jim henson

(A brief preamble: I was already thinking of our friend Gilligan and his blog, Retrospace, as I started preparations for this post, and that was before Gil was kind enough to bestow a Great Read Award upon ILTS this past Wednesday. The award's emblem of honor is posted towards the bottom of the lovely brown sidebar, big blushing thanks are extended to Mr. G, and this post is dedicated to him.)

This two-page article ran in the July, 1966 issue of TV Radio Mirror.

(Click on images to enlarge in a new window)

- Click here to view a super-sized image of page 1 in a new window.

- Click here to view a super-sized image of page 2 in a new window.

Actress Tina Louise and Radio & TV Talk Show Host Les Crane were married in Beverly Hills on Sunday, April 3rd, 1966.

In the early 1960s, Les Crane had hosted a late-night radio talk show in San Francisco, where he often stirred up controversy with his
left-wing liberal views and confrontational interview style.
In 1963, Crane took his show to New York City and to late-night television.

His big west coast movie career mentioned in the magazine article didn't go much beyond his supporting role in the film adaptation of Norman Mailer's
An American Dream.

By 1966, via her role as 'the movie star' on TV's Gilligan's Island,
Tina Louise had rocketed to a level of fame she'd not reached after fifteen years as a pin-up model, nightclub singer, and film & stage actress, though she was discomforted by the notion of being type-cast by her 'Ginger' portrayal.

When the sitcom was cancelled in 1967, she was quick in her attempts to distance herself from the role.

In the photo below, ▼ the newlyweds pose with Tina's co-star castaways...

...Though significant in his absence from the photo is 'The Professor', Russell Johnson.

What bit of behind-the-scenes intrigue can we infer from his not being present? Does it lend anything to the various sordid debates about the characters and cast of Gilligan's Island?

I prefer to believe that perhaps Russell Johnson was behind the camera, snapping the photograph with a camera he'd built out of a coconut shell and some beach glass.

At the time of the wedding, (Les Crane's third - - or perhaps fourth - - marriage) the tail end of the second season of Gilligan's Island was airing on Thursday nights, and presumably the cast was busy with production for the sitcom's third season episodes.

CBS then moved the show to Monday evenings, and cancelled the the series at the end of the third season.

Tina Louise had several TV and film appearances after 'getting off the island', often seeking out 'grittier' or more serious roles.

Les Crane returned to talk radio in Los Angeles in 1968.



Perhaps Crane's most often-noted achievement was his Grammy award-winning 1971 spoken-word recording of the prose poem (and popular
dorm-room poster) 'Desiderata'.

- Follow the link to
Richie Unterberger's liner notes to a re-release of the Les Crane LP that included his 'one-hit wonder' Top-10 single.

Tina Louise and Les Crane were divorced in 1974, the same year their daughter, Caprice Crane was born.
Not bad for a Hollywood marriage of that era.

Tina Louise never appeared in any of the Gilligan's Island TV movie reunions, though she's taken part in a few 'cast reunion' talk show appearances.

In the 1980's, Les Crane had great success after moving into the software industry, founding a company that made inter-active games and typing tutorials for PCs. He died in 2008, at age 74.

It's possible that not enough people are still talking about actress / singer Judy Canova, and maybe that situation can change...

While lying awake late the other night, unable to sleep again, as often happens in that situation I pulled my laptop close to me and dialed up the Old Time Radio library at Internet Archive. Wanting a break from my customary late-night streaming of old Jack Benny shows or Fibber McGee & Molly, this time I stumbled onto their stash of 1940s episodes of The Judy Canova Show.

The realization soon came to me that perhaps there hasn't been enough Judy Canova in my life.

Sure, I knew of her - - I could recognize the comedienne from old photos, remembered a bit about her country cornball schtick and its context - - But in hearing her vintage radio comedy, it dawned on me that I'd not actually witnessed much of her in performance over the years, and certainly not in a long while.

