STAN FREBERG HERE...Who Was Otto Bettmann?
Stan Freberg here. We lost 94-year old Otto Bettmann not long ago. Doesn't ring a bell? Be right back. [:60 SPOT BREAK]
Freberg here. As an avid reader of newspapers and magazines growing up, I began to notice a credit line under all the great pictures. It said, "Bettmann Archives."
Otto Bettmann escaped from the Nazis with two steamer trunks full of...gold? No, better--pictures. In America, he used them to to found his unique archives. Winston Churchill giving the "V for Victory" sign; Einstein sticking out his tongue; later on, Marilyn Monroe over a subway grate, her white skirt blowing up. They all carried the credit line, "Bettmann Archives."
Otto arrived in America just as photojournalism was taking off. Now, in the computer age, the need for graphic images is even greater, which must be why Bill Gates bought the millions of images known as "The Bettmann Archives."
Stan Freberg here.
Copyright (C)1998, Stan Freberg/Freberg, Ltd. (but not very) Distributed by Dick Brescia Associates and Radio Spirits, Inc.