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Fred Clem

Two of my all time favorite comedians are Buckeyes!

Tim Conway was funny on "McHale's Navy" but the skits on "The Carol Burnett Show" were classics.  His ad libs would often break up the other cast members.  He is from the Cleveland area.

Jonathan Winters performance in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" is hilarious.  Nearly every comedy star of the era was in that movie, but Winters role was my favorite. His frequent appearances on "The Tonight Show" were always fun.  He was from Bellbrook (just south of Dayton) but his first TV job was @ WBNS here in Columbus.

Fred

David Mitchell

Tim, great topic!

We used to watch the comedians my parents watched. Dad loved George Gobel, Jack Benny, Bob Hope and Jackie Gleason. Mom liked some early sitcoms and so we watched the Danny Thomas Show, The Phil Silvers Show, and George Burns and Gracie Allen. I also liked Sid Ceasar, and Red Skelton.

I watched Laurel and Hardy on Saturday mornings (right after The Lone Ranger, Mighty Mouse, and Fury) as a kid, and still love them to this day - silent, or with sound. They were simply artists - like Charlie Chaplin (who I never learned to appreciate until I was middle-aged, watching him on the Disney channel with my kids) - pure genius!  And so was W.C. Fields.   

I loved the young early Woody Allen (doing stand-up on Ed sullivan). And Elaine May and Mike Nichols were awfully good together. One of the more enjoyable periods was when we would buy, the "albums" of Bob Newhart and Jonathan Winters. We'd sit around at our cottage up at Lake Erie with family and our guests and laughed together as a family for hours. Newhart's phone call from Admiral Doubleday calling Madison Avenue, trying to explain his new game called "Baseball". The driving instructor. And the submarine Captain's speech to his crew. Wonderful stuff. 

I liked George Carlin early but he lost me when he had to make such a point of doing "blue". The shock value thing never grabbed me as being funny. He did a season (1972) on the John Byner Show, a Canadian comedian's summer show that was really funny.  

I still think Richard Pryor was a genius - loved him. And of course Robin Williams. I watched Robin Williams years ago in an interview and he could mix two accents, and two personas at the same time. He was answering the questions in a Shakespearian Hamlet style with a John Wayne accent and the interviewer was laughing so hard he could hardly keep asking the questions. He may have been thee best of them all in my book.

Does anybody remember those totally wierd shows of Ernie Kovaks? (and his smoking hot wife who did the cigar comercials after he died and left her broke?)

----------------

P.s. Bob Hope is still a hero to me. I got to see his show live at Dong Tam (on the Mekong) on the day after Christmas 1968. He had Ann Margret, Jonny Bench, and Miss World from Australia. Ann Margret really knocked us out! 

David Mitchell

Fred,

Didn't Jonathan Winters have his own 30-minute live show from Dayton way back in the 50's?

David Mitchell

Tim,

I fogot to try my guess at the Banana Man. Was he the wierd guy on Captain Kangaroo who used to pull all kinds of junk out of his huge coat?

And I also forgot about "Soupy Sales" - and White Fang and Black Tooth. Dumb, but funny.

Fred Clem

Dave,

Jonathan Winters was a radio personality in the Dayton/Springfield market.  I don't recall him having a regular TV show in Dayton.

Fred

David Mitchell

Bonnie,

Please don't take offense at my fogetfulness. My memory is so bad anymore I can hardly remember where I'm going once I get in the car. And I get up from the couch to go back to the kitchen to get something and by the time I walk the 20 feet, I forget what the hell it was that I got up for.  

And it wasn't that I didn't want to kiss you. It was that I didn't want to kiss anybody in font of all those people - least of all my parents.  

Michael McLeod

I'm getting really wrapped up in this Bonnie-Dave thing. I sure hope they work it out. I guess it's that role as Papa that instilled this fatherly instinct about it. Just have her home by 10:30, sonny boy.

Michael Hill

I am absolutely amazed at all the things I am learning about WHS and my classmates this late in my life. Then you have the bonus of Tim commenting and it does become addictive. I must admit I am jealous that I do not have all this free time but I catch the messages when I can.

Lawrence Foster

I have been out of the loop on this page because of computer problems.  But now I no longer have a desk top and instead have a MacBook.  Which means the learning curve has been going on and it has been long and steep.  

A while back there were some posts about Youth-in-Government Day and a photo of Dave and Joe as the party chairs.  Here is the follow-up article that incluses Dave's quote, "We held them to 20 elective offices." 

Lawrence Foster

Our graduation program.  Lot of good names on here that bring back a lot of good memories.

James Hamilton, M. D.

David Mitchell

Larry, 

Great news clip!  I couldn't remember how many "offices" I had said but it was nearly a clean sweep. I never realized my flip remark would get quoted in the paper. Oh well, we had fun anyway. Thanks for posting it.

And on the class graduation list of awards, I still think Elena and Millie cheated on the Spanish exam - (er sumpthin' )

Bonnie,

Who in the heck is Poppa anyway?  Was it Mike McLeod? I just saw an old picture of partial cast with him in it. I forgot that part too.

Bonnie Jonas (Jonas-Boggioni)

Larry...WOW brought back memories of Jonas for Judge!  AND, I received a sweet reply from my thanking my judge counterpart...when my Daddy read the letter out loud, he mis-read one line where the Judge called me a "lovely blonde;" he read it as "LONELY!!"

Michael McLeod

I was Papa in "I Remember Mama."  All I remember was having spray-on gray hair for the part and borrowing a pipe from my uncle as a prop. Some guys get to make out with the female cast members. Some guys get to go home and shampoo the crap out of their hair. An early lesson for me about how unfair life can be.

Timothy Lavelle

Larry...'computer problems'...yeah, I use that euphemism with my wife too...she says 'most men have that problem as they age'...BUT - Great Post.  I was sad to see that my awards did not get listed on the graduation ceremony handout. Sure, Yardbrough and Hodges get great billing, Bull and Holland show up with UK scholarships, 'Mary Hummmmmer' and other nerds get hurrahs for just keeping a 3.3 or better from birth but sadly my "Almost the best with English at a Mongolian village campfire somewhere outside Ulan Bator" doesn't even get a nod. Or how about "Physics award for skipping more classes senior year than possible while existing in a single dimension". Like Jim H's bud, Rodney, 'no respect man'.

I think that the time has come. Let's all just admit that we knew many people who tried to legallly change their names before graduation in order to get listed in column three...COLUMN THREE RULES!!...We lead off with Mike Hill. We got Mike Kaylor - a tough nut - Carla Kreamer - a looker. English royalty covered by Esquire William Kinkaid, not the one'th, or the deuce but the III'rd. We got Holland, Lavernia; we got Thomas Aquinas. We killed the other columns completely.

I'm huddled inside today, hiding from the cold and it was such a true treat to read every name on every list. Likely I'm not the only one trying to see back through the many years to come up with a face to match a name there. We just had such a great list of kids to be going through our mid-teens with.

Dave Mitchell got the Banana Man correct - such an amazing memory - who dates far back before Captain Kangaroo. I first saw him on that very best time of the week...Saturday morning...when we would watch cartoons - mid 50s thru early 60s - Buster Brown commercials, circus shows and the like. This guy was so completely different that his memory always stuck. He would pull huge stalks of bananas or horns out of the folds of a black coat  that hung almost to the floor. Check him out for a blast from the past: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Banana_Man    OUT.

James Hamilton, M. D.

David Mitchell

Speaking of some of those  "great names" Tim mentions:

I'm curious to know if anyone is in touch with Steve Hodges - er, I mean "Father Robert"?  He and I stayed in touch for years but have lost track of one another. I have a great story about he and I and my family at the Disneyland hotel years ago.

And how about Carolyn and Dennis Winchester? Anybody talk with them lately? Carolyn and her husband Jim were at the 45th but suddenly disappeared when we all sat down to dinner. Carolyn and I stayed in touch for years and then eventually lost track of one another.

I should confess that Tom Litzinger and I are accessories to the crime reagarding the scar on Dennis' chin. I had taken Dennis and Tom Litzinger skiing at Snow Trails. I went in to get lunch a few minutes ahead of them and the next thing I know, Litzinger is walking up the steps inside the lodge pointing to Dennis, who was walking behind him. Dennis was holding some cloth to his chin and blood was everywhere. He got a bunch of stiches done by the ski patrol guys. He had lost his balance and gone over forward and planted his chin against the top of his ski pole handle so hard it ripped him open to the bone.  

And Mike Del Bianco was at the 45th, but not this one - anybody ??? 

Carol and Al Morse?  ----  Mary Motil?  ---- Brian Doyle?

And finally, for you "I.C.ers". My first friend in life was next door neighbor Susie Russeau. When more babies kept arriving, Jack and Betty moved down to North Broadway in that big white house a few doors down from your school. We stayed family friends with them almost forever, but my years in Denver let that (and many other Columbus contacts) get away. I saw her for one wonderful lunch when we moved back to Columbus, but nothing since. We played house together and Cowboys and Indians from about age 3, and I remember she asked me to her "Cherry Ball" at St. Joe's one year.   Anybody in contact with her? 

Tim,

I keep asking myself who in their right mind would remember the Bannana Man?  But then, in a moment of luciity it occurred to me, maybe if we both stay confined indoors "it" won't spread too far. 

Mike,

Are you sure it was "I Remember Mama" or was that photo from "Pride and Predjudice"? BTW, the list of the cast Larry posted right beneath that picture is not from that play. It appeared to be from "Tammy". But now I can't find that photo on this forum. Larry, did you take that page down?

David Mitchell

Jim,

Great question. But I am embarrassed to say I cannot remember the impressions left on me from very many of those teachers - other than the fact that Siser Cecily was awfully cute.  But two of my three favorites are in areas where I actually struggled with my reading comprehension issues - History and English. 

I think Sister Constantius (Junior or Sophmore English) was really good. She was demanding but always made you feel important. And Pat Manion was a fine man and pretty good History teacher. I still love History to this day.

And I cannot leave out Sister Norbertine. I liked math, and her funny mannerisms would never allow any possibility of becoming bored. 

And although he was never my teacher, I always liked Father Kenny Grimes. I considered him a buddy and I think he liked me. (maybe because Mom and Dad would have him over for dinner so often when he first came to OLP under Father Foley - lol.). He encouraged me, affirmed me, made me feel like I could do it. 

Speaking of History, here is a negative memory. Tess (Warrick) Mckeon and I sat front and center right under the podium in Father Riley's (or was it O'Reilly) junior history class. Not only did he forget to shave and flush the smell of alchohol from his breath every morning, but in addition, Tess and I would disagree with him (and interrupt him with our diagreement) constantly. He would actually sigh out loud and show his utter disgust with the two of us over and over. It was like a war of the wills every single day with that poor frustrated man.

Lawrence Foster

In Response to Dave Mitchel and Mike McLeod, 

The photo you are looking for is under the tab for "High School Memories" and I think that maybe it was Clare who posted it.   That photo does seem to be from "Pride and Prejudice" which may have been in our junior year. The posted playbill is from Tammy.  

In our senior year Mike, Joe Donahue, Mark Cantlon, Al Judy and myself along with a couple of guys from Hartley and Ready were in the St Mary's senior class play which was "I Remember Momma."  Mike that may be where your confusion is coming from.  You got to be the Poppa in that play also.  I may have some photos and the play script from that and I will try to find them and post them here.  While Mike was being the Poppa, I was the son, Mark was a shy courter of one of the sisters, Al was the hospital orderly, and Joe was the bombastic, fun loving uncle.  Joe did not enter from the wings but came in from the back of the theater and walked down the aisle.  Halfway down he shouted out his greeetings to us on stage and scared a lot of the audience memebers who were not aware he was there.  Joe also had a well-played, dramatic death scene too.     

Now here is another memory that just came back to me.  One of those nights when we were driving to or from St. Mary's for rehearsal we were playing a variation of the headlight game "padiddle" (spelling?) where the first person to see a car with only one headlight called it out and got to punch the other guy in the shoulder.  As we were crossing a railroad track another car came at us and one of its headlights went out as it crossed the tracks!  We were so stunned to see a padiddle actually happen that we forgot to call it out.

Padiddle was a stupid game to play amongst the guys.  It was much more fun to play it on a date with the girls. The variation was that if the guy saw and called it out first he got to kiss the girl.  If the girl saw it she got to slap the guy.  Fortunately the slaps were more like love pats that said "Keep your distance buddy."   Yeah, the girls were damn observant and good at that game.   

Timothy Lavelle

Bull: remember when Royer would mimic White Fang and Black Tooth and do his patented "Luh-uh-uh" routine. Even then that killed me. Well, the Banana Man I remember used that same kind of 'weird speech' which would sound like a very high pitched "Oooo-ahhhh" as he pulled another stalk of bananas out of his....

A n C...Abbott and Costello and their movies about The Mummy and such...."'Who's on First" is a classic among classics.

I sure agree with Dave M about more people writing in...whether current news or old memories it is great fun to hear the various voices through the print. I wish just naming people would get them to 'answer up'. Fred...Jonathon Winters was a favorite in the LaVelle household; the story was told that he was 'on loan' from an asylum and had to return there occasionally. His sound effects of arrows hitting their mark and off the wall humor fit our style at home very well. That reminds me of watching Ed Sullivan way before the Beatles showed up on the scene and the many ventriloquists. Or "My nae, Jose Jiminez" or the two brothers who always bickered...senior moment on their names here. Had their own show later...

Last evening I time traveled...part of my award for physics...just by looking at the photo of "Saint Agatha" from our reunion...Debbie, Colleen, Kathy and the gang...I was immediately back in the sixth grade trying to make new friends. Sixth grade was just before kids got really good at sports or formed cliques. We accepted each other and just played. I know it is boring pap to you all for me to say but truthfully...what a great period of time we have lived in...our parents also (mine born 1908) got to witness mankind leaping off the earth on what looked like motorized-mosquito wings and later land on the moon. How flipping awesome is that? PARTY ON TESTA!!

James Hamilton, M. D.

Linda Weiner (Bennett)

Re: Childhood Fave Comedians.  (I thought I posted this already—whatever!)

Always loved Lucy while enjoying 1/2 bottle of RC, the weekly pop allowance. 

So many great ones on Ed Sullivan Show: Stiller & Meara; George Carlin. Loved Smothers Brothers; Red Skelton; Jonathan Winters; Imogene Cocoa; the entire cast of Laugh-In & of course Johnny Carson. I liked that bald insult guy. don't think he ever smiled...can't remember name. Always wished I could be so spontaneous! 

Learned to appreciate George & Gracie much later with TV reruns. My mother loved Betty White; dad loved Jack Benny. 

Here it comes: At WHS it was Joe Donahue, Tim Lavelle, Gus DeNova & Jim Schultheis!

Timothy Lavelle

Thanks Jim, Yeah. The Smo Bros.

Linda...Don Rickles and thanks for including me in a special list.

John Maxwell

John Maxwell