LIKE MONET, ANOTHER ONE OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS

Oh, Will Jordan!  Your record eluded me for so many years.

Until today. Cost me $2.16 with tax.

Ill Will by Will Jordan (Jubilee JGM-2032, 1960)

Hugh Hefner wrote the liner notes, but the album never really caught on, never really sold.

"We've known Will as a close personal friend for several years, since before our friendship with either Mort (Sahl) or Lenny (Bruce) began, and long before either of them had clicked nationally with their own highly personal style of hip humor."

. . .

"We venture that Ill Will will go far in the Land of Hippies. We like the sound of his patter, the cut of his jib. Most of all, we like his way with curates and bishops. Vox Vobiscum."

I know Jordan wasn't thrilled with all the material included on the album, and Hefner alludes to Jordan's "sick" humor more than once:

"I remember Twenty-Thousand Leagues Over the Sea, a parody of marijuana aboard a submarine, and a Liberace satire that will never be heard on record . . . "

Jordan is a gifted mimic and offers impressions of everyone from Eisenhower to Sammy Davis, Jr., from Robert Montgomery to Ralph Bellamy.

His German instructor starts quietly, with gibberish and a heavy accent, then quickly launches into a Hitleresque tirade.  

Jordan also does an extended Frankenstein parody and a riff on Lindy's delicatessen starring his version of Ralph Richardson.

Maybe not one for the ages, but still entertaining.

Parody/Parity

...My Son the Copy Cat . . . (DFLP 1233, Del Fi Records)

 

Stanley Ralph Ross (1935-2000) was very busy in the 1960's.  He wrote episodes of Batman and The Monkees, took small roles in films like The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) and Tony Rome (1967), and cut this parody album to capitalize on the enormous success of Allan Sherman.

 

Sherman deserves his own post, but let's focus on Stan Ross for the moment.

 

 

Here's what Ronald L. Smith said in the Goldmine Comedy Record Price Guide (Krause Publications, 1996):

 

"Ross not only comes up with Allan Sherman-style material, he does a pretty fair job of imitating Sherman's voice.  Folk tunes are turned Jewish.  'Clementine' becomes 'Clement Stein' about a 'yenta ten percenta agent,' 'Molly Malone' is now 'Solly M. Cohen' and 'Waltzing Matilda' becomes 'Washing Gefilte,' all about the problems of making gefilte fish.

 

'I'm Called Little Buttercup' becomes the very Shermanesque 'I'm Called Little Butterball.'  He admits to even trying drugs: 'I've tried every Dexi, and yet, I ain't sexy!  My legs I relaxacize sore.  I drank chocolate Metracal, Grape and etcetrecal, but increased my slacks a size more."

 

Nothing to write home about, perhaps, but an interesting footnote in 60s-era comedy albums.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ment.-)

My Black Dog

I get depressed this time of year, always have.

Maybe it's the approaching holidays, or the way the sky gets darker earlier and completely pulls the rug out from under the day.  Maybe it's the way the World Series preempts my regularly scheduled viewing, or the realization that another year is coming to an end.  

Whatever it is, it's here.  I can feel it. 

I'm going to busy myself with projects, maybe write my way out of it.  I'll make plans with friends.  Being perky is so much easier when other people are around.   Left to my own devices, I can go the whole weekend without talking to anyone. 

On Thursday, I came home from work and played this record while I made dinner:

 

 

It's a lot harder to be depressed when The Happy Harts are singing "Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder?"



When the dishes were done, I spent some time with Lord Buckley.  You know Lord Buckley.  The hippest, jive-talkin'-est hepcat of American stand-up. 


Hiparama of The Classics (City Light Books, 1980)

Buckley's shtick was delivering famous monologues (the Gettysburg Address, Shakespeare's Julius Caesar) and short biographical sketches.  In Buckleyspeak, "fourscore and seven years ago" becomes "four big hits and seven licks ago, our before Daddies swung forth upon this sweet groovy land, a jumpin', swingin', stompin', wailin', NEW NATION."

 

His routines about Gandhi ("The Hip Gan")and Jesus ("The Naz") were no less boppy and boisterous. 

 

You really need to hear it to appreciate it.