(link:) Rare recordings of Mike Nichols and Elaine May on NBC's 'Monitor'

(Reposted from 'Brief Window')

Holy cow!
Why doesn't somebody tell me these things?!?

Over four hours of previously unreleased Nichols and May comedy routines, available to be heard online??
It's a bonanza! Who knew?

Head over to Isn't Life Terrible right now and take a listen to a wonderful trove of Mike & Elaine stuff you've likely never heard before...

Follow links to recordings of
Mike Nichols and Elaine May on NBC's 'Monitor':
- Part 1
- Part 2
- Part 3
- Part 4

Wow, I had no idea.

I stumbled onto this archive just the other day while googling around for information about
The Compass Players, the mid-1950's improvisational theater revue that would a few years later evolve into Chicago's legendary Second City.

For the unitiated, before their long and stellar careers in film,
Mike Nichols and Elaine May had early forays with improv at the Compass Theater that led them to huge stage and television success as a stand-up comedy team.

Their partnership only lasted into the early '60's, and other than 3 LPs they released, there really has not been too much recorded evidence available of their time performing together.
It's a sad state of affairs, and it's never sat well with me.

I was vaguely aware that material from their final LP before they split had been taken from appearances made on 'Monitor', NBC's network radio variety program that ran every weekend from 1955 - 1975.

Personally, I never guessed that other recordings of theirs from that program had existed, or survived.

It's good stuff! I'm still making my way through it, and it's great to hear 'new' Nichols and May, as they do amazing things with improvisation and comedic timing.

Some of the recordings are brilliant, some are not quite, but it's all an unexpected treat - - and again, who knew?!?

It's been interesting to learn more about the Monitor program, too, so I'm also having fun investigating all there is to see and hear at the extensive Monitor Tribute Pages.

- You can read more about Nichols and May in Jeffrey Sweet's book about The Compass Players and Second City; 'Something Wonderful Right Away' or in Gerald Nachman's 'Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s'.

Nachman's book can be previewed at Google Book Search; The chapter on Nichols and May begins on page 318.

UPDATE, 4.5.09: Thanks to reader Mark for bringing my attention to an old video clip of Nichols and May, performing in a commercial for GE refrigerators on live TV...

- Click here for link to Google Video, (via TV Days.Com)

Larry Storch Reads Philip Roth's 'Epstein'

'Epstein' is a short story that appeared in author Philip Roth's first published book,
'Goodbye, Columbus' in 1959.

Like the title novella and other short stories in the book, its theme relates to the concerns of urban American Jews - - specifically in this story, a middle-aged overbearing father and husband with demons of his own.

- Click here to read the album's back cover liner notes, written by Nat Hentoff.

A guess is that the late '60's reissue of this earlier-released recording was meant to coincide with the rise in popularity
Philip Roth had at the time with his bestseller 'Portnoy's Complaint' and the film version of 'Goodbye, Columbus'.

From the LP 'Larry Storch Reads Philip Roth's Epstein'
(original Prestige/Lively Arts release circa 1962, this Prestige LP reissue circa 1969),
Listen to:

Side 1 (timing: 24:04)

Side 2 (timing: 20:53)

(click for audio)

- - OR download both album sides in one 43.6 Mb zipfile.

Larry Storch began his showbiz career as a stand-up comedian and impressionist.

His talent for expertly capturing subtly nuanced voices is evident in this recording.

Storch may be best remembered for his '60's TV sitcom role of Corporal Agarn on 'F Troop', or perhaps by some for his re-teaming with Forrest Tucker a decade later on the Saturday morning kids show, 'The Ghost Busters'.

In addition to many other TV, film and stage appearances, Larry Storch also provided many voices for animated cartoon characters, such as Phineas J. Whoopee on the 'Tennessee Tuxedo' show (performing opposite his childhood pal, Don Adams), 'Cool Cat' at the very end of the Warner Bros. 'Looney Tunes' era, and as 'Drac' in the Archies spun-off 'Groovie Goolies' TV show.


See also:
- Larry Storch seen briefly in a YouTube clip as KAOS DJ 'The Groovy Guru' (again opposite his pal
Don Adams), from the 1968 'Sacred Cows' episode of TV's 'Get Smart'.

