Name: Edward Bernays on Letterman, April 4, 1985
Uploaded: 2020-10-12T03:42:37.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Edward Bernays on Letterman, April 4, 1985' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2020-10-12. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Edward Bernays on Letterman, April 4, 1985' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2020-10-12. Transcript available.

My next guest is a truly fascinating gentleman. He happens to be 93 years old
and he is the father
of public relations. In the course of his 70-year career, some of his clients
have been presidents
Wilson, Hoover, Coolidge, and Eisenhower, Thomas Edison, Eleanor Roosevelt, and
Enrico Caruso.
It's a pleasure to welcome Dr. Edward Bernays.
Hi, Doctor. Good to see you. Come on up over here. There you go. Let me see it
right here.
Thank you very much for being here. I mentioned to the people how old you were.
I hope you don't
mind me telling them that. And what kind of a doctor are you? What is your...
Let me say, first of all, that everybody has five ages and they don't match. I
happen to
be 93 chronologically. Right. But I'm 61 physiologically. Mentally, I don't
know, I suppose I'm 45.
And societally, how I adjust to other people, I wouldn't quiver if I saw poor
Mr. Reagan. I'd say, "Hi, Reagan."
And emotionally, I won't tell that to anybody. So now, you won't tell your
emotional age to anybody?
No. Will you tell yours? Well, based on your statistics, I've passed on weeks
ago.
I'll accept that. It was a lovely service, and I'm sorry you couldn't be there,
but...
All right, now, doctor, what... Tell me again what the doctor is. What are we
dealing with?
You're the father of public relations. Well, what we're dealing with, really,
is the concept
that people will believe me more if you call me doctor.
Oh, I see. So, that's a good idea. And actually, I am doctor because two
universities gave me
honorary degrees. All right. One was Boston University...
And the other was Babson College.
So, you're making the most of those degrees.
Well, let's talk... let's talk a little bit about public relations. You've been
doing it for 70 years.
Who were some of your... 72.
72. Who were some of your early accounts? Who did... Who were clients of yours
back in the very beginning?
Well, in the very beginning, Procter & Gamble was one of our accounts.
They had a white, floating soap called Ivory Soap.
Right. That was the selling point. It would actually float in the bathtub or
wherever you were bathing, I guess.
That's right. And they came to me one day and said that mothers washed the
faces of the children
and they hated soap because their eyes were stinging from the soap. And that
when people grew up,
they wouldn't use any soap. Right.
Because they get conditioned in childhood according to Freud, my uncle.
So, you get ahead of yourself, but it's true, your uncle was Sigmund Freud.
And so, we made a research, made a study, and we found a sculptor, Brenda Putnam,
who used soap instead of wax in developing her sculpture.
And it then occurred to me that if we could develop soap sculpture competitions...
I went to a psychologist and he said, "Every child has a creative instinct."
If we got some sculptors to be judges and had soap sculpture competitions for
children in different age groups...
That would get them accustomed to using the soap.
That would get them to love soap, but not only accustomed to it.
Did it work?
The fascinating thing to me was that after the first year, 22 million children
were loving soap and the sale of soap just went up.
Well, if you say so...
This is a matter of record. We could probably chart that.
Dow Jones reports. You can look them up if you want.
In the introduction here, I mentioned some of your clients have been past
presidents: Eisenhower, Coolidge, Hoover, Wilson.
Which one of those people really, really was in desperate need of your services?
Who was the dullest of the bunch that you handled?
Who was...
Well, let me quickly tell you the Coolidge story.
Harding had died. Coolidge became president.
And Coolidge was running for president.
He decided to be president.
And Alice Roosevelt Longworth, who was the daughter of Theodore Roosevelt,
had started a "bomot" of a few words that went around the country as if by
radio and by Letterman TV.
And they called on me and said, "We're worried that this may defeat Coolidge."
Well, the phrase...
Well, she was sort of bad-mouthing the candidate, in other words.
That's right.
What was she saying? Do you recall?
Was she...
Oh, yes. She said that Coolidge had been weaned on a pickle.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
That'll tip an election just like that.
If word of that gets out...
So, I agree with you because...
So, now, you were called in.
You have to offset this man who had a very dour image.
That's right.
Okay. Now, what did you do for Calvin?
I never used the word "image" because "image" is shadow.
I used the word "reputation" or "identity."
Okay. What did you do for his identity?
Well, I decided first that we should bring down Fanny Hurst, Edna Ferber, and
other women writers of the period.
And then I thought it would be a good idea to bring down some ecstatic dancers.
Ecstatic dancers.
Like the Dolly Sisters.
Uh-huh.
I don't remember the Dolly.
I've heard of them, but I never saw them.
And Al Jolson.
Entertainers.
Well-known figures of the day.
Entertainers.
And 40 others.
And at that time, anybody who was on the stage was a little bit off color.
And Coolidge had breakfast with them.
And when Slemp, his secretary came up to him and said, "There's a cabinet
meeting going on and they need you, Mr. President."
He said, "I'm busy."
And he got elected.
Uh, so this was to show that he was a regular sort of guy.
That's right.
All right.
And it did.
You know, Doctor, we're running out of time here, but I do want to show this
photo.
You mentioned your uncle, Sigmund Freud, and maybe we can get a shot of this.
And I'd like you to come back at another time and we'll talk more about public
relations and also about your famous family.
But pick yourself out of this photo and also tell the people where Mr. Freud is.
Well, Dr. Sigmund Freud is on the right.
Right there.
And he is traveling.
That's you, isn't it?
Uh, that's me there.
And who's this guy right there?
I'm 10 years old.
That's...
That's his brother.
That's his brother.
That's his brother.
That's his brother.
You were 10 years older.
I was 10 years old.
It was 1901.
We have to, uh...
Let me interrupt.
We'll do a commercial.
We'll be right back.
We're coming back.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Well, that'll be a lot of fun.
Now, come back and see us.
Will you do that?
Yeah.
Okay.
Thank you very much for your time, sir.
Have a good weekend.
Well, no, don't leave now.
That's it, folks.
Have a nice weekend.
Come back Monday.
Bye.
Bye.