You are encouraged to investigate the
The Judy Canova Show for yourself. (follow link)

As of this writing, The Internet Archive has almost three dozen episodes available for listening, dating from 1943 to 1948.

The half-hour radio sitcom revolves around Judy, playing 'herself' as an uncultured bumpkin uprooted to Hollywood life as a popular actress and singer.
Broad but gentle humor that still engages, despite its dated or non-PC moments.

The supporting cast includes Ruby Dandridge (mother of Dorothy Dandridge) as Geranium, the maid, and Mel Blanc as Pedro, the Mexican gardener / chauffeur, speaking with the same comic accent he'd use occasionally on The Jack Benny Program that would eventually evolve into the cartoon voice of Speedy Gonzales. (Not surprisingly, Blanc also doubles for other character voices and sound effects)

In the episodes I've heard so far, I recognized voices of radio veteran Verna Felton, as well as
Sheldon Leonard. Great voices!

The program ran for twelve years, first airing on CBS in 1943 on Tuesday nights, before moving to Sunday nights on NBC in 1945. Other cast members during the show's run included Hans Conried, Joseph Kearns and Gale Gordon (the latter two who, among other roles, would both go on in later years to play Mr. Wilson opposite Jay North's 'Dennis The Menace' on television).

Prior to her own show on radio,
Judy Canova (1913 - 1983) had made regular appearances on many radio programs during the 1930's, most notably The Chase & Sanborn Hour with
Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy.

She'd also had several supporting roles in films during that time, while working as a contract player for Warner Bros. and Paramount.

Her show business career had begun while still a teenager in Florida, performing in a singing trio with her sister, Anne, and older brother, Zeke.
The vaudeville circuit led them from Florida to New York, where 'The Three Georgia Crackers' were 'discovered' by singer Rudy Valee.

Radio, stage and film appearances soon followed, eventually paring the act down to a solo.

Though Judy had originally intended to pursue a more serious singing career, her talent and personality mixed with her unconventional looks to type-cast her into a good-natured yokel persona that she honed during the vaudeville years and played to perfection for decades following.

Below, ▼ appearing in a scene with her siblings in the 1937 film 'Artists & Models',
it's easy to see why she stood out...



- Follow this link to the Turner Classic Movies website to view Judy singing in a bathtub scene from the same film, before sharing dialogue with a young Ida Lupino.

- Follow link to other Judy Canova film clips at TCM.

Though 'Hillbilly Humor' was nothing new, there's a quality to
Judy Canova (including and beyond the 'hick' factor) that can be seen in the performances of comediennes who followed after her in the 1940s, '50s and beyond, from Minnie Pearl and Dorothy Shay, to Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett.

In 1940, Judy Canova was offered a movie contract by
Republic Pictures.

'Scatterbrain' provided her first leading role, and she would star in 17 films in fifteen years while working for Republic.

- Follow this link to Judy Canova's IMDb listing.

It was the popularity of those 'B-movies' that helped to land her the radio series, which led her to greater popularity than her films.



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Below, ▼ a 1941 publicity shot (via Flickr) shows Canova posing with fellow Republic Pictures star, actor Tom Tyler, decked out for the adventure film serial Adventures of Captain Marvel, the very first film adaptation of a comic book super-hero.

















Speaking of comic books, Judy starred in just a few issues of her own, published by Fox Comics in 1950.

Below left, ▼ issue #3 features cover art by
(then soon-to-be) comics legends Wally Wood and
Joe Orlando, just prior to their heyday producing artwork for EC Comics.

- Learn more at Hooray For Wally Wood! and at Oddball Comics.










































Radio, film and numerous records made for
RCA-Victor and other labels made Canova a star throughout the 1940s and early '50s, as did a business sense that belied her standard performance persona.

Her contract with Republic Pictures ceased in 1955, the same year that her radio show ended.

Judy did transition to TV in the '50s, but through numerous guest appearances rather than starring vehicles. In addition, nightclub appearances and theatrical stage roles filled out the rest of her performance career, throughout the 1960s and into the '70s.