- Listen to a 1957 novelty 45 released on the Roulette label; a parody of Fats Domino's hit,
'I'm Walkin'', featuring Storch impersonating Prince Philip singing to Elizabeth II.

- For his current activities, click over to Larry Storch on MySpace

78s fRom HeLL: Paul Weston's 'What Is This Thing Called Bop?' - Parts 1 & 2 (1949)

My best guess is that this curious 'demonstration' record was intended for radio station use, or perhaps as some sort of sales tool in record shops, but I can't say as I have any real clue...

The seeds of Bop music were sown long before pioneers like Bird & Diz & Monk began sprouting up in the first half of the 1940's.

By 1949, this brand of progressive jazz may have still been a novelty to many, but had gained enough prominence (if not respectability) to warrant reference materials like this recording as a handy guide to the layman.

By 1949, arranger/conductor Paul Weston ('the father of "mood" music') was working as A&R; director for
Capitol Records and had his finger on the pulse of popular music and its trends.

The text piece he'd written was adapted as something of an audio documentary, using announcer Tom Reddy as narrator.

(Weston had worked with Reddy often when conducting studio orchestras for radio)

Coincidentally enough, many of the artists cited on this record were under contract with Capitol at the time...

Listen to:
Written by Paul Weston,
Narrated by Tom Reddy -
What Is This Thing Called Bop? (Parts 1 & 2)
(Capitol Records 78, 1949)
(click for audio)

- See also: Paul Weston entry at Space Age Pop.Com

Here's Henry Morgan

Right off the bat, in discussing humorist Henry Morgan
in this day and age, let's NOT CONFUSE HIM with
Harry 'Colonel Potter' Morgan from MASH and Dragnet.

Two entirely different creatures.

Beginning in 1952, Henry Morgan was a featured guest panelist on TV's 'I've Got A Secret' and several other game shows through the 1960's and into the '70's.

Like many other regular panelists, becoming known as a game show fixture may have eventually overshadowed his previous professional life.
For Morgan, that was as a radio comedian with a dry wit comparable to that of Fred Allen.
If his style also bore similarities to that of author
Robert Benchley, it seems appropriate that the three of them enjoyed something of a mutual admiration society.

Enjoy the audio I've posted here, but please also explore these links to learn more about Henry Morgan.

- Henry Morgan at Wikipedia - - also has links to archives of several complete 'Here's Morgan' radio shows from the early '40's.

- 'Henry Morgan: Fuck the Sponsor', a definitive article on Morgan at WFMU's Beware of the Blog.


The Riverside LP below ⬇ (also issued on Riverside's Judson imprint) found Morgan reprising various monologues he'd performed, many of them dating back to his heyday in radio.

I'll guess that it was recorded around 1957, give or take. (Please correct me if you know better)
I've found one discography that infers that its release was in 1964, but that just seems unlikely to me...

From the 10" LP 'Here's Morgan' (Riverside Records, 195?),
Listen to:

Little Red Riding Rouge
Googie Morgan on Baseball
Advertising
The Truth About Cowboys
The Invention of Time
Hey, Bud

Morgan's own liner notes to the above tracks...

A word about the artist: Mr. Morgan is an Artist.
A few words about these examples of his Art:

1. Little Riding Hood Rouge
The story as told to the Artist (see above) by an Alsatian carver of netsuke on a rainy day in Juin (June).
The dialect employed is that of the Fragonard section of Paris, a district inhabited by fleas, who, it is interesting to note, maintain a market there.

2. Googie Morgan on Baseball
This is anti-British, in a way, but it's not normal to like absolutely everybody.
There are individual Englishmen who are very likeable, but they stay home and let the British enjoy them.
Not one word of the foregoing is true, but I like a bit of controversy now and then.

3. Advertising
There are many more things to be said than there was space for on this record and I hope in future to be able to devote an entire half hour to the subject of advertising. An immense popular demand will do the trick.
Address your letters to "Advertising Council of America, Mason and Dixon Street, City."
If you don't like this material your dealer will be insane to refund your money.

4. The Truth About Cowboys
These remarks were made in the belief that no cowboy has a machine which will play LPs.
If any cowhoy should happen to hear this stuff, I plead with him to remember that he and I are Americans and must stand together against a hostile world.
Anybody will teIl you what a great kidder I am, too.

