Timelies all!

My deepest sympathies, Liese.

Happy Birthday Plei!

Birthday Happies, Plie!!

Outrageous and Courageous: The Myth and Legend of Shecky Greene

A fascinating look at old-school comedy. Perhaps Hec might like it.

"Frank Sinatra saved my life once. He said, "Okay, boys. That's enough." - Shecky Greene

"You dirty Jew sunofabitch, you're sicker than Lenny Bruce." - Ed Sullivan yelling at Shecky Greene

The odd dichotomy of Shecky Greene is that, for anyone under the age of fifty, his name is associated with an out-moded style of comedy. To use the moniker Shecky is almost an insult, a parody. The name Shecky has been brandished by characters in plays, satires and short stories. The appellation is used to indicate that this is a comedian to please grandpa, something for the pastrami sandwich nostalgist, a treat for those who believe Henny Youngman was an intellectual and Mort Sahl was a traitorous, communist bum.

The truth is that if Shecky Greene were emerging today he would be considered the leading voice in what is vaguely defined as alternative comedy. Greene was experimental beyond belief, possessing a kinetic and forceful dynamism that spilled off the stage into his every day life. Comedy's great non-conformist, the very hotels that employed him often had him arrested - only to cover his bail a day later. When other comics finished their final performance they rushed to where Shecky was playing to soak in his brilliant madness. "One of the greatest I ever saw in a nightclub!" screams contemporary Pat Cooper. "I saw him at The Riviera five, six, seven times. I saw him climb the curtain and do twenty minutes from on top of the curtain! He destroyed an audience." Cooper's take is not just an opinion - it is the consensus.

Shecky Greene was not your grandpa's comedian, but with little modern memory of what Shecky Greene's act consisted of, the symbolic nature of his name has been distorted. His contemporaries remember his irreverence. They say he was the most unforgettable comedy performer they ever saw. Ask them what he said on stage - nobody has a clue. He was and always would be a creature of the nightclub; flying off on wild tangents and pulling remarkable stunts, climbing walls and fighting owners. He invented a hysterical, free-form approach to comedy that the confines of a five minute television spot could not handle. Shecky was praised by comedy legend Jack Benny, idolized by comedic subversive Lenny Bruce and lauded by the genre-expanding revolutionary Ernie Kovacs. His reckless abandon on stage fueled a comedic genius, but that same reckless abandon lead to incredible feats of off stage chicanery and fatalistic tumult. One example occurred on a drunken summer evening as Greene and his best friend/nemesis Buddy Hackett viciously fought into the Nevada night, wrestling each other to the desert ground. Hackett, brandishing a firearm, threatened to blow Greene's head off, but Shecky won the struggle. Greene, his foot pressed triumphantly on the throat of the defeated Hackett promised, "If you get up, Buddy - I'm going to kill you."

Rather long, and has sections titled "THE NAT KING COLE INCIDENT", "THE ED SULLIVAN INCIDENT", "THE FRANK SINATRA INCIDENT" and "THE JERRY LEWIS INCIDENT".

Happy birthday, Plei! I hope it's full of Scotch and nail polish. Not mixed in the same glass, though.

Perhaps Hec might like it.

That does sound cool. Any story that ends with a man's foot on Buddy Hackett's throat in the Nevada desert intrigues me.

Many happy returns, PMM!

Happy Birthday Plei!

Happy birthday Plei!

Happy Birthday Plei