Remembering Jerry Nelson
Some of us knew Jerry from high school and college. After Jerry died, one memory led to another and it seemed like it would be a good idea to make a place where people could post their memories or vignettes about Jerry.
So I'll start,
Jerry often said that Dave Alexander, who was a year ahead of us, came to his fifth grade classroom and pantomimed a recording. Jerry realized at that point he wanted to do something like that. When we met him in high school at W&L, he said that he could pantomime to Spike Jones recordings, but we had never seen him do it.
One day for a school assembly Jerry said he would pantomime "I Went to Your Wedding." The singer starts off calmly enough. He gets through the first verse but on the second verse he begins to laugh. "I Went to Your Wedding
although I was dreading
the thought of seeing you ... uhoo... uhoo."
Pretty soon it's obvious the singer isn't at all unhappy to be getting rid of this person, and thinks the idea that this person is getting married is hilarious. The laughter outbursts get louder, longer and more out of control. The Spike Jones version is on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB_XDUb_tG0
and here's his version of Cocktails for Two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvt4b_qwC_Q&noredirect=1
although I was dreading
the thought of seeing you ... uhoo... uhoo."
Pretty soon it's obvious the singer isn't at all unhappy to be getting rid of this person, and thinks the idea that this person is getting married is hilarious. The laughter outbursts get louder, longer and more out of control. The Spike Jones version is on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB_XDUb_tG0
and here's his version of Cocktails for Two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvt4b_qwC_Q&noredirect=1
Jerry arrived dressed in a dark blue suit, white shirt and tie. We had a brief consultation at the back of the stage about starting the record. He went up to the microphone and announced the song in his own voice, and then we started the record. From the back we could see he had the timing, the gestures and the postures down perfectly. At the first sign of laughter on the record his shoulders shook slightly, then for a longer time. Soon there was laughter from the audience. As the record went on, he was throwing his hands out and leaning over and slapping his thigh. He had the whole place - several hundred people - cracking up. He would pull himself together in sync with the record (the singer would go "umhum") and start singing again, only to have another outburst. Pretty soon he had the entire assembly - maybe 800 people - cracking up.
Thanks--great story, and neat to hear how Jerry was already getting an early start in acting.
ReplyDeleteWhat's especially impressive is how much guts Jerry had to try this. If his timing wasn't just perfect, or the audience didn't get what he was going for, there would have been nowhere to hide; it would have bombed and he would have taken the full embarrassing brunt of it (and with an audience of peers, not people who leave the theatre and you never see them again). He took a gamble, he put himself out there, he had talent--and it worked, and he was on his way.
Here’s a Jerry story, about what may be his TV acting debut, which was also my one and only TV appearance.
ReplyDeleteThis was around 1957, and Jerry was working as a page for WRC, a DC radio and TV station. Its studios were in the Wardman Park Hotel near Connecticut Ave. in DC. They had a Saturday morning TV show called “Traffic Court” that had a real judge and actors recreating traffic court cases. Sort of early semi-reality TV. Jerry was going to act in the show on a Saturday and I went along to see what a live TV show was like.
There was lots of hustle and bustle, and also waiting around. Eventually the director told Jerry that they didn’t need him for this show, but to come back next week. And he asked me to come along and be in the show. I had a beard then, which was fairly unusual for 1957, so he must have though I’d add some character to the show.
I’d been in NYC right before the next Saturday and got to WRC having had no sleep, so I was pretty loose. The director sat down with Jerry and I, and told us that our “case” was that we’d stolen a car and wrecked it. We’d improvise our answers to the Judge’s questions, and we should loudly blame each other, interrupt each other, and generally be disruptive. But not to overdo it or the Judge would find us in contempt, which wasn’t in the script. Then the director put Jerry’s arm in a sling and bandages on my head (the car wreck.)
When the Judge called our “case” we did our bits, being rowdy and obnoxious, and the Judge did threaten us. It was great fun. Jerry soon moved to NYC to be an actor—that turned out be an OK career move. A week or so after the show I heard that a girl we knew had seen the show with her family. Her mother had recognized Jerry and gotten really upset. She said, “I know him, he’s been in our house! He stole that car!!! Don’t ever let him in here again!”
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI'm Lovisa's ex-roommate from college when we both went to school in Chicago. I would love to get in touch with her, could you possibly send her my contact info? My email is maritesszurbano@gmail.com thanks!
Maritess