5. The Invention of Time
Originally this was a sketch with four or five actors in radio.
I've made it into a monologue because, among other things, we needed something in this space.
Also, it might bring back memories to some old die-hards who remember radio before the war. Any war.

6. Hey, Bud
Like many of the characters on this disc, this one is from an old radio monologue.
He was invented during the days of gasoline coupons.
This sneak could get you nylons, meat - - anything that was in short supply.
I remember he got sugar by distilling Coca-Cola.
-HENRY MORGAN


During the 1940's Morgan was often tagged as
'the bad boy' of radio.
His brand of satirical humor was popular with audiences as he worked his way up to a half-hour network show.

His reputation for on-air disrespect to his sponsors was notorious. The playful irreverence displayed during his commercial announcements could just as easily escalate to transparent disdain.

Though it never seemed to hurt the sales of the product he was hawking, (or his ratings) it got him in trouble regularly, and several sponsors tired of his services.

During WWII, Morgan's show came to an end when he joined the military in 1943.
The excerpts archived below are from one of the shows he had following his post-war return to radio.

Hearing a few of these barbs, I'm struck by how that brand of 'biting the hand that feeds you' still sounds pretty risky.
I think a contemporary media personality would still have trouble getting away with it today.
It's too smart, and it's assumes that the audience is that smart as well.

Listen to the following commercial announcements from the Henry Morgan ABC-Radio Eversharp-Schick Program, featuring Henry Morgan, announcer Charlie Irving, and Bernie Green's Orchestra (1946-47):

Saves You Time #1
Razor Comparison Test
A Startling Announcement
I'll Say One Thing For The Razor...
Greetings From Eversharp-Schick
Leading Atheletes
Shavathon #1
New Years Resolution
Without An Audience, Yet
Push-Pull, Click-Click
Aristocracy
Commercial Announcement For Kids
Singing Commercial
Shavathon #2
Saves You Time #2
A Startling Testimonial
Bored Sophistication
Banner Year
Trumpet Goof
The Greatest Invention
Saves You Time #3

(click for audio)

- - OR download all 21 Eversharp-Schick Commercial tracks in one 24.4 Mb zipfile.

Jean Shepherd Reads 'The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill' by Robert Service

A light dusting of snow on the ground, the trifling inconvenience of grabbing gloves and a hat before heading outside, and as my mind over-dramatizes weather conditions, my thoughts turn to the poetry of Robert Service. ➤

In the 1890's, while still in his early twenties, Robert Service left a banking job in Scotland and traveled to Canada with dreams of becoming a cowboy.

Hired by a banking firm, they sent him to their branch in the Yukon territory.
Inspired by the vast Canadian wilderness and his exposure to the colorful characters living there, Service began writing poetry about the West and its gold miners.




Despite the difference in era and experiences, it can be said that Service and quintessentially American storyteller ⬅ Jean Shepherd were kindred spirits.

Both wove intricately embroidered tales from things they saw and lived.

At this point, Shepherd will always be best remembered as the narrator and author behind the 1983 film 'A Christmas Story'.

Prior achievements included several books of short stories, a few records, TV productions, and many live concert/lecture appearances, and additionally, memories of his legendary late-night radio broadcasts on New York City's WOR from 1956 - 1977 endeared him to generations of listeners.

See also:
- Flick Lives.Com - A Salute to Jean Shepherd
- Robert Service - Selected Poetry

From the LP
'Jean Shepherd Reads Poems of Robert Service'
(Folkways Records, 1975),
Listen to:

Shepherd's introduction to
'The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill'

The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill
(click for audio)

78s fRom HeLL: Al 'Jazzbo' Collins' Grimm Fairy Tales For Hip Kids - Little Red Riding Hood & Three Little Pigs (1953)

Over the course of more than fifty-or-so odd years,
Al "Jazzbo" Collins (1919 - 1997) was by definition one of the coolest voices in radio.
A professional hipster.

This platter was the first of his hip fairy tale recordings, reciting adaptations that Steve Allen had been presenting in the pages of Downbeat magazine.

The two would collaborate and revisit the concept many times over the course of many years. (With and without pianist Lou Stein.)

