Ed Sullivan Impersonator
mws
great impression of Ed Sullivan . I cannot remember his name
but if you watched TV back then you know who I am talking
about . I believe he was also in a Billy Joel video in the early
80s . Just wondering if anyone remembers his name and if he
is still around .
Fauxorb
I'm sure you're thinking of Will Jordan. He appeared as Ed in a number of
films. I went to high school with a niece and nephew of his in Amherst,
Massachusetts. I can't, however, give any details on whether or not he has
passed.
Regards,
Brian
Harry Zaltzberg
In article <9ckmq...@enews1.newsguy.com>, "mws"
<tbru...@ameritech.net> wrote:
--
Harry Zaltzberg za...@nyc.rr.com
Hal Horn
RWilson963
you...@net.com
Wow! EVERYONE did Ed Sullivan imitations back when Ed was alive--or
sort of. Rich Little was one, Frank Gorshin was another. But there
were so many in fact that one show had about a dozen Sullivan
impersonators, all saying in hunched shoulders: "It's a fine fine fine
fine fine fine shew."
Bryan Styble
notice until now.
But while reading the initial posting, I assumed the inquiry was referring to
John Byner, who I thought was the most frequently seen as Sullivan impression,
if not necessarily recognized by consensus as the definitive one. (Don't know
whether Byner's alive or in good health, however.)
Sincerely,
BRYAN STYBLE/Albuquerque
trippy
After that his welcome wore thin, after all Ed Sullivan was doing all the work
and WJ was just getting the credit.
Now.....in terms of mimics, NO ONE beats Rich Little, a hometown lad (Ottawa,
Canada)
my humble opinion
tripp
James L. Neibaur
different impressionists from over the years. He runs a classified in The Big
Reel every so often.
Of course Gorshin and Little are still alive as well.
Incidentally, whatever happened to impressionists? As recently as, say, the
seventies, there were many entertainers whose sole performance was
impersonating others -- has that vanished? ...become passe?
Just wondering.
JN
Please visit the most poorly designed web pages online:
my Favorite Movies web page:
http://hometown.aol.com/jimneibr/myhomepage/movies.html
and my Favorite Performers web page:
http://hometown.aol.com/jimneibr/myhomepage/rant.html
MadCow57
Correct. Now, refresh my memory - didn't Little do David Niven's voice in a
movie when Niven was near the end of his life and could no longer speak?
mws
"Hal Horn" <hal...@airmail.net> wrote in message
news:D486EB249E67D5A5.AB793A60...@lp.airnews.net...
>
> www.impersonators.com/wjordan.html
>
> HCH
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, MadCow57 <madc...@aol.com> wrote:
> Correct. Now, refresh my memory - didn't Little do David Niven's
> voice in a movie when Niven was near the end of his life and could
> no longer speak?
I think Little has done a few of these. I know Anthony Hopkins filled
in for Olivier's voice in the restoration of "Spartacus" (Tony Curtis
dubbed his own lines). When else has this happened?
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone disagrees with any statement I make, I
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |am quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / bal...@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it. -T. Lehrer
***~~~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------
lynn paden
news:9cnads$3mq$2...@news.panix.com...
>
> In the previous article, MadCow57 <madc...@aol.com> wrote:
> > Correct. Now, refresh my memory - didn't Little do David Niven's
> > voice in a movie when Niven was near the end of his life and could
> > no longer speak?
>
> I think Little has done a few of these. I know Anthony Hopkins filled
> in for Olivier's voice in the restoration of "Spartacus" (Tony Curtis
> dubbed his own lines). When else has this happened?
> --
didn't jim belushi do some dubbing for his brother john when "blues
brothers" was censored for network tv?
jamison
Matthew Hubbard
>
> Incidentally, whatever happened to impressionists? As recently as,
> say, the seventies, there were many entertainers whose sole
> performance was impersonating others -- has that vanished? ...become
> passe?
You are correct, sir!
The most recent comic I can think of who does impressions as most of
his act is Joe Alesky (sp?), a rotund performer who has become a sitcom
character actor. He did (does?) a really terrific Shatner.
A lot of impressionists today get work doing cartoon voices and little
else.
Two of the most successful comic "impressions" of the past couple
decades are Dana Carvey's Church Lady and Kevin Meaney's impression of
his mom, and both of these are impressions of people the audience
doesn't even know.
Now, that's not right! You're like a crazy person!
MattH
p.s. On the subject of impressions, I was listening to "This American
Life" on NPR this weekend, and writer David Sedaris told of his
childhood fantasy of going on stage as Billie Holiday singing jingles.
His impression of Lady Day singing "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing"
is terrifyingly accurate, as well as pretty fucking hilarious.
Amanda
Ho there, Brian! Amherst Regional High School? I'm class of '85. You??
-Amanda
MadCow57
I guess the guys who do Clinton, Gore, and Bush on Saturday Night Live are not
exclusively impressionists.
Brad Ferguson
Neibaur <jimn...@aol.combatant> wrote:
> Will Jordan is indeed still living, and he also collects films and videos on
> different impressionists from over the years. He runs a classified in The
> Big
> Reel every so often.
>
> Of course Gorshin and Little are still alive as well.
>
> Incidentally, whatever happened to impressionists? As recently as, say, the
> seventies, there were many entertainers whose sole performance was
> impersonating others -- has that vanished? ...become passe?
>
> Just wondering.
