Reggie’s practical jokes from the archives:
Text 1
Informant Name: Butch Marino
Tittle: Telephone Pranks
Archives code: 77/105
Instructor: Professor Stahl
Semester/Year: Fall, 1981
When it comes to practical jokes or rather, impractical jokes, my favorite is calling up people on the telephone and going into one of my disc jockey routines. Radio stations are alwaysrunning some kind of stupid contest. I like to call up people and friends of mine and we get together and between my impressions and them being disc jockey’s, we’ve had lots of people stumped. Probably one of my favorites is whenever I call somebody up and say; Good evening. This is Ted Brown of Campbell soup. And if you can sing the Campbell jingle we’re gonna send you a free case of soup. Now how about that? Oh, come on now. We know you can sing it. Let’s hear it now. And usually we will get somebody. We used to call up all the-do it on a Friday night when all the drunks are out. Some people were so good that we actually took soup over to them. One girl just the other week, my roommate and I decided to play it on her. So we called her up and I went into my little routine and she sung part of it. So I said I really can’t send you a full case of soup since you really didn’t comply correctly, but since you’ve been such a good sport I’ll bring you over a favorite-your favorite can of soup. And what is that? She replied cream of mushroom soup. This girl didn’t know me. My roommate and I and another guy went over there and knocked on the door and her roommate didn’t know me either. I asked for her by name and in the same voice I was using on the telephone. I said I had something for her and she just came around very surprised. I introduced myself as Ted Brown of Campbell soup and I was wanting to deliver her can of soup. About that time my roommate stuck her face in and she realized it was all a gag and took out after him to break his neck. It was a friend of his. Its always a lot more fun if you get somebody you know. We usually use one of his fiends because they don’t know me.
Context
The date of this selection is the fall semester of 1977. The people that are playing the practical joke are three students that went to Indiana University at this time. They are playing practical jokes on different people around the campus. Some of them are people that they know and some are not. They usually waited til late at night then they start to call people putting their practical joke in motion. They usually acted like they were working for the Campbell soup company when they called people, to get them to sing the Campbell soup jingle.