Listen to:
Al 'Jazzbo' Collins, with Lou Stein at the piano -
Little Red Riding Hood - A Grimm Fairy Tale For Hip Kids (Adaptation by Steve Allen)
(Brunswick Records 78, 1953) (click for audio)







Listen to:
Al 'Jazzbo' Collins, with Lou Stein at the piano -
Three Little Pigs - A Grimm Fairy Tale For Hip Kids (Adaptation by Steve Allen)
(Brunswick Records 78, 1953) (click for audio)







➤
Another example of Steve Allen's 'fractured' fairy tales, from the September 23rd, 1953 issue of Downbeat.

(click to ENLARGE)
➤











































⬇ ⬇
From the same issue of Downbeat, a full-page mail-order ad for the sheet music to this record.

Yes, that's right, the
*sheet music*.
⬇ ⬇












































(click on image to ENLARGE on a new page!)

⬅ Wally Wood's illustration of Jazzbo broadcasting from his mythical Purple Grotto, from 'What's All This Jazz About Jazz?', a story appearing in MAD magazine #31 in 1957.

(Via Bhob Stewart's Potrzebie)

Factoid: It was also in 1957 that Jazzbo was briefly the host of NBC-TV's 'Tonight Show', during a five-week interval in between hosts Steve Allen and Jack Paar.












Follow these links for further info on Al 'Jazzbeaux' Collins (the spelling officially changed in 1969):

- His entry at allmusic.Com

- The Purple Grotto.Com - - A tribute site with background, interview excerpts, and audio airchecks.

- A Jazzbo page at the Stinking Badges Homepage

Robert Benchley's 'The Social Life of the Newt', read by Bob Elliott

This essay by Robert Benchley (1889 - 1945), American humorist, author, actor, and member of New York's famed Algonquin Round Table, appeared in his book 'Of All Things', first published in 1921.

Its incisive observations are timeless in their relevance.

This recording of Benchley's work was produced in 1983, as read by Bob Elliott, one-half of the prolific and sublime comedy team of Bob and Ray.
⬅



See also: (click for links)
- The Official Bob and Ray Website

- Works by Robert Benchley available at Project Gutenberg

- Some other valuable information about newts can be found here, and here, and also here.

- (Addendum, 11/10/07) Benchley's 1935 Oscar-winning film short, 'How To Sleep' and more at Schadenfreudian Therapy.



From 'The Best of Benchley, read by Bob Elliott'
(Caedmon LP, 1983),
Listen to:

The Social Life of the Newt (click for audio)




Still further Benchley info
may be found at:
- The Robert Benchley Society
- Nat Benchley.Com








(Benchley portrait by Al Hirschfeld) ⬇



"...And, after all, what more has life to offer?"


- Further ADDENDUM: By request, another Benchley classic - -

Click here and listen to "Carnival Week in Sunny Las Los"

- - read by radio humorist Henry Morgan, circa 1969.

78s fRom HeLL: Garry Moore - Culture Corner (1946) (Expanded re-post)

(Almost seven months ago, I posted 'Ode To A Cow' from this album as one of my very first entries while I was setting up this blog. I've had a few requests since then to post more cuts from it. Here's the whole shebang, often with an excess of surface noise intact. Enjoy!)

Prior to many years as a genial host of game shows, talk shows, and variety shows on TV, Garry Moore was announcer, sidekick, and straightman to Jimmy Durante on his radio show.

One of his featured bits as 'Durante's Boy' was
'Culture Corner'. This album collects some of those 'original monologues with music'.
(Please try to disregard what looks suspiciously like old bloodstains on the weathered album cover.)


From Garry Moore's 'Culture Corner' 78 album set, (Decca Records, 1946)
Listen to:

Song Satire
Elsie, The Glow Worm
Rondelay For a Rabbit
Ode To A Cow
Little Red Riding-Hood
Hugh, The Blue Gnu

(click for audio, and good luck with the sound quality on a few of these)

The Morning After The Night Before, x 2: Fred Dunn / Shelley Berman

Here in the USA, The fifth of July has long been designated by many as something of a 'National Hangover Day'. It's one of several scattered about the calendar directly following other major holidaze.

Here's a couple of old record selections on the subject.

I can *almost* convince myself that the poor sound quality of the Fred Dunn record is true to the spirit of the genre and the subject matter.

