Philadelphia, PA - The Mr. Softee jingle has for generations blared from ice cream trucks throughout the Philly/NY metropolitan area and beyond after first springing from the mind of Les Waas, a Philadelphia advertisement man who died on April 19 2016 at the age of 94.
The catchy jingle played by Mister Softee trucks was based on "The Whistler and His Dog" (1960) by Lester Morton "Les" Waas. A copy of the sheet music and all the words can be found on the Mister Softee website. Waas, who created close to 1,000 jingles in his lifetime, died in April 2016.
The Mr. Softee jingle is written in E-flat major with 6/8 time. However, many of the trucks play a version that sounds almost as if it is transposed up a half step, in E major, though still with the 6/8 time. In New York City, the trucks are permitted to only play the jingle while moving, to reduce noise.
Les had written and produced 973 jingles for such advertisers as "Mr. Softee", Holiday Inn, U.S. Coast Guard, Kiddie City, Acme Markets, Genuardi Super Markets, Breyer's, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Department of Virginia Tourism and the longest-continuously-running jingle in advertising, the Melrose Diner. He had also written 22 published/recorded songs and two of them became the official themes of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team. Less, will be missed as a Philadelphia Icon.
