[78-L] Jackie Vernon (was Frosty the Snowman)

Cary Ginell soundthink at live.com
Sat Jan 9 18:45:03 PST 2010


When I saw him at UCLA, he did his famous bit about his pet watermelon that he dragged around town on a leash. Side-splittingly funny. And yes, he carried that beat-up old cornet around with him all the time, but never played it until the very end of his schtick, when he would make one half-hearted bleat and then say, in that deadpan voice: "I think I hurt myself."

Cary Ginell

> From: mbiel at mbiel.com
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Date: Sat, 9 Jan 2010 18:20:31 -0700
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Jackie Vernon (was Frosty the Snowman)
> 
> This is wonderful.  Of course I hear it in his voice as I read it, and
> if others do not remember what he sounded like, he did do an LP on UA I
> think.  I think it is "A Man and His Watermelon".  I did my best to keep
> his memory alive in my own little way.  When I started teaching I had a
> set of sample commercials on broadcast cartridges for the kids to use
> for their practice DJ shows.  One was a State Farm Insurance commercial
> with an easy musical out-cue that he had done about a trip he took to
> the Boyhood Home of Sig Sackowitz, but later his car got caught in a bed
> of quicksand.  The punchline is his State Farm agent assuring him as
> together they watched his car sink beneath the myre, "'My son,' he said,
> 'your car is completely covered.'"  SOUND: State Farm Horns.  I used
> that commercial for over 30 years.  And whenever I was asked who this
> guy was (he did open with his name, as usual: "Hi there, fun seekers,
> Jackie Vernon here." all I had to do was tell them that he was the voice
> of Frosty, and then they were enthusiastic over using this ancient
> commercial.
> 
> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com   
> 
> 
> From: Cary Ginell <soundthink at live.com>
> 
> Jackie Vernon. One of the best deadpan comedians who ever lived. Saw him
> once giving a "lecture" on the Janss Steps when I was at UCLA. He always
> carried around a crushed cornet that he tried playing. His funniest
> routine was showing a slide show of his vacations. He had a little
> clicker with him that was supposed to represent the changing of the
> slides. Here's one of those routines. 
> 
> "Hi there, fun seekers. Well it's almost vacation time again.
> You know, Fourth of July has always been sort of like a holiday to me.
> In fact I'd like to show you some slides of last year's vacation."
>  
> "This is the first day of my trip entering the Holland Tunnel."
>  
> "This is the second day of my trip coming out of the Holland Tunnel."
>  
> "Here I am at the tollbooth tossing some money into the basket."
>  
> "Here I am under my car looking for the money."
>  
> "Here I am a few days later out on the highway picking up a hitchhiker."
>  
> "There's the hitchhiker holding me up."
>  
> "There I am hitchhiking."
>  
> "This is the hitchhiker again picking my up in my own car.
> Luckily she didn't recognize me."
>  
> "Here's a little roadside restaurant, I stopped and had a bit of lunch.
> The food was terrible, I never complained, but creamed cheese isn't
> supposed to make noise. Ugh, horrible place. I ordered Cherry Herring
> and they brought me a dish of herrings with cherries all over it.
> It was hard to drink, the bones got stuck in my throat."
>  
> "Now we shoot all the way down to the Everglades in Florida.
> If you ever visit the Everglades
> one thing you must have is a guide
> because it's very dangerous country.
> I went to a place called Get-A-Guide Agency.
> There's a man behind the desk named Sig Sackowitz.
> And I said, `Is this Get-A-Guide Agency?'
> He said, `That's right, this is Get-A-Guide. Can I get you a guide?'
> I said, `I'd like to get a guide, have you got a guide I can get?'
> He said, `What kind of guide would you like to get?'
> I said, `I'd like to get a guide who will guide me.'
> He said, `Where did you hear about Get-A-Guide?'
> I said, `From a hitchhiker.'
> He said, `You've got a guide.'"
>  
> "And here's the guide I got.
> His name was Guido.
> Very famous guide, in fact he was known as Guido the Guide."
>  
> "Here's Guido the Guide leading me around a bed of quicksand."
>  
> "Here's Guido the Guide from the waist up."
>  
> "That's his hat right there."
>  
> "Here's the rescue party rushing to his aid."
>  
> "Here's the rescue party from the waist up."
>  
> "And here we have a lot of hats and ropes and things."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I still double up with laughter when I read it.
> 
> Cary Ginell
> 
> > From: mbiel at mbiel.com
> > To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> > Date: Sat, 9 Jan 2010 12:21:40 -0700
> > Subject: Re: [78-L] Frosty the Snowman
> > 
> > Micheal Biel wrote:
> > >> It was snow abuse, but times were different back
> > >> then. Fat snowman jokes were part of the culture.
> > 
> > From: DAVID BURNHAM <burnhamd at rogers.com>
> > > Well the political propriety police are at it again! 
> > > Nowhere in the song does it say that Frosty was fat!! db
> > 
> > I have the original sheet music and the original Columbia J series
> > sleeve. He was fat. And other than carving like an ice sculpture, is
> > there any other way of making a snowman but three ball-shaped parts??? 
> > The voice of Frosty on the TV cartoon was one of my favorite comedians,
> > Jackie Vernon. He was fat -- he also died young. 
> > 
> > Mike Biel mbiel at mbiel.com
> 
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