Below, ▼ In Hollywood with Liberace on
'The Colgate Comedy Hour', November 11, 1952.
(via LIFE Magazine)

- See also:
Articles at Brian's Drive-In Theater and at St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture.

◀ At left, Judy Canova at age 65, attending the National Film Society convention, May 1979, accompanied by her daughter, actress Diana Canova, Diana's partner, actor Steve Landesberg, and (on the right) Landesberg's mother.
(Photo by Alan Light,
click on image to enlarge in a new window)

UPDATE, 6.25.09: Big, big thanks to Matt for sending along a nice note that included 4 of his favorite tracks from an old 10-inch LP, 'Favorite Songs of Judy Canova'.

Sad but not terribly surprising, none of Judy's music is currently in print, at least here in the U.S. - -

- - And these great western-swingy tracks that Matt has provided weren't included on the last readily available CD collections of her work, so that makes them an extra-special treat for all of us!

Thanks for sharing, Matt!
It's kinda like Xmas or something...

Listen to:
Never Trust A Man
Bananas Ain't Got No Bonies
I Ain't Got Nobody
Twenty-five Chickens Thirty-five Cows

(click for audio)


UPDATE, 7.6.09: Thanks also to normadesmond for sending along a YouTube link to a video clip of
Judy Canova appearing on TV's 'What's My Line?' in 1954.
Norm uploaded it after seeing this post. Thanks for sharing!

When the article below ran in the May, 1948 issue of Radio and TV Mirror magazine, actor Howard Duff (1913 - 1990) had been portraying detective Sam Spade in a weekly radio series for a couple of years.

(click on image to enlarge in a new window)

His popularity in that role would propel him further into a long career in films and TV in the 1950s and beyond.



Click here to enlarge page one of this article and read the text.

Follow links to continue reading the article in a new window:
- Part 2
- Part 3

'The Adventures of Sam Spade' premiered on radio in june of 1946, airing on Friday nights on the ABC network.

The hard-boiled detective's creator, mystery author Dashiell Hammett was marginally involved in the radio production, at least at the beginning.

With the relatively unknown Duff in the lead role, the series quickly caught on, and soon moved to a more prominent spot on Sunday evenings, now airing on CBS. It shifted networks again in 1949, moving over to NBC.

In 1950, both Howard Duff and Dashiell Hammett found their names appearing in 'Red Channels', the Hollywood Blacklisting-era pamphlet that listed entertainment industry professionals with supposed Communist ties.

Howard Duff was soon able to clear his name, but not before the Sam Spade show was brought to a sudden demise. The series would be revived for a final season, but without Howard Duff, and minus Dashiel Hammett's name.
This left Duff free to pursue more movie work, which led to several kick-ass film noir roles in the '50s, among other performances.

Following his "tempestuous" late 1940s relationship with actress Ava Gardner (between her marriages to Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra, and somewhere amidst her relationship with Howard Hughes) Duff married actress/filmmaker Ida Lupino in 1951.


Episodes of 'The Adventures of Sam Spade' featuring Howard Duff can be heard online at a couple of 'Old Time Radio' locations:

-The Internet Archive has a couple of good stashes of episodes.

- The OTR.Network has a nice selection too, using Real Player and featuring sound quality that is perhaps a bit more consistent.

(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)

When this story made it's first appearance in 1964, the AM radio band in America was filled with the non-stop snappy patter of top 40 pop disc jockeys promoting the hits, promoting their show's sponsors, and promoting their persona.

Though it was not necessarily a new phenomenon, it had reached a fever pitch and was quite a novelty of the era, as was the resurgence of rock & roll radio.

This spoof ran in issue #36 of Archie's Mad House, dated October, '64. It was written by George Gladir and drawn by
Joe Edwards.

'Archie's Mad House' was a humor comic book published by the same Archie folks that gave us the adventures of the high school crowd in Riverdale.

