Stan Freberg
continued
Freberg is as demonstrative in talking about his faith (above) as he is when he’s recording one o f
successful one—was coming un glued. M y segment of success in the entertainment world just wasn’t producing solid happiness for me. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the en tertainment world. I’d heen in radio since I was 17 and at A l hambra High, where I graduated in 1944, I majored in dramatics and journalism. M y break into ra dio came through a guest spot with Stuart Hamblen and his Lucky Stars. I met Cliffie Stone there. Cliffie had an early morning radio show where he interviewed out-of- town guests. Well, it was so early there were no guests so I did the voices for the whole show. Then .1 moved to CBS and later to War ner Brothers where I did the voices for 40 cartoons. I can do 100 com
pletely separate voices. I did from 50 to 60 for the Beany show alone. Dining my army hitch I wrote and produced shows for the Armed Forces. By the time I left the Beany show my records were doing pretty good. But it was at this point that I knew my little world was coming apart. I was raised in a Christian home. M y dad was a Baptist min ister (he graduated from the Bible Institute of Los Angeles the same year that Dr. Charles E. Fuller did). But I had no personal rela tionship with Christ. About four months after my friend was drowned I was in Port land, Ore. to promote a new record. Five of us were in a hotel room when the chambermaid came in. I found out later her name was
Grace Robbins. She stood there leaning on her carpet sweeper and started talking to me. She talked about Jesus Christ in a very sim ple and positive way. She seemed to believe it was a foregone con clusion that someday I’d become a Christian. She kept repeating the phrase, “ When you do become a Christian . . .” And then she’d follow it up with a description of the good things Christ would bring into a believer’s life. She asked me if I would read the New Testa ment. I told her I would and gave her my California address. A few days later the New Testa ment arrived. Alone in my room I read it completely through. And for the first time I heard the clear call of Jesus Christ. I got down on my knees and asked Christ to for-
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THE KING 'S BUSINESS
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