The Soupy Road to Romance

As the commercial opens, hubby asks the little woman (Dancer Ann Miller disguised as a hausfrau) what is cooking. "The Great American Soup!" she says, ripping off her apron. The kitchen walls part to reveal a set out of a 1935 Busby Berkeley musical, including 20 frizzy-haired chorines clattering away on raised silver platforms and 4,000 jets of water colored red, white and blue. The Billy May orchestra pounds out the production number, which has such lyrics as "The soupy road to romance" and "Let's face the chicken gumbo and dance." Miller, singing and tatta-tatting down the runway, does a quick turn on top of a large soup can that rises out of the floor, then dances back into the kitchen as the walls close behind her. "Emily," asks the husband, "why do you always have to make such a big production out of everything?"

The question should have been addressed to Stan Freberg, the Los Angeles advertising impresario, and the Heinz Company. The soupmaker was unhappy about running second to Campbell's ad campaign. Freberg's advice: "Put all your money in one spot." Heinz gave Freberg the job. Just producing the commercial cost $150,000--probably the largest sum ever budgeted for a one-minute commercial and more than the cost of many 30-minute programs. Never one to do things by halves, Freberg will stage a premiere for the commercial next week at the Beverly Hills Theater, where spotlights will roam the sky as formally dressed celebrities alight from Duesenbergs and Rolls-Royces.

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