Beyond that, I'll guess that it was released in the early 1950's, but otherwise I don't have any info for you on Fred Dunn or his Barrelhouse Rhythm. Anybody?

Listen to: Fred Dunn and his Barrelhouse Rhythm - The Morning After (click for audio)

In the late 1950's, Shelley Berman helped to revolutionize stand-up comedy.

His 'Morning After' routine was included on his first LP, 'Inside Shelley Berman'.

When the album appeared in 1959, the idea of a record capturing a live stand-up 'concert' was an alien concept.

Nevertheless, it won the first ever non-music Grammy award that year.

← (1962 photo by Jim Marshall, from his book 'Proof')

See also: The Official Shelley Berman Web Site

Listen to: Shelley Berman - The Morning After The Night Before (click for audio)

Rediscovering Larry Hankin

The other day I had just a few minutes to investigate a little used bookstore I'd never seen.

It was going out of business. I scurried about, head cocked sideways to quickly scan shelves for whatever I might find in the limited time available to me.

I found just a couple of things, including a book I'd never seen nor knew existed, but was nevertheless very pleased to see. It was a collection of 'Sometimes Jones' stories and other writings by Larry Hankin.

You know Larry Hankin. If you think you don't, you're mistaken; at the *very* least you've seen him as a character actor in small parts in movies or on TV. Lots of sitcoms, over lots of years. Always fun to watch.

Okay, cool, I said, there's a Larry Hankin book. What else is there? I've had my own well-loved copy of his spoken-word CD for many years, but was greatly dismayed to discover that it's currently out of print.

I looked online, and yes, he has a website, good to know.

Next I was very pleased to discover that there are several Larry Hankin video shorts I hadn't seen, sitting over at YouTube.

I've wedged a couple of them in here...


Huh - - Those are Hankin's own illustrations in the 'Sometimes Jones' video?!
Learn something new every day...



Some background, from the liner notes (dated 6.18.93) to his 1995 CD:

"LARRY HANKIN was raised in Far Rockaway, Long Island, New York, graduated Syracuse University with a degree in Industrial Design, broke his arm in a barroom fight on graduation night, and, on the invitation of a friend, went to Plattsburg, New York to recuperate and design sets for a summer stock theater.

"After healing, he joined the acting company, and in the Fall migrated to Manhattan where he washed dishes during the day and did stand-up comedy in Greenwich Village coffee houses at night, eventually opening for such diverse acts as Woody Allen, Miles Davis, and The Lovin' Spoonful.

"Invited by Paui Sills, the director/founder of 'Second City', Hankin left New York to join the Chicago 'Second City' company. A few monlhs later he left Chicago and traveled further west to help found 'The Committee', the world-famous comedy improvisational theater In San Francisco - (which brought him full-circle back to New York when 'The Committee' was invited to play the St. James Theater on Broadway).

"He then traveled to Hollywood to co-star as Charlie Butz in 'Escape From Alcatraz', starring Clint Eastwood, and deciding to stay, has since appeared in more than forty T.V. sitcoms, dramas, and movies-of-the-week and over twenty theatrical features inciuding John Huston's 'Annie', 'Sting II', 'Armed & Dangerous', 'Running Scared', and three John Hughes films: 'She's Having A Baby', 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles', and 'Home Alone.'

"In 1988 Larry returned to the stage to play the lead character of 'Jacques' in the American premiere of Milan Kundera's 'Jacques & His Master' at LATC directed by Simon Callow, which won LA.'s Triple Crown: The Critic's Choice in all three of LA.'s major dailies: The LA. Times, Herald Examiner, and Daily News.

"And, in between, Hankin has contlnued to write, direct, and play his popular tall, thin, chaplin-like character, 'SOMETIMES JONES' in the many video and film shorts he produces himself, several of which have played in the United States on the HBO,Showtime, Cinemax, and A & E cable television stations - including his favorite, 'SOLLY'S DINER', which garnered an Academy Award nomination."

There's a considerably more updated bio and resume on view over at Hankin's website.
Enjoy getting to know Larry Hankin a little better.

