There Iz More to the Story

A couple weeks ago, I wrote here about the cousin I was named after, I.J. Wagner, who was one of the early ad men doing singing commercials for radio.  And I mentioned how his style was to use repetition (almost to annoyance) so that people would remember the name -- and also wrote about how he gave Studs Terkel his start.

There was something I left out though, which was what Studs himself wrote in a couple of his memoirs -- but I couldn't track it down, so I couldn't include it.  But I just now came across at least one of the two passages I recall reading.

This was from one of Studs Tekel's memoirs, Touch and Go, where he writes on page 116 about his beginnings in radio in 1944.  I've added this into the earlier article, so the tale is now more complete.  He says --

"By this time at Meyerhoff [an ad agency in Chicago], I'm working on the Wrigley account, under the wing of I.J. Wagner, the inventor of the singing commercial.  He liked me and suggested I do a sports show, The Atlas Prager Sports Reel.  Atlas Prager was a local beer, out-fit-controlled.  The show was on every night at 6:00.  The announcer would say, 'Atlas Prager got it, Atlas Prager get it!'  Wagner deliberately made it irritating so you'd remember the name."

Then later in the book, Studs adds, "Eventually, Wagner said, 'I'm moving to a new agency, Oleon and Bronner, and I want you to come with me.  What would you like to do?"

So, when I say that Iz liked repetition and that he really did give Studs Terkel his start, it's not just family lore, but he writes it himself.