Thursday, December 15, 2005
The fastest selling album of its time...
As verified by Trivial Pursuit, the answer to the question, what was the fastest selling album ever ? lasted long enough to be used in the card game. The answer to that question was the name of the album that went to #1 on the LP charts on this date in 1962 and stayed there for 12 weeks. If you're thinking Elvis, Ray Charles, Dion, Sam Cooke, Brenda Lee or Paul Anka, think again. The artist whose album would win an Album of the Year Grammy in 1962 couldn't even sing but then he didn't have to. He was a comedian...
His name was Vaughn Meader and the album was "The First Family", a spoof on the Kennedy's. Meader, from Waterville, Maine, easily slipped into an authentic impersonation of JFK. He even looked like our new president. Recorded on October 22, 1962, the album had sold a million by Christmas, 4 million by the end of the year. The following year it totaled 7.5 million copies sold, unprecedented for any album let alone a comedy album...
The LP was filled with JFK impersonations ("you drive a hahd bahgain", "move ahead with great vigah", "let me say thhhhisss about thhhhaht") as well as the soft whisper of wife Jackie, the New England brogue of brother Bobby, humorous tales of PT-109, rocking chairs, the clan's well-known gatherings and the straight announcer's plea ("go to the poles and vote. Vote for the Kennedy of your choice but vote"). Even JFK got into the act, giving copies of the LP as Christmas favors and greeting a Democratic National Committee group by saying, "Vaughn Meader was busy tonight, so I came myself"...
It was a great ride for Vaughn Meader but it came to a crashing end on November 22, 1963 when JFK was assassinated. Meader got the news in Milwaukee from a cab driver. Appearing at a New York nightclub, Lenny Bruce offered this: "Vaughn Meader is screwed". Meader was more direct when he was quoted as saying: "I died on November 22, 1963"...
More on Vaughn Meader in my commentary...
More December 15 Memories...
1925) The 3rd Madison Square Garden opens at 8th Avenue & 50th Street in Manhattan as Montreal defeats the Rangers 3-1 (the old Garden lasted until 1968 when it was razed and replaced by the current one at 7th Avenue & 33rd Street)...
1938) Ground is broken for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C...
1939) "Gone With The Wind" premieres at the Loew's Grand Theater in Atlanta...
1944) A single-engine plane carrying U.S. Army Major Glenn Miller disappears in thick fog over the English Channel while en route to Paris (the plane is never found)...
1946) Chicago wins their 5th NFL championship with a 24-14 win over the Giants...
1959) The Everly Brothers record "Let It Be Me" in New York City (their 1st record session out of Nashville)...
1961) Former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann is sentenced to death by an Israeli court...
1962) Vaughn Meader's "First Family" LP tops the charts for the 1st of 12 weeks (feature story)...
1966) Walt Disney dies at 65...
1969) John Lennon gives his last performance in England for a UNICEF benefit in London...
1982) Paul "Bear" Bryant announces his retirement as head coach at the University of Alabama (the winningest coach in college football history at the time would be replaced by Ray Perkins, a former Tide player. The Bear would suffer a fatal heart attack at 69 one month after he retires)...
1982) Bill Parcells becomes the Giants 12th head coach...
1985) Sylvester Stallone and Brigitte Nelson tie the knot...
1988) James Brown is sentenced to a 6-year jail term for leading police on a late-night chase (he's released on February 27, 1991)...
1990) Rod Stewart and Rachel Hunter walk down the aisle...
1993) John Williams conducts the Boston Pops for the final time...
2001) Legendary R&B star Rufus Thomas dies in Memphis after a short illness, at 84...
2003) The late Senator Strom Thurmond's family acknowledges Essie Mae Washington-Williams' claim that she was his illegitimate mixed-race daughter...
Happy Birthday To...
1933) Tim Conway...
1939) Former Blue Belle & Supreme Cindy Birdsong...
1942) Dave Clark...
1949) Don Johnson...
1972) Patriot safety Rodney Harrison...
Commentary...
Vaughn Meader had a rough time after JFK's assassination, failing to make a decent living, he moved back to Maine. He would record a couple of comedy albums for Verve but with his act dead, sales were virtually nonexistent. He would take up bluegrass and country singing, becoming a popular local performer in Maine. Meader and 4th wife, Sheila spent 3 years in Florida before returning to Maine where Meader would die October 29, 2004 at the age of 68...