Since we're making a list, I haven't heard about David Frye since
shortly after Nixon resigned. There was also that fellow, Richard M.
Dixon, who resembled Nixon and even made the enemies list for simply
appearing on television, waving his arms around, and looking like
Nixon.
The last time I saw anything from Will Jordan (we're talking publicity
materials crossing desks here), he had gotten together an act as George
S. Patton -- not the real-life, squeaky-voiced Patton, but the George
C. Scott version. There were publicity stills of Jordan dressed in a
uniform and holding a riding crop. Jordan was working the business
meeting circuit.
Brad Ferguson
<madc...@aol.com> wrote:
Yes. It was his last film, "Curse of the Pink Panther," released in
1983. Niven died of motor-neuron disease on July 29 of that year.
MadCow57
materials crossing desks here), he had gotten together an act as George
S. Patton -- not the real-life, squeaky-voiced Patton, but the George
C. Scott version. There were publicity stills of Jordan dressed in a
uniform and holding a riding crop. Jordan was working the business
Sometime in the last two years or so, I ditched a boating organization (unnamed
here) banquet because the entertainment was a Jackie Kennedy impersonator who
was going to talk about clothes and home decorating.
I think this must have been cooked up by some male program chairman who had
gotten flak from the wife about the time he spends messing with the boat.
Anyway, there were a lot of us foraging around for a restaurant that evening,
and our party was probably better than the banquet.
Matthew Hubbard
It depends on the guy. The guy on SNL who did Clinton, who I think is
Darryl Horn (sp?), is as close to a professional impressionist as it
gets these days, while Dana Carvey, Dan Ackroyd, Norm MacDonald, Will
Farrell, Al Franken, etc., do political impressions, but it's not their
entire career.
MattH
Marcia Rovins
"James L. Neibaur" wrote:
> Will Jordan is indeed still living, and he also collects films and videos on
> different impressionists from over the years. He runs a classified in The Big
> Reel every so often.
>
> Of course Gorshin and Little are still alive as well.
>
> Incidentally, whatever happened to impressionists? As recently as, say, the
> seventies, there were many entertainers whose sole performance was
> impersonating others -- has that vanished? ...become passe?
>
> Just wondering.
>
Impressionists are still alive and well in Las Vegas. Danny Gans is one of the
hottest tickets on the Strip.
Marcia
Brad Ferguson
>
> > Incidentally, whatever happened to impressionists? As recently
> > as, say, the seventies, there were many entertainers whose sole
> > performance was impersonating others -- has that vanished?
> > ...become passe?
> >
> > Just wondering.
One of the things that happened was that people got bored.
Impressionists kept doing the same old, hoary acts. I saw a guy in the
mid-'80s do an act that consisted largely of impressions of Jimmy
Durante and Louis Armstrong doing the usual shtick.
Off-the-wall impressions still work, though. Not so long ago, I saw a
guy doing Jimmy Stewart singing "Blackbird." Hilarious.
John Lupton
wrote:
>Will Jordan is indeed still living, and he also collects films and videos on
>different impressionists from over the years. He runs a classified in The Big
>Reel every so often.
>
>Of course Gorshin and Little are still alive as well.
David Frye and John Byner are both still living, far as I know. Frye's
bread-and-butter was his Nixon schtick, but he had a few other pretty
good voices. Fred Travalena is still around, I guess, but I never
thought he was particularly good, as impressionists go. I think Guy
Marks ("Oh, your red scarf matches your eyes...") did impressions as
well. Haven't heard anything about him in 30 years or so.
I remember a female impressionist (as opposed to a female impersonator
<g>) back in the 60s, I think her name was Marilyn Michaels, or
something like that, she used to do a pretty good Streisand.
>
>Incidentally, whatever happened to impressionists? As recently as, say, the
>seventies, there were many entertainers whose sole performance was
>impersonating others -- has that vanished? ...become passe?
>
>Just wondering.
Seems to me that we stopped seeing impressionists when the TV "variety
shows" (Dean Martin, Andy Williams, et al - yes, you'd have to include
Ed Sullivan as well) went out of vogue. Most of us didn't go to
nightclubs (if we were old enough in the first place), or Vegas, and
these weekly TV shows were almost the only place most of us could see
these impressionists. Yeah, you could catch them on Carson's show
sometimes, but I think the disappearance of regular, prime-time
exposure is what really led to the demise of impressionists.
---------------------------------------
John Lupton (lup...@isc.upenn.edu)
Office of Information Security
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Marcia Rovins
of the shows currently on the Las Vegas Strip. They include:
Andre Philippe Gagnon @ The Venetian..."A virtuoso of impressions"
Bill Acosta: Lasting Impressions @ The Flamingo... "Man of 1001 Voices"
Danny Gans @ The Mirage..."features 200 voices to amaze and entertain"
The Scintas @ The Rio..."perform music, impressions and comedy"
and that doesn't even include the Elvis impersonators and Legends in Concert-type
shows. It's true that impressionists don't appear on television much anymore,
since the death of variety shows, but they are still around.
As far as Fred Travelena goes, I think he's far superior to Rich Little. Having
heard both of them interviewed on radio, so you could hear the pure voice without
the production values, Rich Little always sounded like Rich Little doing an
impression while Fred Travelena sounded like the person. That's my humble opinion
along with Tony Newley's who said that Travelena did the best impression of him.
Marcia