LENNY!
I have read different articles over the years about how we should all make a list of the things we want to do before we die.
One of the things I want to put on my list is to stop procrastinating, because I still haven't made the list.
This was brought home to me today as I was reading the Saturday morning paper and saw an article about a comedian in the 50's and 60's, Jack Roy.
(He used his real name then, Jacob Cohen.... and then Jack Roy.)
Thinking about Jack brought a smile to my lips because he was the poster child for determination.
Good old Jack/Jacob was in show business for 10 years and his career was so small that when he quit........ he was the only one that knew it!
Still, Jacob/Jack never gave up. He went out and got a job as an Aluminum Siding Salesman (The latest thing!) and for the next ten years he supported his family that way before making a big comeback as "Rodney Dangerfield!"
Jacob had hit the big time but I remember him best because he started out as one of a whole gang of stand-up's in the late 50's and early 60's who lived, breathed and worked around Broadway in NYC.
They were the denizens of the night and the original "In Crowd" which included the likes of Mort Sahl, Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Woody Allen, Sid Caesar, Jonathan Winters, Joan Rivers, Robert Klein, Bill Cosby, George Carlin and a host of others who I won't bother to name in the interest of brevity.
All of these "hipsters" plus the musicians, and yes the pimps and hookers all had an unofficial "spokesman," and his name was Lenny Bruce.
NOW, the reason for this long winded narration is this.
Our hapless hero (Jacob) was one of Lenny's best friends and the two of them spent many nights amongst the werewolves and other creatures of the night in the bowels of NYC.
It was a time when the term "Hip" meant Jazz and Junk, and not Pot and Pop.
It was a time of the original "cool" and if nothing else Lenny was one of the coolest cats around!
Lenny was the epitome of the "Beat Generation!"
So, on my list....... (Remember my list?) I had always planned to somehow meet Jacob Cohen/Jack Roy/Rodney Dangerfield and get him to tell me some Lenny stories! They would have been amazing!
But, because I didn't make the list, and so never got around to doing it, the S.O.B. went and died on me and now the opportunity is gone.
How's that for a turn of events, I never got no respect from Rodney Dangerfield!
Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com
Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com
One of the things I want to put on my list is to stop procrastinating, because I still haven't made the list.
This was brought home to me today as I was reading the Saturday morning paper and saw an article about a comedian in the 50's and 60's, Jack Roy.
(He used his real name then, Jacob Cohen.... and then Jack Roy.)
Thinking about Jack brought a smile to my lips because he was the poster child for determination.
Good old Jack/Jacob was in show business for 10 years and his career was so small that when he quit........ he was the only one that knew it!
Still, Jacob/Jack never gave up. He went out and got a job as an Aluminum Siding Salesman (The latest thing!) and for the next ten years he supported his family that way before making a big comeback as "Rodney Dangerfield!"
Jacob had hit the big time but I remember him best because he started out as one of a whole gang of stand-up's in the late 50's and early 60's who lived, breathed and worked around Broadway in NYC.
They were the denizens of the night and the original "In Crowd" which included the likes of Mort Sahl, Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Woody Allen, Sid Caesar, Jonathan Winters, Joan Rivers, Robert Klein, Bill Cosby, George Carlin and a host of others who I won't bother to name in the interest of brevity.
All of these "hipsters" plus the musicians, and yes the pimps and hookers all had an unofficial "spokesman," and his name was Lenny Bruce.NOW, the reason for this long winded narration is this.
Our hapless hero (Jacob) was one of Lenny's best friends and the two of them spent many nights amongst the werewolves and other creatures of the night in the bowels of NYC.
It was a time when the term "Hip" meant Jazz and Junk, and not Pot and Pop.
It was a time of the original "cool" and if nothing else Lenny was one of the coolest cats around!
Lenny was the epitome of the "Beat Generation!"
So, on my list....... (Remember my list?) I had always planned to somehow meet Jacob Cohen/Jack Roy/Rodney Dangerfield and get him to tell me some Lenny stories! They would have been amazing!
But, because I didn't make the list, and so never got around to doing it, the S.O.B. went and died on me and now the opportunity is gone.How's that for a turn of events, I never got no respect from Rodney Dangerfield!
Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com
Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com
Labels: comedy, george carlin, hip, humor, jazz, jonathan winters, junk, lenny bruce, mort sahl, nyc. stand-up, rodney dangerfield, woody allen
posted by Allan W Janssen | 1:30 p.m.
2 Comments:
That is so funny and quite brilliant... I almost admit you are funnier than myself. I went ahead and listed you as a favorite link on my blog.
David.
tell me your site david and i will link to it too!
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