RIP, Oscar Mayer

[kiramdear]

Oscar Mayer dead at 95.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090708/ap_ ... scar_mayer

[phlemmy]

thanks for a lifetime of unhealthy goodness.

[woodyng]

odd---i just spotted (the) weinermobile at a b.p. station in cordova,tennessee this past weekend.

[cjj]

Is there going to be anyone left???

RIP Mr. Meyer...

[ram]

they say 'the good die young'.... I guess that leaves me and maybe a few of you????

[jingle_jangle]

Sorry to hear it. I feel an anecdote coming on...

That "nice flat" I mentioned, that I found in Logan Square?

Well, I found it because, after a month of looking for places and finding nothing that fit the bill, I was driving down a block in Logan Square, and--lo and behold! There was the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile. This was the 1952 version, built on a Dodge chassis. I parked my car and walked over to investigate. As I turned around, behind the Weinermobile was a very nice 2-flat building with a "For Rent" sign in the ground floor window.

Yeah, the flat was a beaut, and I lived there for a couple of years. My best buddy--a Chicago cop--moved into the flat upstairs when it became available a couple of months later. His part-time off-duty job? He was a security guard at Oscar Meyer's Chicago processing plant.

Other than that and the hot dogs, Oscar's been pretty distant.

[Bighouse]

Very cool story Paul. I like it when a plot ties together all the loose ends, uniting the threads into a great yarn.

[winston]

That is an odd looking single purpose vehicle that you posted Paul. I suppose back in 1952 this was a great way to get your product noticed. Today it may seem out of place with respect to developing an effective marketing strategy. I suspect that this vehicle still generates enough of a buzz that people remember the product though.

[kiramdear]

I had the whistle.

[cjj]

I had the Hot Wheels model...
I seem to remember having one of those whistles too...

[wayang]

I just saw the Weinermobile going the opposite direction on I-70 in Utah a couple of weeks ago...synchronicity...

"My baloney has a first name..."

[kiramdear]

Dane, I just shocked myself to realize I can complete that jingle from memory.

"... it's O-S-C-A-R
my baloney has a second name,
it's M-A-Y-E-R
Oh, I love to eat it every day,
And if you ask me why I'll say
That Oscar Mayer has a way
With B-O-L-O-G-N-A"


Pretty sad, huh?

[wayang]

You can play lots of great tunes on an OM whistle, like "Haul Away" and "All Hands On Deck"...

...and me personal favorite, "Pipe Down":

Make fast yer thirteen little buttons, ye swabs...

[doctorwho]

I had the whistle.

+1

"oh, I wish I was an Oscar Meyer wiener,
That's what I truly want to be-e-e.
For if I was an Oscar Meyer wiener,
everyone would be in love with me."

RIP, Mr. Meyer.

[teb]

We have a big Oscar Meyer plant here in town and see the Wienermobiles frequently. Personally, I'm eating Ball Parks for a few weeks - at least long enough to be sure they've disposed of poor Oscar properly...... They always park a Wiener Wagon out here every year when we have the World's Largest Bratfest and hand out free Wiener-Whistles. I got a new one a couple years ago and sadly, like many vintage instruments, I think they've shifted their production over to the far east. Sure, they have a nice, shiny factory finish, but they've lost much of their soul. No truss rods, a cheesy zip-lock-gig-bag instead of a hard case, the tone just isn't what it used to be and the set-up and intonation are marginal at best. My local tech seemed totally confused by it as he's only worked on whistles with peas inside them (mostly Pea 90s). Like many imported instruments, a lot of the folks who actually build the new generation of Wiener re-issues are probably still wondering what the hell it is and what you do with it.