy with glasses, long blond hair and a somewhat smug attitude?




Turns out the writer and voiceover for the commercial was comedian Stan Freberg, and that's his son Donavan Freberg pitching the benefits of Brittanica.

Donavan has a blog. A couple of blogs actually, one of which is NSFWHOAE*, so I won't link to it. The other is a fascinating and funny memoir of his very unusual childhood, growing up in the Spanish-style mansion he calls "Stan Simeon," 911 North Beverly Drive. He explains in one entry why at a young age he had "bags under my eyes the size of Louis Vuitton steamer trunks".

I cannot ever remember, from the age of 1-6, ever going to bed before midnight.

My parents were night people, so it would follow suit that I would be too.

If I wasn't playing Asteroids with Blondie in the recording studio lounge, or in bed with mom watching Starsky & Hutch while eating Cap'n Crunch and half and half, or swimming with my sister in Sean Cassidy's pool, I was with my best friend.

Daddy.

My father picked me up when I was born and did not put me down until I was thirty.

We had endless adventures together.

And
they
all
took
place
at
night.

He writes about showing up for school at 10 a.m., his daily morning present from his parents, and how, at age five, he was given his new name. His old name had been "Baby Boy" until then. (Bad case of writer's block.)


* Not Safe For Work, Home, Or Anywhere Else