[78-L] First Family

[Michael Biel]

David Lennick wrote:
> No need to check eBay, this CD set is legitimately manufactured and sold on the 
> S'MORE label under license from Bob Booker Productions. However, it's dubbed 
> from discs, not taken from the master tapes which presumably Andy Williams 
> won't part with. Disc 2 is mono. We discussed this earlier..my brother gave me 
> the set for Christmas, having purchased it .. at the Book Depository!
>
> dl
>
> Cary Ginell wrote:
>   
>> Check eBay - there is a CD that has both Volumes of First Family on it.
>>
>> Cary Ginell
>>
>>     
>>> From: burnhamd at rogers.com
>>>
>>>
>>> Like most on this list I'm sure, I well remember the release of "The First Family" and it was a great hit and a superb characterization of the Kennedys. 

I saw Meader's TV debut of his JFK spoof, on "Celebrity Talent Scouts."  
Years later one of the first 16mm kines I ever found was this very 
episode -- with the Meader segment cut out of the reels!


>>>  Kennedy was, I believe, the first Catholic president and that issue was touched on, the US/Russian situation and the building of the Iron Curtain, the shoe stomping Kruschev etc.  

Of course Krushchev never actually pounded his shoe at the U.N.-- 
pounded his fists and then placed his shoe on the desk -- but never 
pounded that shoe.  We've gone thru this before, I believe, but it was 
folklore even then.

>>> What I was amazed at was the haste with which this best selling album was removed from the shelves after the assassination - like the same day -  never to reappear. 

Both volumes were taken out of Schwann immediately without first going 
thru another month with a Black Diamond.  Remember, Schwann was 
published near Boston. 


>>>   I knew of many people who sought a copy of this but there was none to  be found anywhere. 

I needed a copy of Volume Two because I had not gotten around to buying 
one in the perhaps 5 months it was available.   It was around 65 or 66 
when I found a stereo copy at Philadelphia's Stereo Record King on 13th 
Street.  I only have about three or four mono copies.  Now that I think 
about it, it is relatively scarce.

>>> I guess one should admire the record company and the stores for not trying to exploit the morbid interest in this album which the assassination would have generated.  I knew of many people who sought a copy of this but there was none to be found anywhere.

But as I mentioned, several tribute albums appeared within two or three 
weeks, most sold for $1.00 for charity.
>>>   Other classic comedy albums of the day, such as the Bob Newhart and Bill Cosby series have all been reissued but I don't think The First Family has ever appeared on CD. 
As Lennick mentioned, it is on CD now, and actually has been on CD at 
least twice, and reissued on LP at least twice. 

>>>  I don't think issuing that album
>>>  today would be any more in bad taste than the running of the "Twin Towers" episode of the Simpsons which occurred regularly after 9-11, but more likely it was such a period piece that it is totally irrelevant today and would generate little interest.  Most people would have no idea what was being spoofed.  db
>>>       
Which is why practically none of the other political comedy albums have 
been reissued.  But there have been a number of reissues of the 
political humor of Will Rogers, and it is necessary to have a good grasp 
of history to know of many of those references.  But that is true of a 
lot of humor, including Peter Sellers where we Americans had to 
understand current British politics! 


Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com