From Larry Hankin's ''Pomes & Stories' CD (New Alliance Records, 1995), Listen to:

The Guilty Mantra
Who Wrote The Book Of Love
And So Are You
A Quicksand Hero

(click for audio)

A brief Del Close reference leads us along to: Michael O'Brien & John Elk - How To Speak Modern (1980)

ONCE upon a time, long, long ago, there was a curious and wonderful LP recorded, called 'How To Speak Hip'...

The *quite* curious and colorful
Del Close recorded the album in 1959 with John Brent, and it's remained much-beloved by kooky hipsters all over the land.

This would be in between the period of his appearances with The Compass Players in St. Louis, and just prior to his settling in Chicago, where he'd rejoin his compatriots now in The Second City, and help lay the foundations for change in the world of improvisational theater and performance comedy.

There's a charming web page where you can hear the entire 'How To Speak Hip' LP as streaming audio. (Flash plug-in needed)
Amongst the beat-centric links included there is a nice Del Close bio.

Close's previous LP, 'The “Do It Yourself” Psychoanalysis Kit' is likewise floating out there in its download-able entirety, in an old post at PCL Link Dump.

MEANWHILE, in 1980, some twenty-one years later, a small independent San Francisco record label released a 7-inch EP inspired by the album - - An 'update' called 'How To Speak Modern'.

It attempted to capture (in just under twelve minutes) some of the same flavor of its predecessor with the lingo and habits of a new generation.

It was relatively successful in it's attempt as I recall, but listening to it today (gasp! - - twenty-seven years later!?!) it seems almost more dated than the original.

Perhaps as a by-product of its 'modern' stance, the pre-digital age it comes from is more noticeable. No CDs, no e-mail, no voice-mail or personal phone directory on your non-existent cell-phone, no ubiquitous home computers...

...Maybe we're overdue for another update? How To Speak Post-Modern? Or... hmmm.



From Michael O'Brien and John Elk's 45 rpm EP 'How To Speak Modern' (Gamera Records, 1980), Listen to:

Side 1
Side 2

(click for audio)


POST-SCRIPT: A side question for you - - who can supply further information about Michael O'Brien and John Elk and 'How To Speak Modern'?

And another one - - "Music on (the tracks) 'Punk' and 'Wave' by Spys".

I think I vaguely remember a California group, 'Spys' from back in that era. There was apparently also a Canadian 'The Spys' - - ?

Is the 'Spys' in the background of this EP the same group as remembered in this article?

Any info, clarifications, etc from anyone out there is much appreciated. It's got me curious...

Godfrey Cambridge comics story, with artwork by Mort Drucker and Neal Adams, 1967

I've always loved the old 1960's stand-up comedy albums of the late Godfrey Cambridge, and have appreciated his performances in films, as well.

But of course I debated whether or not it was a good idea to post the 'Godfrey Cambridge Rent-A-Negro Plan' comics pages here, if for no other reason than the humor being pretty seriously dated.

The easy deciding factor was the artwork in the piece having been supplied by two giants of comics art.

Mort Drucker is known primarily for his years of caricature-driven artwork for MAD Magazine. Drucker's artwork had been a big influence upon Neal Adams, who was still a young hotshot in the late '60's when his artwork revolutionized the look and possibilities of super-hero comics.

There's not too many examples out there of the two artists collaborating. These pages appeared originally in Godfrey Cambridge's 1967 book, 'Put-Ons and Put-Downs', but they appear here as excerpted in an issue of Cavalier magazine published that same year.

The 'Rent-A-Negro Plan' material is adapted from an earlier recorded stand-up routine of Cambridge's, which is also included here (below).

Looking at the artwork, there doesn't seem to be too much of Neal Adams' style evident. My assumption is that he's inking Drucker's strong pencils. There are just a few places where I think I recognize Adams' hand, looking much closer to the cartoony work he did for DC Comics around '67 - '68 in a few issues of their 'Adventures of Jerry Lewis' or 'Adventures of Bob Hope' comics, and less like his grim and 'realist' Batman, Deadman, Green Lantern/Green Arrow, X-Men, etc.



(Click either on images or page numbers to open an awkwardly HUGE version on a new page)




(page 1)

(page 2)

(page 3)

(page 4)








































































































There are a couple of interesting pieces written about Mort Drucker to be found at the 'Illustration Art' blog, both here, and here.










