Rice-a-Roni Jingle Singer Dies

Edith Pilaf, a minor Bay Area singer not to be confused with the significantly more talented and famous Edith Piaf, died yesterday in her Novato apartment. Pilaf, hired by the Golden Grain Macaroni Company to sing the original Rice-a-Roni jingle for 1958 radio and television advertisements, suffered a coronary brought on by a combination of arterial plaque and high blood pressure.

This is a sad footnote to the advertising industry. Apparently, Pilaf opted for a lifetime supply of Golden Grain's signature product in lieu of significant monetary compensation, but her talent was never able to take her far in the entertainment world. With no residuals, she subsisted on Rice-a-Roni and crackers for the bulk of her life, preferring, as she once told her sister (who was also her manager), to stick it out in singing despite a lack of steady work. The results were tragic, and the 66-year-old woman paid dearly over the years for her relatively uniform diet.

Recent calls to extend contracts and payments to jazz musicians taken advatage of through the 1960s have now been extended to include those whose talents help sell billions of dollars of products annually. Producers are, as we might expect, loath to comply, however, and we can expect more such stories in the future. John Gilchrist, the original "Mikey" from the 1971 Life cereal commercial, is said to be living off of breakfast staples and Skippy peanut butter. Luckily, Gilchrist is able to survive because of the compensation provided for his participation in Pepto Bismol commercials. It is a sad that such tales exist, and I am appalled by the general state of advertising.