It was a brazen attempt to try and cash in on the popularity of MAD magazine, right down to the visual style of its cover border and the separation of the word 'mad' from 'house' in its title.

- For detailed info on 'Archie's Mad House', its creators and
this issue in particular, please follow this link to an entry at Scott Shaw's Oddball Comics posted this past spring.



⬆ READ 'Tops in Pops':

⬅ (Click either on images or page numbers to open an ENLARGED page in a new window) ⬇

(page 1)
(page 2)
(page 3)
(page 4)
(page 5)
(page 6)






- For a bit more reference on the spoofing of the 'deejay craze', please see either of my previous posts presenting vintage novelty records on the topic:

Arbogast & Ross' 'Chaos', Parts 1 & 2, from 1959,

and

Ted Randal's 'What Is A Disc Jockey?', from 1957.


- For just a tiny bit more on the subject of 'Archie's Mad House', please let me also refer you to a flickr page in the 'Archie comics of the 1960's as a mirror to fads, fashion and trends' set that accompanied my previous blog post on that topic.

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.

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)

The story goes that when the 'Chaos' novelty 45 was released it sold 10,000 copies in three days, but then was banned from radio airplay on the fourth day.

Radio stations had decided that its barbed lampoon of the prevalent Top 40 Radio format was not very complimentary.

Bob Arbogast started his radio career in 1951 in Kansas City. By the time 'Chaos' was released he'd become popular in the Chicago area for his evening broadcasts.

He continued in radio into the 1960's, and branched out more into writing for radio and television and working in advertising. Heading into the 1970's and '80's he was also doing voice work in animated TV programs.

Stan Ross had a background in advertising but by the mid-1960's had made a mark writing and developing television programs.

In addition to writing credits on 'Batman', 'The Monkees', 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' and 'All In The Family', Ross wrote and produced the "...Thrill of victory, the agony of defeat..." opening for ABC's 'Wide World of Sports'.

In the early 1960's Stan Ross released an LP, 'My Son The Copy Cat', which parodied the hugely succesful early novelty albums by
Allan Sherman. Stan Ross co-wrote the album with Bob Arbogast.

⬅ Stan Ross (like Arbogast) also acted in a number of small film and TV roles, and kept busy with voice-acting in the eighties.





Listen to:
Arbogast & Ross - Chaos - Part 1
Arbogast & Ross - Chaos - Part 2
Liberty Records 45, 1959

(click for audio)

See also:
- Archived audio excerpts from The Arbogast Show on WMAQ, Chicago, circa 1953

- ADDENDUM, 5/26/08; Picture sleeve art added!! Ganked with love and admiration from LP Cover Lover.

Please allow me to direct you elsewhere...

I had a note from Dave "Pappy" Stuckey the other day informing me that radio and TV pioneer and innovator Jim Hawthorne had passed away recently, on November 7th.

Dave directed me to the great Hawthorne audio tribute that Andrea Walsh posted on her blog,
Call BR-549.

Andrea had also set up the
Jim Hawthorne Fanpage.

I suggest you click over to those sites whether you're familiar with Hawthorne's work or not.

Hawthorne was one of the very first free-form radio deejays, doing things no one had ever done on radio back in the 1940's and '50's, when he was busy tweaking the minds of listeners in and around Los Angeles on a regular basis.

Andrea Walsh's audio post has a couple of amazing old radio airchecks available for listening.

- - Here's a link to another one:
Hawthorne & Friends on
KXLA Pasadena - June 9, 1947

Hawthorne also dabbled in novelty records, film and TV before making his way to Hawaii in the mid-1960's where he worked in children's television for several years.

- Follow the link to an obituary from the Honolulu Star Bulletin.

- And here's a small remembrance at Mark Evanier's News From Me.



From YouTube, a Denver Evening News spotlight ⬆on Hawthorne, airdate: 8/7/04

YouTube also has several Hawthorne clips from an early 1970's TV pilot. (click to link)

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