I had no idea Mr. Clean goes far back to 1957. According to Wikipedia, Mr. Clean was conceived in 1957 by Harry Barnhart who came up with the idea, and Ernie Allen who were from the Tatham-Laird & Kudner ad agency in Chicago.
Did you know that his full name is actually Veritably Clean? I did not know that till now. Additionally, Wikipedia informs us that his name is translated to other languages...."The name "Clean" is usually translated into local languages: in Canadian French M. Net; in Spain, Don Limpio; in Mexico, Maestro Limpio; in Italy, Mastro Lindo; in Germany, Meister Proper; in France, Monsieur Propre."
Did you know he is not a genie? I admit, there was a time when I used to think that he was a genie myself.
Here the entire "story" of Mr. Clean in Wikipedia. It is actually quite interesting. He originally was supposed to be a Navy sailor from Pensacola, FL. Here is another trivia, I'm sure many people think he never talked, but there was this one time that he did talk during the 1960's, with actor Mark Dana (I can't find a single picture of him on the net. I've been looking for it forever! I want to know what he looks like!) doing his voice. Check wikipedia for more info about Mr. Clean in Popular Culture, his commercial list and the jingle.
Wikipedia Mr. Clean
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Clean
Below is Mr. Clean first commercial 1958
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBHIqnvmOjI
May 22, 2008
Mr. Clean Will Clean Your Whole House
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Hi, my father wrote, produced and directed the original Mr. Clean commercial. He wrote the jingle back in 1957. I have provided Wikipedia with most of the Mr. Clean information. My father kept very detailed information and never threw anything away. I have pictures of the actor Mark Dana who played Mr. Clean. The pictures were taken during the production of the commercial back in the early 60's. He was not bald so my father said he had to use a skin cap to achieve his baldness. My father passed away in 2007, but my mother still recieves royalties from the use of the jingle that is still used around the world. Thanks for the nice comments on the jingle. Tim C
Tim, thanks so much for your input. I enjoyed reading all that new info. I liked the part about the skin cap. Too bad there is no YouTube commercial with actor Mark Dana.
It's amazing that jingle has been around for 51 years, isn't it?
Is there any way that we could see a picture of Mark Dana some where on the net?
It's good to know that the information from Wikipedia came from a "direct" source. ;-)
Thanks again!
House Peters Jr played the original Mr Clean and here is a picture from the back of his autobiography:
http://members.tripod.com/~ClaytonMoore/housejr1.html
Thanks Scott for sending the link! It's nice to see the face behind Mr. Clean ;-)
Wikipedia states that the original image was of a Sailor from Pensacola, FL. I believe this sailor to be Tom Perego who still lives in Ft. Lauderdale. It would nice to find out if it was truely Tom's image that was used all these years. He certainly looks the part, even at his current age.
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