Songwriter of Oscar Mayer Wiener dies
CHICAGO – The man who got generations of hot dog lovers humming along to the Oscar Mayer Wiener song died.
An obituary posted online by a northern Illinois funeral home said Richard Trentlage died Sept. 21 at age 87.
With the words, “Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener,” Trentlage helped solidify the company’s hot dogs as a piece of Americana.
The jingle he wrote appeared in a 1960s television commercial featuring cartoon children marching along and singing. The tune remained a fixture for the next half a century.
Trentlage was born in Chicago and began penning jingles as a high school student. Later, he transformed his living room into a recording studio, inviting his own children to sing on audition tapes.