The "Clean Up Dirt & Grime & Grease In Just A Minute!" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  Helping to clean the bathroom with a bottle of Mr. Clean.  Love the smell of the stuff even though it's probably not the best thing to continue to inhale all the time.  Was trying to sing along while I did the toilet, but forgot most of the words.  Naturally had to "Google" them to see what they were.  A few facts that I did find out about Mr. Clean said that it was created by Linwood Burton who was a marine ship cleaning businessman.  He and his friend Mathusan Chandramohan, who was a rich entrepreneur from Sri Lanka, created the product to help clean ships that might have been embedded with grease and grime.  At the time, most solvents that worked were very harmful to workers, so the two businessmen worked at finding a solution that was effective yet less caustic.  Burton, who had a fundamental knowledge in chemistry, developed Mr. Clean in an effort to clean ships without having to pay significant premiums in disability claims for his workers.  He eventually sold the product to Procter & Gamble in 1958.  It was in that year that we all began to see commercials on TV that featured Mr. Clean.  Wasn't long before it was the best-selling household cleaner on the market.  Just before they began their TV commercials, a fellow by the name of Harry Barnhart conceived the idea for Mr Clean.  He had a fellow by the name of Ernie Allen, who worked in the art department at the advertising agency Tatham-Lsird & Kudner in Chicago, help him draw Mr. Clean who was depicted as a muscular, tanned, bald man who cleans things very well.  They used a model who was a US Navy sailor from Florida.  Hey...they could have used me except for the fact that I'm not that muscular.  They made him look like a genie with an earring, folded arms and a tendency to appear magically at the appropriate time.  The design was given to animator Hal Mason who designed the commercials for TV.  

Remember this guy?

They also used an actor for some of the commercials whose name was House Peters Jr. (I didn't spell that wrong).  Mr. Clean was designed to be a strong, silent type though he did speak once in a few TV commercials.  Mr. Clean was played by Mark Dana in a suit and tie during the mid-1960s.  The Mr. Clean jingle has been around since the product first hit the market and was sung by Don Cherry and Betty Bryan.  Guy by the name of Thomas Scott Cadden wrote the jingle in the spring of 1957 and recorded it on a home tape recorder which was presented to Procter & Gamble.  In 1958 Cadden produced and wrote the first batch of TV commercials which were 9, one-minute commercials and 4, 20 second commercials.  These original commercials began to run on TV in August of 1958 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Today it is the longest running jingle ever made for a TV commercial.  If you care to try to sing it...here are the lyrics...

Mr. Clean will clean up dirt & grime & grease in just a minute!

Mr. Clean will clean your whole house & everything that's in it!

Floors, doors, walls, halls, white sidewall tires, and old golf balls!

Sinks, stoves, bathtubs he'll do, he'll even help with the laundry, too!

The song had to be changed somewhat when it was translated into Spanish, German, Polish, Russian, Chinese, etc.  In the UK and Ireland the product was sold under the name "Flash" since there already was a product known as Mr. Clean in those countries.  Well, I've taken enough time to write my story today.  I must get back to helping my wife clean the bathrooms with my jar of Mr. Clean.  She told me I could help if I didn't sing that jingle.  Did it anyway, just kept it soft and quiet.  Hey...the catchy tune is something you just can't get out of your head!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.