A Great Keaton Impersonation for Christmas

[Richard M Roberts]

I recently picked up the DVD from Legendary Entertainment Alliance (sounds like a comic-book super-hero group)’s of three Garry Moore Christmas shows from 1959-61 and was delighted not only to have three episodes of the hard-to-get Garry Moore Show but also to find that on the 1960 Christmas Show Moore does an extended sketch featuring his impression of Buster Keaton.

I saw Moore do Keaton the first time on the 1970’s episode of TO TELL THE TRUTH in which Raymond Rohauer was a contestant. Moore opened the show with a short bit as Keaton having lunch on a park bench, and I was struck then how good the impression was. Moore certainly resembled Keaton facially, far more than Donald O’Connor does, and despite doing less of the physical humor, Moore gets an incredible number of the mannerisms, the lope, the tip of the hat, the clasping of the hands together, it’s a really rather canny impersonation.

Moore started doing the imitation on his Television show in the 50’s, having always been a Keaton fan and having Buster on as a regular guest. I have a photo of at least one of Keaton’s appearances where Moore stands beside him in Keaton costume (perhaps we have another undocumented mirror routine resurfacing somewhere among the Moore Kinescopes), and apparently Keaton himself coached Moore on the impersonation. It apparently was a hit with audiences to the point that Moore would do it as a regular bit on his Variety show for several years, and after seeing the sketch on the Christmas Show, one can see why.

The bit revolves around Moore/Buster trying to mail out a Christmas parcel on Christmas Eve, and it is conceivable that Keaton might have contributed gags to it. Moore does the Keaton gag of heading the long post office line at a closed window only to have another window at the other end, suddenly leaving him last in line, and the whole routine has an authentic Keaton feel to it. It was really an enjoyable bit and a great tribute to a then-still-alive comedy legend.

I heartily recommend this DVD, just for a glimpse of another Television legend who name is now rather unjustly forgotten due to the unavailability of much of his work, and the Keaton impersonation is an added happy bonus. The full title of the DVD set is THE GARRY MOORE SHOW PRESENTS A CAROL BURNETT CHRISTMAS (Burnett was a Garry Moore Discovery and a regular on his Variety show for a number of years and though she indeed does appear on all three of these Christmas Shows, perhaps Legendary Entertainment Alliance has promoted her name a bit more than Moore’s to sell a few more discs), and here is the Amazon link to it:

http://www.amazon.com/Gary-Moore-Show-P ... ol+burnett" target="_blank" target="_blank


Worth a look if just to read all the whiners complaining about being duped into buying what they stupidly misread and believed to be a CAROL BURNETT SHOW Christmas DVD while missing the rare gems that are indeed on the set.



RICHARD M ROBERTS

[JFK]

1. The artist Al Hirschfeld mentioned the Keaton Moore similarity in one of his books,
and it can be glimpsed more than somewhat in the two images below.


2. Moore’s 4 year radio teaming with Jimmy Durante, besides inspiring a 1960s tv cartoon,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augie_Dogg ... ggie_Daddy
might also have reminded critics and caricaturists (and Moore) of the likeness
Moore shared with Durante’s 1930s film partner.

3. Amazingly enough, F Scott Fitzgerald joined with a teen-aged Moore to work- posthumously-
with Ring Lardner, yet another Moore doppelgänger (as seen here in a David Levine caricature).

Scott Fitzgerald by Andrew Turnbull pages 247-248
[Scott Fitzgerald] had the idea of making some of Ring Lardner’s one-act skits into a Grand Guignol suitable for Broadway, and to help with the the continuity he enlisted a youth just out of high school named Garry Morfitt, later Garry Moore of television. One evening Fitzgerald handed Moore a set of colored pencils and told him to write the dialogue of each character in a different color. Moore protested. Fitzgerald insisted. Moore changed pencils until he thought Fitzgerald wasn’t noticing, but suddenly Fitzgerald was standing over him in rebuke. Moore argued that changing pencils didn’t make any difference. “Are you telling me how to write?” cried Fitzgerald. “Get out!” He flung his arm dramatically towards the door, ending the evening’s efforts.

http://baltimoreauthors.ubalt.edu/write ... gerald.htm
During the next few years, Zelda's mental health deteriorated. In 1932, Fitzgerald brought her and their daughter, Frances Scott "Scottie" Fitzgerald, to Baltimore. They rented a house just north of Rodgers Forge on the grounds of La Paix, the estate of architect Bayard Turnbull, while Zelda received treatment at the Phipps Psychiatric Clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital and later at Sheppard Pratt Hospital. After a fire at La Paix (which Towson firefighters attributed to electrical problems but which many people attributed to Zelda), Fitzgerald moved to 1307 Park Avenue in Bolton Hill, not far from the monument to his famous ancestor, Francis Scott Key.
One night on his way home, according to historian Frank Shivers, a drunk Fitzgerald jumped out of the car in which he was riding as it approached the Key monument and hid in some nearby bushes. When the driver (a young Garry Moore, who later became a radio and television star) asked what he was doing, Fitzgerald said, "Shhh! I don't want [Uncle] Frank [Francis Scott Key] to see me this way!"

4. Moore fanatics wanting a sense of the man should purchase (good luck!) Moore’s scarce, self-published
Mumble, Mumble: A Collection of Columns from The Island Packet (the LOC lacks a copy),
or the more-easily-located books by Herb Sanford and Henry Morgan.
Robert L. Harris, the father of actor Ed Harris, wound up working the art section of the Marshall Field's book
department. When not proudly talking of his son's career, Harris could be coaxed into reminiscing on his own days
on the Garry Moore show. Some of these tales wound up, I think, in the local papers, but I could not find them online...
and

[Ray Faiola]

I thought you meant Gene Sheldon in BABES IN TOYLAND!!!!