Press Release About Benny Bell

Fifty Years Ago, One of the Most Infectious Novelty Songs Of All Time Was Resurrected

Shaving Cream’s golden anniversary shines a light on other Benny Bell classics

November 15, 2024, New York, NY -- January 2025 marks the 50^th anniversary of shaving cream. Or more accurately, Shaving Cream, the Benny Bell novelty song that took the country by storm in January 1975—exactly a half-century ago.

Just as Dr. Demento was gaining popularity, and five years before anyone heard of Weird Al Yankovic, Benny Bell’s Shaving Cream, a song that substitutes the foamy substance for a common four-word expletive, hit the charts and became wildly popular.

The 1975 resurrection of the 1946 song sparked a Benny Bell comeback that resulted in a new album, radio and television appearances, and tour dates for the then-68-year-old entertainer. Suddenly, his other novelty songs, such as Everybody Wants My Fanny, Take a Ship for Yourself, and My Janitor’s Can, became known to a new generation.

"Throughout his entire music career, which lasted 70 years, Benny Bell did his little part to allow everyone to take a break from all the craziness of the world and just chuckle for a while, like little naughty kids," says his grandson and biographer, Joel Samberg. "Due to some bad luck and lousy decisions, much of his career was met with disappointment. But his sole lifelong goal was to make people laugh, and he did that every day of his life. For that alone, this 50th anniversary should be celebrated." Samberg wrote a book called Grandpa Had a Long One: Personal Notes on the Life, Career, and Legacy of Benny Bell (BearManor Media), and his upcoming novel, Jackie Jester (BearManor Media), is inspired by and loosely based on his grandfather's career.

Benny was born in 1906 to a Russian-Jewish immigrant father, a cantor who would have liked his son to follow in his footsteps. Though Benny was indeed deeply drawn to his faither, chanting about our connection to God was far less satisfying to him than singing about our fannies. In 1937, a record executive suggested that he concentrate on making risque records for the jukebox trade, which had expanded into thousands of soda shops, where kids could play them without parental approval. Shaving Cream first became a regional hit in 1946.

Benny ended up recording more than 120 albums, 78-rpm and 45-rpm records.

In 1974, a Los Angeles-based disk jockey, Barret Hansen, better known as Dr. Demento, came across a discarded copy of the 1946 Shaving Cream record. He played it on his show, which was syndicated in just a few markets. One of those markets was New York, where it was carried by WNBC, a 50,000-watt all-music station. Famed disc jockey Cousin Bruce Morrow played it on the air—and all hell broke loose.

John Lund, who was then WNBC’s program director, was astounded at its rise and wrote a day-by-day diary about it which was published in Billboard. For January 6, 1975 he wrote, “The switchboard at WNBC is flooded with calls from listeners asking where to buy the record.” For January 8 he wrote, “75 percent of record store managers in New York asked us where they could purchase Shaving Cream.” His January 9 entry said, “Shaving Cream is now being played on the station approximately once every five hours. The response is overwhelming.”

Next came an on-air WNBC interview with Bell, followed by an album deal with Vanguard Records. Billboard called Shaving Cream the leading novelty song of the day. Today there are hundreds of YouTube videos (and thousands of comments) devoted to Benny Bell songs, and musical artists and TV and movie production companies still purchase rights to use or cover his songs.

Benny Bell songs are available for download or streaming on many online platforms, including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Discogs, Spotify, MusicStack, CD Baby, Tiktok, Deezer, and others.

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Benny Bell lyric sampler

The Automobile Song

Will you love me when my carburetor’s busted

Will you love me when I cannot shift my gears

When my spark plug is as dead as Kelsey’s doorknob

As my clutch begins to slip will you shed tears?

Everybody Wants My Fanny

Everyone is out to get my Fanny

Everybody wants to see my Fanny

Everybody likes to hold my Fanny

But she loves no one but me.

My Janitor’s Can

I don’t care if you play on the sidewalk

I don’t mind if you dance in the all,

You may even play ball on the staircase

Or with chalk scratch your name on the wall

I don’t care if you ransack the basement

If you’re happy then I’m happy too,

But don’t stick a burning cigar in my can

That’s all that I ask of you.

Shaving Cream

My old lady died in the bathtub

She died from a terrible fit

In order to fulfill her wishes

She was buried in six fee of

Shaving cream, be nice and clean,

Shave every day and you’ll always look keen.

Take a Ship

You take a ship for yourself

I’ll take a train by myself

If you can’t fly in planes

Or ride buses or in trains

Then go take a ship for yourself.