Musical Fruitcake

Dickie Goodman (recognized by Billboard Magazine as the #1 Novelty Artist of All Time) is considered one of the earliest proponents of sampling in music, and was the first performer to use fragments of other people’s hits to build his own songs.

In 1956 Goodman came up with the idea of using lines from current hits of the day to comment on fads, such as UFO sightings. His first song, “The Flying Saucer,” was co-written with partner Bill Buchanan, and featured a description of an invasion of earth from a Martian space ship. Goodman (as “John Cameron Cameron,” parodying longtime broadcast announcer John Cameron Swayze) asked questions of pedestrians, scientists, and even the Martian himself. Their responses were “snipped” from lyrics of popular songs of the day, including tracks from Fats Domino, Elvis Presley and Little Richard, and provided the sarcastic “answers” to his setup questions.

Alan Freed, at New York’s WINS radio, started playing the song nightly and the song became an instant hit. Although the record was an immediate hit in New York, it took a couple of weeks for the rest of the country to catch on. The NBC and ABC radio networks initially banned the song, because they didn’t want any listeners misunderstanding the gag record as an actual announcement of an invasion. Other parts of the country couldn’t get their hands on the record fast enough. In some cities, “The Flying Saucer” actually beat out Elvis’ “Don’t Be Cruel/Hound Dog” for a few weeks in sales and local airplay.

Roulette Records signed the duo and they followed up with a series of “break-in” records: “Flying Saucer the 2nd,” “Flying Saucer the 3rd,” and even the Western parody “Flying Saucers Go West.” Goodman later recorded other break-in records, usually based around a political theme, or interviewing Batman or Neil Armstrong. Less than one year after their biggest hit, Buchanan and Goodman went their separate ways.

Some other novelty break-in hits by Dickie Goodman, with and without Bill Buchanan, include (among many others) “Buchanan & Goodman on Trial,” “The Creature (From a Science Fiction Movie),” “The Touchables,” Batman and His Grandmother,” “Watergrate,” and “Mr. Jaws.”

As their records became popular Top 40 radio hits, they were eventually sued by 17 different record labels for copyright infringement. The suits were all dismissed with the ruling that “break-in” records were parodies that did not infringe on the sales of the works being parodied. Goodman released many novelty records from 1956 to 1988, and also worked as a jokewriter for guests on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Buchanan wrote a few pop songs here and there, including co-writing the Bobby Vee hit “Please Don’t Ask About Barbara.” By 1964, he made one final “break-in” record, “The Invasion,” in which the Beatles were the invaders of America. In 1965, Buchanan retired from the music business and started a jewelry business. On August 1, 1996, Bill Buchanan died of cancer.

On November 6, 1989, with his wife gone and his life savings gambled away, Dickie Goodman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

This is a Buchanan and Goodman sound collage from 1957, in which Santa meets up with a UFO, called “Santa and the Satellite.” Although it is credited to Buchanan & Goodman, it was actually recorded after the duo broke up, and the voice of the reporter is provided by Paul Sherman. The recording reached #32 on the Billboard charts in December 1957. Though the jokes fall flat, it’s interesting to hear what passed for humor back in the days when Mad magazine was considered cutting edge.

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Tags: santa, satellite, Dickie Goodman, Buchanan, Goodman, break-in records, sampling, mp3, download, listen, christmas

BoxCar Willie was an American country music singer who sang “hobo” music. His hobo persona and songs of life on the road earned him a national following.

Born Lecil Martin in 1931, BoxCar Willie was the son of a railroad man, and always seemed to have a talent for music. By his teens he was playing in jamborees all over Texas, but he gave up show business to enlist in the Air Force, where he spent 22 years, where he served as a flight engineer for the B-29 Super Fortress during the Korean War in the early-1950s, logging around 10,000 hours as a pilot.

In 1976, he left the Air Force and became a full-time performer, and developed the singing hobo character, complete with overalls, a battered old hat, worn suit jacket and two days’ growth of beard. In San Jose, California, Martin attended a talent show as “BoxCar Willie” and won first place, a $150.00 prize. He went on to become a star in country music, selling more than 10 million records, tapes and CD’s world-wide.

Here is a video of BoxCar Willie performing “Waiting for a Train“:

In 1981 Roy Acuff invited him to join the Grand Ole Opry, and he became the sixtieth member to be inducted.

While Roy Clark became the first nationally known entertainer to put his name on a Branson theater in 1983, BoxCar Willie arrived three years later, and liked to brag that he was the first big name to live and work there all year long. Although he never had a hit single, his albums sold well and he built a loyal following that made him one of the most popular performers in Branson. In 1990 he opened the BoxCar Willie Railroad and Airplane Museum.

