newsmakers

newsmakers

‘Don’t Squeeze the Charmin’ creator dies

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.

John Chervokas, an advertising man and wordsmith who was credited with creating the “Please Don’t Squeeze the Charmin” advertising campaign, has died at age 74.

His son Jason Chervokas says his father died Saturday at New York Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. He lived in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.

Chervokas said the image of housewives squeezing fruit in a supermarket inspired the toilet- tissue campaign in 1964. He was a junior copywriter at the time.

The Charmin campaign was listed among Advertising Age’s top 100 of the 20th century

Another man claimed in 2007 that he wrote the slogan, but Advertising Age credits Chervokas.

Chervokas also wrote poetry, created crossword puzzles and was town supervisor of Ossining, N.Y. He worked in advertising until 1994 and retired from government in 2008.

Painting seized in war is returned to Poland

WARSAW, Poland

A valuable 19th-century Polish painting that went missing during World War II has been returned to Poland after being removed from auction in Germany, the culture minister said Wednesday.

Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski revealed Aleksander Gierymski’s “Jewish Woman Selling Oranges” to reporters and said the painting was returned to Poland after many months of on-and-off negotiations with lawyers representing a German person.

The German, who had the painting for more than 30 years, has requested anonymity, Zdrojewski said.

“During those long months, my main thought was to have this picture returned to Poland,” Zdrojewski said.

The work — sometimes referred to as the “Orange Vendor” — was painted around 1880-81, and is one of several works Gierymski produced showing Jewish life in one of the city’s poor districts.

Lucas loses battle over stormtrooper helmets

LONDON

The Empire has struck out.

Britain’s Supreme Court on Wednesday defeated a bid by George Lucas’ company to stop a prop designer making and selling replicas of the iconic stormtrooper helmets from the “Star Wars” films. The court did, however, prevent him from selling them in the United States.

Andrew Ainsworth sculpted the white helmets worn by the sinister galactic warriors in the original “Star Wars” film in 1977, and now sells replica costumes, made from the original molds, over the Internet. Lucasfilm Ltd. has been trying for years to stop him, in a battle that has climbed through the British courts.

Lucasfilm’s lawyers argued that the stormtrooper suits are sculptures and therefore works of art covered by British copyright law. Two lower courts ruled in 2008 and 2009 that the costumes were props, not artworks, and so covered by a much shorter copyright period that has now expired.

The country’s highest court on Wednesday upheld those decisions.

‘Smokey Joe’s Cafe’ saxophonist dies

GLENDALE, Calif.

Versatile saxophone player Gil Bernal has died at age 80. He performed on the 1950s pop song “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” and worked with Spike Jones, Lionel Hampton and Ry Cooder.

His family tells the Los Angeles Times that Bernal died of congestive heart failure July 17 at a Glendale hospital.

Bernal was born in the Watts area of Los Angeles. He joined a band after high school, then sang with Lionel Hampton’s band, leaving in the early 1950s to form his own group and later joining bandleader Spike Jones.

A tenor saxophonist, Bernal worked on several projects with Ry Cooder, including his 1997 Cuban music album, “Buena Vista Social Club.”

Vindicator wire services