Who Is Mason Reese And Why Is He Crying?
NOT A SOB STORY
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On this week's episode of the "Reply All" podcast, Jonathan Goldstein, the host of the CBC show "Wiretap," falls down a rabbit hole of YouTube nostalgia, and ends up staring down a figure from from his early childhood. Mason Reese.โ€‹

 YouTube: mason reese

If you've never heard of Mason Reese, you're not alone. We at "Reply All" had never heard of him either. But in the seventies, Mason Reese was an advertising phenomenon who appeared in dozens of commercials for everything from Dunkin' Donuts to Raisin Bran. He built his career on this Underwood Chicken Spread ad, which included the adorable spoonerism, "Borgasmord."

 YouTube: UnderwoodSpread

He was a big sensation โ€” some compare him to the Wendy's "Where's The Beef" Lady, or Mikey from Life Cereal.

 YouTube: panbiscuit

But that isn't quite true. While those spokespeople were limited to one product and one memorable slogan, Mason advertised everything. And he went from being a TV commercial star to being a star star.

 YouTube: mason reese

When he walked down the street people asked for locks of his signature red hair and blessings for their babies. One mother even named her twins after him, calling one Mason and the other Reese.

As Jonathan says, "There was something uncanny about Mason Reese. Because of his precocity, he didn't quite track as a child and some people even thought he was a little person dressed in children's clothing who, after a day's shoot, sparked up a stogie and poured himself a bourbon." Mason's celebrity feels totally impossible today. Something that could only have occurred in the '70s. He was, at one point, so famous that he was the subject of a sitcom pilot for ABC called, simply, "Mason."

 YouTube: mason reese

But there was one video in particular that stood out for Jonathan. One that felt so crucially lacking in context he found himself returning to it again and again.

 YouTube: mason reese

In this clip from the daytime talk show "The Mike Douglas Show," Mason collapses in tears at the prospect of hearing a live performance of Harry Chapin's "The Cat's In The Cradle." It's clear that this song deeply upsets him, but it's not clear why. And even more confusing, it appeared as though the person who had uploaded this clip was Mason Reese himself.

Why was Mason Reese uploading videos of himself crying? And why now, after 40 years? Jonathan knew there was only one way to figure it out. And so a few weeks ago, armed with a recorder and a producer, he went to Mason Reese's apartment on the upper west side of New York City, to find the answers to these questions.

Listen to the episode below: 

 

<p>Jonathan Goldstein is the host of the CBC radio show "Wiretap."</p>

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