On April 12th, 1999, in Branson, Missouri, he died of leukemia at the age of 67.

Like many other people, I first became familiar with BoxCar Willie due to commercials for his recordings on television in the 1980’s, so in my mind he will forever be linked with the Ginzu knife, Inside the Shell Egg Scrambler, bamboo steamer, Veg-o-Matic, pocket fisherman and smokeless ashtrays.

“Santa Fe Sam and Hobo Bill” is a maudlin tale about two hungry hobos who dream of a wonderful Christmas dinner and their wish is granted by a benevolent Christmas angel.

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Tags: country music, boxcar willie, santa fe, hobo, mp3, download, listen, christmas

Bobby Sherman first appeared on television in 1964 as a house singer on the TV show Shindig, where he would sing other performers’ hits if they were unable or unwilling to appear on the show. While on Shindig, he released a few singles in an attempt to have a recording career, but he did not have much luck at that time.

Here is a commercial for milk that Bobby Sherman made while on Shindig:

He landed a role on the televison series Here Come the Brides, based on the film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, as Jeremy Bolt (David Soul - Hutch on Starsky & Hutch - played his older brother). The show aired on ABC for 2 seasons (1968-70) with a total of 52 episodes.

After the success of Here Come The Brides, Sherman went on to record several hit records, earning seven gold singles and five gold albums. In 1969 he peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts and spent nine weeks in the top 20, with the song “Little Woman.” He released four million-selling songs between 1969 and 1970, and during his career he sold more than 10 million records. The television series and the hit songs (as well as a flashy smile and shag haircut) made him a hit with teenage girls, and he was heavily featured in a number of teen idol fan magazines such as Tiger Beat, 16 Magazine, Flip and Fave.

One of my first records was a Bobby Sherman record from the back of a box of Post “Frosted Rice Krinkles” cereal. My sister and I had to put the record in a book to flatten it after we cut it out. We also had to balance a quarter on the stylus of our record player in order to weigh it down enough so the tone arm wouldn’t go flying off when we played it. I remember that when we finally got the record to play, due to the fidelity of the cardboard record, the songs sounded as if they were recorded on old Edison wax cylinders.

Bobby Sherman also had his image featured on a number of items, such as trading cards, pins, watches, comic books and lunch boxes:

After an appearance on The Partridge Family, he was given his own show on ABC, called Getting Together. It was a Partridge Family spin-off show about a pair of struggling songwriters who live in an antique shop. The show ran for only one season, and was never very popular.

In the early 1970s he married Patti Carmel, and in 1979 she left him to marry David Soul, his TV brother from Here Come the Brides (Soul ended up physically abusing her and she eventually divorced him).

Bobby Sherman was never associated in any way with the sixties counterculture or made any political stands, and instead focused on building a one-fifth scale model of Disneyland’s Main Street (entirely by hand) in his yard at home.

He continued to do guest starring roles on shows such as Fantasy Island, Love Boat and Murder She Wrote through the 70’s and 80’s. He also appeared on several episodes of “Emergency” where he became interested in that type of work. He soon volunteered with the Los Angeles Police Department, focusing on paramedic, CPR, and first aid classes as a medical training officer. He currently serves as a member of the San Bernardino County Sheriff, as an Emergency Medical Technician. He is married to Brigitte Poublon, who is the president of the Bobby Sherman Volunteer EMT Foundation, though for some reason he has tried to keep their marriage a secret.

In 1970 Bobby Sherman released a Christmas album, creatively titled “Christmas Album.” He sings on one of the cuts, “Christmas Is (Make It Sweet),” with two young boys named David and Sean. They are not his own sons (they were born several years later), and it is never fully explained exactly who these two mystery boys are. Later, when the songs were repackaged for the CD “My Christmas Wish,” they were also remastered with way too much reverb, making most of the vocal tracks sound like they’re coming from the bottom of a well.

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The Dean Martin Show was a comedy variety TV series that ran from 1965 to 1974, for 245 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by legendary crooner, and Rat Pack member, Dean Martin, who was initially reluctant to do the show, partially because he did not want to turn down movie and nightclub performances. Martin demanded an extremely high salary and that he would only have to show up for the actual taping of the show (no scripts or rehearsal for him), and much to his surprise, the network agreed. He simply showed up for the tapings and winged his way through it, obviously reading off of cue cards. The show was heavy on physical comedy, rather than just jokes, and when Martin flubbed a line or forgot a lyric, he refused to do a retake, and the mistake would remain in the show. As a sign of the times, although Martin’s act was that of a drunken playboy, the show was considered suitable family entertainment.

