[ARSCLIST] Vaughn Meader and Lenny Bruce, was New LoC Recording Registry

[Lou Judson <inaudio@xxxxxxxxx>]

I had to look it up as I never thought about Meader after Kennedy...  
this was on Wiki:

Assassination aftermath

After John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas, Texas, in November, 1963,  
sales of The First Family albums plummeted, and stores removed the  
records from their shelves as the nation went into mourning. Meader  
and others commented through the years that the assassin's bullet  
killed not only Kennedy, but also Meader (or, Meader's career). His  
act was no longer in demand and even appearances that were already  
booked—including those for the Grammy Awards show, the Joey Bishop  
show, and To Tell the Truth—were canceled.

According to several sources, avant-garde comedian Lenny Bruce  
appeared at a New York nightclub the day of Kennedy's assassination.  
As if testing his audience's readiness to find something funny so  
soon after tragedy, Bruce was silent for several moments before  
announcing, "Vaughn Meader is screwed!" [3] Certainly, Meader  
discovered that he was so completely typecast as a Kennedy  
impersonator that he could not find anyone willing to hire him for  
any of his other talents. He recorded comedy albums for Verve  
Records, including sketches on almost anything except the Kennedys,  
but sales were virtually nonexistent.



I can just imagine Bruce at that moment... Meader had a sad ending.

Lou Judson • Intuitive Audio
415-883-2689


On Jun 11, 2009, at 3:07 PM, Tom Fine wrote:

> Also what about comedy albums? "The First Family" won a Grammy,  
> charted for weeks and has the whole interesting story of Vaughn  
> Meder's ill-fated career. George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Lenny  
> Bruce, Bill Cosby, and so many other popular, commercially  
> successful and socially relevant recordings.
>
> -- Tom Fine