I am searching for photos and /or videos of the following publicity
stunt:

Let me give a little background first.  During the late 1930's or
early 1940's an master independent publicity stunt(PR)agent named
James S. Moran wanted to generate publicity for a newly released
record.  The record was entitled either "Shoot the Sherbert to me,
Herbert" or "Pass the meatballs to me Dominick, my boy".  Both records
are jazz records probably done by two different musical groups; The
Merry Macs and Tommy Dorsey.

The publicity stunt orchestrated by PR agent James S. Moran, involved
renting a dinning room at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC.  Mr. Moran
brought in lots of meatballs and sherbert and people named Herbert and
Dominick and then promoted the biggest food fight there ever was.

I am seeking photos and/or video from the publicity stunt.

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Request for Question Clarification by silviares-ga on 23 Oct 2002 14:45 PDT

Hello publicitytracker2002-ga 

I din't know where to start so I decided to contact the Waldorf
Astoria Hotel in NYC. Are you sure that the event occurred there ? I'm
asking because they do not recall such an event. Here is their reply

"
Thank you for taking the time to contact us.  I have gone ahead and
contacted our Historian and Public Relations firm, and neither were
able to
supply me with any information regarding such an occurrence.

If I could be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to
contact
me.

Sincerely yours,

Victoria Chen
Guest Services Manager
The Waldorf=Astoria
301 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Telephone: 212 355 3000
Facsimile: 212 872 7272
"

silviares

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Clarification of Question by publicitytracker2002-ga on 23 Oct 2002 18:33 PDT

Hello Silviares, 
 
Thanks for your response.  I have based this search on the following
link:   http://www.riverdalereview.com/1_13_00dan.html.  I am hoping
that the information that was provided in that article was correct.  I
have tried contacting the author but was told to the use the search
engine AskJeeves. No luck there.
 
I believe that the Waldorf Astoria was once located in the site where
Empire State Building now stands.  But that was around 1931, according
to the article the publicity stunt was done during the late 1930's. 
And based on when the song "Shoot the Sherbert to Me, Herbert" was
released it was 1939.  I hope this helps.

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 27 Dec 2002 20:36 PST

I am still working here and I need to ask you if the name Dan has any
special meaning to you so I can know if I am on the right track or if
I am covering bases that you've already touched.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Question by publicitytracker2002-ga on 28 Dec 2002 10:50 PST

Thanks for you inquiry Tutuzdad, to answer you question, the name Dan
is the writer listed in this URL:  
http://www.riverdalereview.com/1_13_00dan.html
In his article, he discusses the publicity stunt.

Article that mentions it:
http://www.riverdalereview.com/1_13_00dan.html

I haven't found any photos or other significant mentions of the actual
event, however, here is some additional information on the songs. This
may be useful to you or other researchers:

"Shoot the Sherbert to Me, Herbert" by The Merry Macs (1939)

"Shoot The Meatballs To Me, Dominick! Boy!!" by Jimmy Dorsey (1939)
[Tommy Dorsey's older brother]

You can listen to "Shoot the Sherbert to Me, Herbert" in RealAudio
format at: http://dismuke.org/Music/How/shootsherbert.ram

........so did you ever get any further with this item; I notice it is
still an open question on GA with 226 days left to run so still hope
that someone will come up with something perhaps.

    john from melbourne