A few years ago, I posted an entry to this blog called, The Tra-La-La Song Or Whatever Happened To N.B Winkless Jr.? . The basic premise of the post was that some guy named N.B Winkless Jr. wrote the Banana Splits Theme Song (actually co-written with Hoyt Curtin) and just who the hell was this dude anyway? I didn't learn much about him at the time but I did run across a book on Amazon called, The Gambling Times Guide To Craps written by a N.B Winkless Jr. and I thought, 'Could it be the same guy? Could the man who wrote the Tra-La-La Song also be an expert at the game of craps?'
I picked up the search for N.B Winkles Jr. a few weeks ago and after various twists and turns on the internet, I came across someone named Nels Winkless who works for a company called, Materialytics, LLC and, lo and behold, it turned out to be N.B's son.
Nels is the Communications Director at Materialytics and since 1985 has published a newsletter, The ABQ Correspondent, that explores the impact new technology has on society.
He was kind enough to fill me on his Father's life in advertising and his experience with The Banana Splits. In addition to the Tra-La-La Song, Nels informed me that his dad also wrote quite a few jingles for Kellogg's and some cartoon theme songs. (I've posted some of those below.) And, as it turns out, he actually did write a book on craps. Who would of thunk it?
CASEY: Tell me about your Father's early days.
NELS: My father was born in Chicago in 1913. The family moved to Milwaukee when he was young. His Dad, my Grandfather, was an insurance claims adjuster. In spite of being 5'7", he was an outstanding basketball player in high school. He wasn't big but he was crafty. He went to Riverside High School where he met my Mom, they were married at twenty. I'm the eldest of four sons. He went to the University Of Wisconsin in Madison and majored in Journalism, graduating mid-depression. He became a
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| N.B Winkless Jr. |
CASEY: What was your Dad's musical background?
NELS: None. I recall my Grandmother saying, to his annoyance, that he took some piano lessons but wouldn't practice. He didn't play the piano, just picked out tunes with one finger. He played a few chords on the ukulele. As a family, we used to sing a lot. When my brothers and I became adults, my brothers (Jeff, Terry, Dan) became pretty good on guitars. Mostly folk stuff but including a bit of classical Spanish guitar. My brother Jeff (1941-2006), who was Fleagle in the Banana Splits, actually had some technical musical skills and helped Dad on some of the trickier musical parts, for example, the Snap, Crackle, Pop jingle.
CASEY: How did he end up writing jingles?
NELS: He was a big time advertising copywriter working on big accounts (Armstrong Cork, Campbell's Soup, Phillip Morris, Kellogg's, MJB Coffee, Standard Oil Of California, Starkist Tuna, Pillsbury etc...) in major agencies and the need for jingles came up now and again. It turned out he had a knack for it, mostly a matter of rhythm and lyrics like, 'K-E double L O double Good...Kellogg's best for you'. He was a remarkable wordsmith and he enjoyed doing it, enjoyed working with people like Hoyt Curtin who would often polish/orchestrate his stuff for real use. I don't think he did a whole lot of jingles and songs. He wasn't primarily a song/jingle/music guy. I can't remember much but there was a thing for Kellogg's All-Stars performed by Cyril Ritchard, ('Who, Who the Wizard/The wonderful wizard/The wizard of oats'.) He did a couple of songs for The Banana Splits. The theme song and another on the record that made the charts in the U.K. He did a couple of songs that Homer & Jethro recorded. That got started when Homer & Jethro did a series of spots for Kellogg's Corn Flakes based on gags to which the response was, 'Oooo...that's corny.' I think he did the theme song for Magilla Gorilla.
CASEY: How did he get involved with The Banana Splits?
NELS: Longish story. Basically, Kellogg's sponsored some Hanna Barbera shows. In those days, sponsors were much more involved with the shows than they are now, with a lot more influence. Producers sold their shows to sponsors as much as to the networks and Dad got involved with Hanna Barbera on the creative side and liked it. The Banana Splits were not the first of those shows. Other examples included Dennis The Menace and The Beverly Hillbillies. In those days, the sponsor could do "integrated cast commercials" that looked like part of the show as long as the first twenty seconds of the plot made no mention of the product. For example, Jethro Clampett would come into breakfast exchanging comments with Granny and appreciate a bowl of Kellogg 's Corn Flakes. So Dad got to work with lots of producers, cast members and production folks. He became close friends of Bill Hanna who was an extremely nice guy. When The Banana Splits came along and they needed some young guys with stamina to work in the suits, Dad pointed to my brothers for three of them. I was seven years older than Jeff, the eldest of them, had lost the necessary zip, had a family and was busy with other things. Jeff was Fleagle, Terry was Bingo and Dan was Drooper.
CASEY: Did your brothers stay in show business?
NELS: Jeff (who died in 2006) was a journeyman Hollywood hand. A minor actor, he played the clerk who checked Edward G. Robinson into the recycling factory in Soylent Green. He was a working voice-over talent in lots of cartoons including the French Fries in McDonald's Happy Meals commercials for some years. A writer/editor who reworked a zillion Japanese cartoons for Saban turning them into material suitable for American TV and a composer who created some really nice electronic scores for a number of productions. He ran a little recording studio too.
Like Jeff, Terry stayed in the business becoming a screenwriter (The Howling) and a director. He became a specialist in making pictures for people like Roger Corman, very cheap production that was intended to look like more. I was always impressed that Ter could, and did, turn backflips in that caricature gorilla suit. He's still active in the business.
Dan had the good sense to get out of the business and became a computer programmer working for the U.S Geological Survey for many years until his recent retirement.
CASEY: Were you ever on the Banana Splits set?
NELS: Never on set but I spent an afternoon with them when they were shooting on location in San Francisco. Our then five year old daughter, Danielle, is in a shot with the critters, walking on the stone parapet around the Coit Tower. The shot was used in one of two or three alternate show openers that aired. The most impressive thing about that shoot was the brazen confidence of cameraman Fouad Said of Cinemobile who hustled them efficiently through the work. When I mentioned to Fouad that the traffic up to the Coit Tower was a mess and there was no parking, he just said, 'Follow me'. We followed his truck in a caravan of about five vehicles. Traffic is no problem if you drive the truck up the left side of the winding road forcing others out of the way and parking is no problem if you park on the sidewalk. A film crew can get away with almost anything. Some bystander asked what production company this was. Fouad pointed at the truck and said, 'Avis'.
CASEY: I ran across a book on Amazon called, The Gambling Times Guide To Craps by N.B Winkless Jr. Did your father write that?
NELS: Yeah, he wrote the book. People sometimes contact me wanting to talk to me about my book on craps and I have to explain. Basically he was a driven rather cranky guy. Very smart
CASEY: What were his later years like?
He was fired by more than one agency, including Burnett, not because he wasn't producing prodigious amounts of good work but because he disrupted the official system while doing it. Copywriters were supposed to write commercials, get them approved and turn them over to the agency production people in Hollywood not produce it themselves. I remember he was writing a series of spots at the hotel at nights and working with a
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| N.B Winkless Jr. |
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