(click for audio)

From the 1964 LP 'Here's Godfrey Cambridge, Ready Or Not...', Listen to:

Irresistible Me
The Rent-A-Negro Plan
Arthur Uncle

(click for audio)

Jackie Vernon - A Man And His Watermelon

In a previous post about a month ago, I made mention of comedian Jackie Vernon in reference to comedian Steven Wright's style of deadpan delivery.

As Jackie Vernon's stand-up routines have kept bubbling up in my memory ever since, I thought I'd post a couple of them here.

Despite the decades that separate them, the similarities between the performance styles of Vernon and Wright are fairly easy to spot, but the comparison might be doing a disservice to the talents of each of them.

So, um, maybe just forget I mentioned it?

From his 1967 LP, 'A Man And His Watermelon, recorded live at the Blue Room of the Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC - -

Listen to:
Jackie Vernon - A Man And His Watermelon
(click for audio)

Listen to:
Jackie Vernon - The Heckler/
How To Meet A Girl
(click for audio)




(Oh, and just in case Vernon's topical reference throws you, Dean Rusk was U.S. Secretary of State under Kennedy and Johnson, from 1961 - '69, known for his hawkish stance on the Vietnam War.)

Un poco más Romero está aquí: Cesar Romero reads to children in Spanish

ONCE upon a time, a week ago, I posted an item featuring Cesar Romero.

Not content to just let it go at that, I've dug into my record library to pull out these old thrift store finds.



On the first record, Señor Romero reads 'The Three Bears' in spanish to a group of english-speaking children to assist in their language lessons. On the second, he reads 'Little Red Riding Hood'.
He reads books from translator Hanna Hutchinson's series of familiar stories designed to help kids learn new languages.

If these books came out in 1962, I'll assume for now that the tie-in records appeared around the same time.



Side Two of each record has Cesar reading the story again with the children parroting each line back to him.
It has its educational value, to be sure, and its comedic value, as often the kid's pronunciation falls short.
But mostly the 'drill' factor gets a bit tedious for the casual listener, so I haven't included those recordings.

Sorry, and you're welcome.



















(click on images to ENLARGE)




Also pictured in the cover photograph above is cartoonist Ed Nofziger, illustrator of the books and these record jackets.

For some additional info on Nofziger, try here.








- - and speaking of Cesar Romero and storytelling, from Mark Evanier's POV Online, here's a link to his Cesar Romero story.


Listen to: Cesar Romero - Los Tres Osos (click for audio)

Listen to: Cesar Romero - Caperucita Roja (click for audio)

Eddie Lawrence - The Visitor

Eddie Lawrence will always be best remembered for his hit 1956 comedy recording of "The Old Philosopher" and perhaps its many follow-ups.
("...Is that what's bothering you, bunkie?")

In his long career, Lawrence was a Borsht Belt comic, an actor on stage, screen and television, a comedy writer, lyricist, and director.

In the early 1960's he hosted a TV kiddie show in New York, and also provided the voices in several cartoons for Paramount's Famous Studios - - some of which were based on material from his comedy LPs.

He recorded at least seven albums between the mid-fifties and the late-sixties, all of which contained 'Old Philosopher' tracks, as well as many other lunatic monologues and rapid-fire characterizations.

Decades later, he released 'The Jazzy Old Philosopher' in 1994, at the age of 75. It's a CD that came seemingly out of the blue, and other than a few updated cultural references it adheres completely to the form established on his earlier albums. For all I know, he's still lurking out there with more surprises. (keep a good thought)

The pearls from his old LPs that I keep coming back to are his routines of 'The Visitor', which for me conjures up perhaps the image of a brief and precious audience with a beat guru in a smoky coffeehouse.

"More maxims, Max!"
"Adages! Adages!"

For your listening pleasure and further eddie-fication , here's the 'visitor' tracks from two of his late-1950's LPs on the Coral label, plus another favorite.

From 'The Kingdom of Eddie Lawrence'...

Listen to: Eddie Lawrence - The Visitor (click for audio)
Listen to: Eddie Lawrence - The Hi-Fi Blues (click for audio)

...And from 'The (side)Split(ting) Personality of Eddie Lawrence'...

Listen to: Eddie Lawrence - Visitor From Inner Space (click for audio)