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| You can enlarge the picture to see the stars! |
Rich Little's 1963 album "Scrooge and the Stars" featured John F. Kennedy was the Ghost of Christmas Present, but it also had a bunch of other celebrities, all from the entertainment world.
Being an aficionado of retro pop culture, I'm familiar with all of the performers and feel reasonably qualified to judge the impersonations.
It's an interesting mix, with a lot of them having been prominent for quite some time, but still around in 1963, including Bing Crosby, Jimmy Durante, George Burns, John Wayne, etc.
This is also true of the "star" of the recording, Jack Benny. He's a great choice to be cast as Scrooge for a comedy project, as his stinginess was the dominant trait of his show-biz persona. By all accounts, he was a very generous man in real life, but everyone thought he was stingy. Throw in his perpetual claim of being 39 years old and his violin playing and there's plenty of comedy fodder.
I'm a huge Jack Benny fan and I think Rich Little nails the impersonation. You start thinking you're actually listening to Benny himself and that's as good as it gets!
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| Jack seems reluctant to pay "Rochester" his 15 shillings! |
Since you need to have a Bob Cratchit, it's extremely helpful if your Scrooge "actor" already has a put-upon employee. In this case we have Jack Benny's longtime valet "Rochester" in that role. His real name was Eddie Anderson, but he was usually just billed as "Rochester," as he is here, or sometimes Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. It was a common radio practice for actors to be billed as their character names and the public seemed to think they really were who they played on the radio. Fans thought Rochester was actually Jack's valet. Whatever the case Eddie Anderson was a great performer with one of the most memorable voices ever. And unlike Cratchit, "Rochester" was usually one step ahead of his own boss.
The narrator of the piece is Fred MacMurray, who's not the first star you think of as being a target for impressionists, but he was very popular at the time with the "My Three Sons" TV series and movies such as "The Absent-Minded Professor" (1961) and "Son of Flubber" (1963). Rich Little's impersonation is excellent, so good that it probably was a factor in having "Fred" narrate.
Rich also does a great Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne and I remember them being staples of his act back in the day, so it's no surprise to see them here, along with the mandatory Ed Sullivan.
A couple of the stars seem odd choices to me, mainly Van Heflin and Dana Andrews. I've seen both of them in tons of movies and enjoy their work, but I'm not sure what made them relevant in 1963 as they were never huge stars.
Gregory Peck was huge star, of course, and had just won the Best Actor Oscar for "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962), so that's definitely the most star power ever associated with Dick Wilkins!
And Jackie Gleason is a fun Fezziwig!
Jack Webb is here although "Dragnet" was in between TV incarnations. Everybody would still "get" that impersonation, though, as Sgt. Friday was very memorable. Raymond Burr is in full "Perry Mason" mode here and the over-the-top Walter Brennan, à la "The Real McCoys" is awesome!
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| He passes the Lucy Van Pelt test! |
Fascinating to me is that "Chester" from the TV series "Gunsmoke" is billed as the celebrity, rather than Dennis Weaver. It seems like a throwback to Rochester and such. Looking back, I associate Dennis Weaver with "McCloud" as much as "Gunsmoke" and I also remember him from the "Gentle Ben" TV series. But in the early 1960s, he must have just been Chester!
I know Chester was big as he's the only celebrity namedropped by the Chipmunks in their 1960 recording of "Chipmunk Fun." Alvin even throws a little imitation of him!
Just for fun, here's that record:
We have a few other celebrities in the mix, but the mystery here is why whoever "plays" Tiny Tim does not get billing. I think it's Liberace, though. Anyone have any thoughts?
So lots of fun impressions and Rich Little's talent is just off the charts. No wonder he was going to make inroads into U.S. prominence soon!
Next up, the obligatory plot breakdown...
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