At first Dean had no regular supporting cast other than his accompanist, pianist Ken Lane. But, in keeping with the tenor of the girl-watching 1960’s, the Golddiggers started out as regulars on The Dean Martin Show in 1965, providing a little T&A for the dry martini crowd. The first group were simply known as “Dean’s Girls.” The staff for The Dean Martin Show went on a nationwide tour to find new talent for the Golddiggers. Lots of filler material was needed to ease the star’s schedule and young hotties parading around in mini-skirts, go-go boots, and bikinis provided plenty of distraction from the lack of actual content. The Golddiggers not only provided dance segues between Dean’s unrehearsed comedy blackouts, they also clustered adoringly around the host as be crooned a hoary old chestnut or mangled a recent pop hit. These relatively low-budget shows were shot on a tight schedule, six weeks for twenty-six episodes. This grueling schedule required the girls to do up to thirteen musical numbers a day.

There were forty or so Golddiggers over the lifetime of the act, a dozen or so at a time. As soon as one of the girls wanted more money, the producers would fire her, or a performer would quit to get married. Among the Golddiggers that went on to have further careers in show business were sportscaster Jayne Kennedy and actress Lindsay Bloom (who also won the title of Miss Arizona 1972).

Here is a video clip of Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra & Ruth Buzzi (backed by the Golddiggers) from the Dean Martin Show:

In 1968 the Golddiggers were given their own summer replacement series called Dean Martin Presents The Golddiggers, which was set in the 1930s. The show starred Frank Sinatra Jr. and Joey Heatherton with Paul Lynde, Barbra Heller, Stu Gilliam, the Times Square Two, Skiles and Henderson, and the Les Brown Orchestra. The 1970 series was set in England and was appropriately called The Golddiggers in London. By the final 1971 season there were no original Golddiggers left on the show. The hour-long show featured Tommy Tune and Marty Feldman (in his American debut), and was hosted by Charles Nelson Reilly.

After the summer programs ran their course, the Golddiggers half-hour syndicated weekly series premiered with a different male guest-star appearing each episode (such as Rosey Grier and Steve Allen) and the show featured Charles Nelson Reilly, Alice Ghostley, Jackie Vernon, Barbara Heller, Larry Storch and Lonnie Schorr.

After the show stopped filming, the Golddiggers toured the country for awhile doing car shows and grocery store openings, often times appearing for free for charities.

The Golddiggers also released two pop albums as well as a Christmas record called “We Need a Little Christmas,” which featured the song “If You Can Sing A Happy Song (For Christmas).” The Golddiggers were definitely eye candy, and not ear candy, and without Dean up front they simply sound like an under-rehearsed high school choir.

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Well, boils and ghouls, light the candles and bake the Tollhouse cookies, for the Cryptkeeper is coming to your doorstep!

Based on the EC Comics comic book series created by William Gaines, “Tales From The Crypt” was an HBO television series that lasted seven seasons (1989-1996), airing 93 episodes, and starring many famous celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Teri Hatcher, Demi Moore and Sam Kinison.

The series was hosted by the Cryptkeeper, a repulsive, creepy-looking puppet who cracked corny goulish one-liners and gave out weird anecdotes about the characters in the stories he presented. John Kassir provided the voice of the Cryptkeeper for all 93 episodes, as well as the animated CBS cartoon series, a gameshow, two feature films, three soundtracks, numerous toys, an audio series and the Tales from the Crypt dvds.

Here are the Cryptkeepers intro’s and outros from all 6 Episodes of the first season, which aired on HBO in the Fall of 1989:

“Have Yourself A Scary Little Christmas,” released in 1994, featured the Cryptkeeper singing Christmas songs that are filled with blood & guts, amputated limbs, exploding missles and decaying zombies. The songs are also generously laced with with the same type of “ghoulish” putrid puns and dark humor that were used on the TV show. The entire CD is atrocious, however “Christmas Rap” stands out as the most wretched song in the collection.

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Three-time Oscar winner and country musician Walter Brennan was born in 1894, and died in 1974 of emphysema. While serving in World War I, his vocal cords were damaged by mustard gas causing him to age prematurely. That ailment helped him to land roles playing characters much older than his actual age. He most often was seen in offbeat rural parts, appearing as an eccentric old-timer or a grizzled prospector. As Grandpa Amos McCoy on the popular sitcom “The Real McCoys,” he delighted television audiences with his gol-darnin’, dagnabbed consarnin’ and meddlesome ways. Read more »

Tommy Christy is best known as a Doo-Wop singer and for his single “Teen-age Jive,” which he released with his backing group, The Chris-Tones. He also released a Christmas song on the Scot label called “8 Tiny Reindeer,” where he lists a bunch of people he knows who are all waiting for Christmas. Apparently he only knows people with annoying names that rhyme, such as Georgie Porgie, Teeny Weenie and Nosey Rosey. This song is catchy-watchy, but crappy-wappy.

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