Happy Anniversary, "Shaving Cream" Resurrection.

He may have recorded more than 200 songs on dozens of albums, singles and 78-rpm records, but my grandfather’s career owes much of its longevity to one recording, “Shaving Cream,” which became nationally known in the last month of 1973 after being played repeatedly on the air by several deejays.

December 2013 marks the true 40th anniversary of the “Shaving Cream” novelty song resurrection. That, of course, was 27 years after the double-entendre classic had first been a prominent jukebox selection back in 1946.

My grandfather, whose stage name was Benny Bell, had his greatest popularity between the late-1930s and the early 1950s with such novelty classics as “Everybody Wants My Fanny,” “Take a Ship for Yourself,” “Grandpa Had a Long One,” “My Janitor’s Can,” “She Got Her Tidbit,” “She’s Still Got It,” “A Goose for My Girl” and many others.

He was known in the music industry not just for writing and singing, but also arranging, engineering and promoting most of his own recordings.

After novelty deejay Dr. Demento first played “Shaving Cream” on KMET in Los Angeles in the summer of 1973 (just prior to having his show nationally syndicated), it was picked up by other radio stations, most notably WNBC in New York (which syndicated the Demento show), and became a Top 40 hit by wintertime. Its double-entendre verses were muscially infectious coast to coast, such as:

“My old lady died in a bathtub
She died from a terrible fit
In order to fulfill her wishes
She was buried in six feet of ...
Shaving cream, be nice and clean
Shave every day and you'll always look keen.”

Billboard Magazine ran a piece in January 1974 in which WNBC program director John Lund described what happened the month before, in December, after “Shaving Cream” started playing on his station: “December 9, record becomes most requested song during WNBC ‘Total Request Week... December 31, ‘Total Request Week’ ends at 5 p.m. Tally of tens of thousands of requests tabulated shows that ‘Shaving Cream’ was most-requested song.”

“Shaving Cream” subsequently was covered by other artists and groups (including a reggae version, a country version. and several by Dr. Demento himself). It is also featured on dozens of amateur-produced YouTube videos and has been referenced on TV by several personalities, most recently Drew Carey on “The Price is Right.”

My grandfather’s career lasted more than 70 years. Following the 1973 revival he made dozens of television, nightclub and nostalgia show appearances, many with Dr. Demento and Weird Al Yankovic. His last public performance was in the mid 1990s.

He died in 1999 at the age of 93. Despite the fact that he never hooked up with the right people to help him break out nationally, he’s always had a strong and loyal following, partially because he was such a lovable nut. This 40th anniversary of the ‘Shaving Cream resurrection’ is a good time to hop aboard that bawdy bandwagon. Born in 1906 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, his story in some ways parallels that of the young Al Jolson. His Russian-Jewish immigrant father was a cantor who would have liked for his son to follow in his footsteps. My grandfather was indeed deeply drawn to his faith, but too deeply drawn to music and humor to consider the pulpit a viable career path. By his early twenties, his songs were accepted for recording by various artists, although many were never released. So he began recording them on his own.

Today thousands of people coast to coast search for rare Benny Bell 78, 45 and 33 rpm albums and singles. There have been several Benny Bell fan clubs through the years. Dozens of his songs are available for purchase on compilation CDs and as single downloads on Amazon, iTunes, CDBaby and other online sites.

He tried to teach me that you should spend your life doing what you truly want to do, no matter how much the world is against you. He lived by that philosophy. Of course, he and his family also suffered a bit because of it—but if you met the guy, you’d never know it. He always had a laugh, a smile and a funny story, no matter where, no matter who. How can you not admire that?