Bernard Russ Alben (December 27, 1929 – August 26, 2012) was an American

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

executive and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. He served as the Vice President and Creative Director of

Ogilvy & Mather Ogilvy is a New York City-based British advertising, marketing, and public relations agency. It was founded in 1850 by Edmund Mather as a London-based advertising agency, agency. In 1964, the firm became known as Ogilvy & Mather after merging wit ...

from the early 1970s until his retirement in December 1981. Alben is credited with writing the

Good & Plenty Good & Plenty is a brand of licorice candy. The candy is a narrow cylinder of sweet black licorice, coated in a hard candy shell to form a capsule shape. The pieces are colored bright pink and white and presented in a purple box or bag. History G ...

's Choo Choo Charlie

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually t ...

and creating the Timex watch advertising slogan, "

It takes a licking and keeps on ticking Timex Group USA, Inc. (formerly known as Timex Corporation) is an American global watch manufacturing company founded in 1854 as the Waterbury Clock Company in Waterbury, Connecticut. In 1944, the company became insolvent but was reformed into ...

Biography

Early life and career

Alben grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York and graduated Midwood High School. He received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in 1951 from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

, where he contributed to Radio Station WAER. He briefly worked as a producer for several

children's television show Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

s, such as ''

Bozo the Clown Bozo the Clown, sometimes billed as "Bozo, The World's Most Famous Clown", is a clown character created for children's entertainment, widely popular in the second half of the 20th century. He was introduced in the United States in 1946, and to te ...

'', before beginning a forty-year career in

Advertising

Alben began his career in the ad industry by working as a copywriter at

Benton & Bowles Benton & Bowles (B&B) was a New York-based advertising agency founded by William Benton and Chester Bowles in 1929. One of the oldest agencies in the United States, and frequently one of the 10 largest, it merged with D'Arcy-MacManus Masius in ...

and then

Grey Advertising Grey Group is a global advertising and marketing agency with headquarters in New York City, and 432 offices in 96 countries, operating in 154 cities. It is organized into four geographical units: North America; Europe, Middle East & Africa, A ...

. Many of his accounts dealt with accounts for children's toys and other products, including manufactured by

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

and the

Ideal Toy Company Ideal Toy Company was an American toy company founded by Morris Michtom and his wife, Rose. During the post–World War II baby boom era, Ideal became the largest doll-making company in the United States. Their most popular dolls included Betsy ...

. He often had his two sons play with new toys to come up with commercial ideas. Alben created

ad campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conc ...

s for Hot Wheels and wrote the script for the first Barbie Fashion Show. Alben also worked on campaigns for foods, candies and children's cereals. He wrote the jingle

's Choo Choo Charlie television commercials. Alben held an advertising account for

Post Cereal Post Consumer Brands (previously Post Cereals and Postum Cereals; also known as simply "Post") is an American breakfast cereal manufacturer headquartered in Lakeville, Minnesota. The company, founded in 1895 by C. W. Post, owns a large portfoli ...

during the 1960s. He wrote songs for two of Post's advertising

mascots A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fic ...

Linus the Lionhearted ''Linus the Lionhearted'' is an American Saturday morning animated television series that aired on CBS from September 26, 1964 to December 11, 1965, originally airing in black and white. Colorized versions of the episodes started airing on ABC in ...

and

Sugar Bear Sugar Bear is the advertising cartoon mascot of Post Super Sugar Crisp (later Golden Crisp) cereal. History Sugar Bear originally appeared in the 1940s as the mascot of Sugar Crisp (later known as Golden Crisp), a cereal produced by General Foo ...

. During the Fall of 1968, Alben became the

creative director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

of the Carson Roberts Agency, based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Alben became the Vice President and Creative Director of

in the early 1970s, when Ogilvy acquired the Carson Roberts Agency. He remained the creative director of Ogilvy & Mather until his retirement in December 1981.

Composer

Alben and his wife, Ruth, wrote both of the official albums for the 1964 New York World's Fair, ''Jump to the Fair'' and ''Hop to New York'' . Musically gifted, Alben wrote lyrics for numerous radio and television commercials and amateur productions, such as the Sinai Temple Annual Dinner Dance in Los Angeles. He played the clarient, saxophone, banjo, balalaika and mandolin, often performing in concert with Ruth. Alben also teamed with Jerry Hart to write the music for a play based on the life of

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

called "The Smartest Man in The World." The play opened in 2007 at the West Coast Jewish Theater. A Concert Adaptation of the musical's songs and lyrics were restaged by the Chapman on Broadway series at Chapman University in Orange, California in May 2014. Russ Alben died from a short illness in Los Angeles on August 26, 2012, at the age of 82. He was survived by his wife, Alice Germanetti; two sons,

Alex Alben Alex Alben (born New York City, 1958), American technology executive, author and law professor, served as the first Chief Privacy Officer of Washington State from April 2015 to May 2019. Previously, he was a candidate for the United States House ...

and Ted Alben; and five grandchildren. He was buried at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alben, Russ 1929 births 2012 deaths American advertising executives American male composers American composers Jingle writers Television producers from New York (state) Syracuse University alumni Jingle composers Burials at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery People from Flatbush, Brooklyn Midwood High School alumni