Back to Bob Roos's
Hobbies page
It wouldn't be fair to say that I was influenced by much of what
Stan Freberg did--really, all I remember is the Chun King Chow Mein
commercials, the song "Green Christmas", and a few excerpts from
his radio show and records. But I remember them well!
The World's Most Official Unofficial Stan Freberg Page
I think I was too young to fully appreciate Ernie Kovacs's humor, but I
remember his Nairobi Trio,
his short-lived TV program Silents, Please, a pencil
sharpener whistling "Sentimental Journey," and his blackouts to the
tune of "Mack the Knife."
My family almost died laughing at the silly little skit involving the
black box with the hand that reached out and turned off the switch. (My
brother used to own one of those boxes, but it was a bank
and the hand grabbed a coin rather than turning off a switch.)
Ernie Kovacs dot net seems to be the main
Kovacs site on the Web.
How could I forget to mention Steve Allen. I'm not sure I remember
him from the Tonight show, but I do remember his Sunday
night program (opposite Ed Sullivan), the "Man in the Street" interviews,
his syndicated talk show ("Smock! Smock!" and "ferndoc" still resonate in
my ears), the "Prickly Heat" telethon, the Meeting of the Minds
series.... May he rest in piece.
Wikipedia entry (there is a supposed "official Steve Allen Web
page", but it doesn't seem to have any content).
And finally, there's the radio program that I listened to every morning
for years when I was growing up--"Cordic and Company" on KDKA radio.
Cordic left KDKA for
Los Angeles in 1965 or so to replace Bob Crane on KNX radio,
and apart from a brief reappearance (via
tape) on WTAE radio in 1968 or so, and an
appearance on an episode of Columbo (he was one of the wine
experts in the episode "Any Old Port in a Storm," with Donald Pleasance),
I never heard of him again until his death was reported in the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The most comprehensive web site about
Cordic and Company
Here are some of the notices about
Rege and some of the other people from the show:
The Gazette obituary from Sunday, April 18, 1999
Adrian
McCoy's "Radioland" column from April 21, 1999
Bob Trow's obituary (he was a regular on the Cordic show)
Marsha Phillips's obituary (she was the "cover girl" for Olde Frothingslosh)