1975 Benny Bell – Shaving Cream

1975 Benny Bell – Shaving Cream 

Benjamin Zamberg was born in 1906 and grew up in New York City. After trying out a few ways to make a living, he settled on writing and performing in vaudeville. He wrote about 600 songs during his career, and recorded many of them on his own record labels using the names Benny Bell, Benny Bimbo, and Paul Wynn.

He initially recorded comedy songs and jingles. By the late thirties, he had begun recording risqué records for jukeboxes in cocktail bars. He had a great deal of success in the forties, but his most popular songs could not get played on radio stations.

One of the most popular songs Benny wrote was Shaving Cream. In spite of any initial claims by Benny, the original vocals for the song were sung by Phil Winston, and used one of Benny’s pseudonyms on the record labels: Paul Wynn. 

Benny and his music faded over time, but in the seventies he found newborn popularity thanks to Dr. Demento. Shaving Cream became one of the most popular recordings played on Demento’s show in the seventies.

Vanguard Records re-released the single in 1975. The label initially credited Benny Bell on the records, but initial controversy caused the label to retract the record. They re-released it with vocal credit going to Paul Wynn.

The single peaked at #30 on the Hot 100. Not bad for a thirty-year-old recording!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Bell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaving_Cream_(song)

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Here is Benny himself on a special Doctor Demento show: