polybi
10-30-2004, 03:57 PM
This may not be of interest to you, but there WAS a time when you can parody...even riducule...a President, and not be considered a traitor to your country. Inconsiderate, maybe. Disrepectful, possibly. But this was before the Sean Handmaidens and Bill O'Reallys of the world.
I grew up listening to people like David Frey skewer LBJ and Nixon. ANds watched That Was The Week that Was religeously.
So I read with great sadness that Vaughn Meader died.
Meader was dead-on in his impersonation of JFK...it lead to a Gold record for his comedy album "the First Family.
Below is his obit. WIth him dies a little bit of us that we may never get back...the ability to laugh at ourselves and still be American.
polybi
Maine comic who parodied JFK dies at 68
By ELBERT AULL
Staff Writer
Copyright © 2004 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
Vaughn Meader -- a comic whose polite brand of political satire served as a symbol of a country before it lost its innocence -- died Friday morning at his home in Auburn.
Meader, a Waterville native, was 68.
Meader achieved national fame in late 1962 with "The First Family" -- a satiric comedy record that poked fun at then-President John F. Kennedy.
The record sold more than 1 million copies within two weeks of its release and landed Meader television appearances on the "Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Tonight Show."
Even the president was said to be amused, picking up 100 copies of the album to give as Christmas gifts.
Kennedy once opened a Democratic National Committee dinner by telling delegates: "Vaughn Meader was busy tonight, so I came myself."
The Grammy award-winning album sold 7.5 million copies, but Meader's fame died in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, when the president was assassinated. Night clubs and network television executives canceled his appearances, effectively ending his career in show business.
The comic's name became a reminder of the brutal assassination and synonymous with bad luck in show business. Meader began going by his birth name, Abbott, after the tragedy.
Subsequent bids at a national comeback as a comedian and musician were unsuccessful. Meader moved back to Maine and often performed country music and comedy at small pubs. He once declared his candidacy for president in the basement of a Hallowell bar.
Playtone, the production company run by Tom Hanks, purchased the rights to Meader's life story about five years ago but has not yet started making a movie, Meader's friends and family members said Friday.
Friends said the comic -- with his scraggly beard and cantankerous personality -- was unmistakable in public.
"Whenever he was in a bar or something, he'd have the room revolving around him," said Tim Plumer of Hallowell, a longtime friend of Meader's.
Meader, who battled with chronic emphysema and other ailments, died a day after reporting he felt ill. He refused to be taken to the hospital, said Sheila Meader, his wife.
The comic smoked and drank, she said, but immortalized himself by building a veritable army of friends along the way. Plumer, for example, devoted a chapter of his book about notable Hallowell characters to Meader.
Sheila Meader said before he died, her husband and some of his friends discussed what they would do for his funeral.
She said the group decided they would put Abbott Meader on a barge with a baby grand piano, cover him with lighter fluid and push him into the Kennebec River. One of his friends -- an archer -- would fire a flaming arrow, igniting the barge as it burned its way down the Kennebec.
Sheila Meader said she wanted to at least symbolically honor that request by having a celebration of her husband's life in Hallowell in late November, when friends might share stories and launch a symbolic floating pyre on the Kennebec.
"He was a friend magnet," she said. "I couldn't have gotten through him dying and having the body taken out (of the home) without them."
Meader will be cremated and a private committal ceremony is planned for Sunday.
A celebration of his life is scheduled for 3 p.m. Nov. 21 at The Wharf in Hallowell.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
I grew up listening to people like David Frey skewer LBJ and Nixon. ANds watched That Was The Week that Was religeously.
So I read with great sadness that Vaughn Meader died.
Meader was dead-on in his impersonation of JFK...it lead to a Gold record for his comedy album "the First Family.
Below is his obit. WIth him dies a little bit of us that we may never get back...the ability to laugh at ourselves and still be American.
polybi
Maine comic who parodied JFK dies at 68
By ELBERT AULL
Staff Writer
Copyright © 2004 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
Vaughn Meader -- a comic whose polite brand of political satire served as a symbol of a country before it lost its innocence -- died Friday morning at his home in Auburn.
Meader, a Waterville native, was 68.
Meader achieved national fame in late 1962 with "The First Family" -- a satiric comedy record that poked fun at then-President John F. Kennedy.
The record sold more than 1 million copies within two weeks of its release and landed Meader television appearances on the "Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Tonight Show."
Even the president was said to be amused, picking up 100 copies of the album to give as Christmas gifts.
Kennedy once opened a Democratic National Committee dinner by telling delegates: "Vaughn Meader was busy tonight, so I came myself."
The Grammy award-winning album sold 7.5 million copies, but Meader's fame died in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, when the president was assassinated. Night clubs and network television executives canceled his appearances, effectively ending his career in show business.
The comic's name became a reminder of the brutal assassination and synonymous with bad luck in show business. Meader began going by his birth name, Abbott, after the tragedy.
Subsequent bids at a national comeback as a comedian and musician were unsuccessful. Meader moved back to Maine and often performed country music and comedy at small pubs. He once declared his candidacy for president in the basement of a Hallowell bar.
Playtone, the production company run by Tom Hanks, purchased the rights to Meader's life story about five years ago but has not yet started making a movie, Meader's friends and family members said Friday.
Friends said the comic -- with his scraggly beard and cantankerous personality -- was unmistakable in public.
"Whenever he was in a bar or something, he'd have the room revolving around him," said Tim Plumer of Hallowell, a longtime friend of Meader's.
Meader, who battled with chronic emphysema and other ailments, died a day after reporting he felt ill. He refused to be taken to the hospital, said Sheila Meader, his wife.
The comic smoked and drank, she said, but immortalized himself by building a veritable army of friends along the way. Plumer, for example, devoted a chapter of his book about notable Hallowell characters to Meader.
Sheila Meader said before he died, her husband and some of his friends discussed what they would do for his funeral.
She said the group decided they would put Abbott Meader on a barge with a baby grand piano, cover him with lighter fluid and push him into the Kennebec River. One of his friends -- an archer -- would fire a flaming arrow, igniting the barge as it burned its way down the Kennebec.
Sheila Meader said she wanted to at least symbolically honor that request by having a celebration of her husband's life in Hallowell in late November, when friends might share stories and launch a symbolic floating pyre on the Kennebec.
"He was a friend magnet," she said. "I couldn't have gotten through him dying and having the body taken out (of the home) without them."
Meader will be cremated and a private committal ceremony is planned for Sunday.
A celebration of his life is scheduled for 3 p.m. Nov. 21 at The Wharf in Hallowell.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.