Mary Impersonation

[Yhtapmys]

Someone here turned me onto Rand's Esoteric OTR. Every weekend, he seems to have at least one great transcription posted for listening (I especially like any musical programmes).

This weekend, he has a Hoagy Carmichael Show where the highlight is a female impressionist doing Mary as a judge at the trial of Jack. Her sketch is at about the 20:00 mark.

http://randsesotericotr.podbean.com/200 ... ael-pgm-2/

Her inflections are dead on and her voice is pretty close, too.

Yhtapmys

[TheSportsmenQuartet]

The name listed in the description is Colleen Collins. I've just started looking through Google for info on her but nothing so far. She's not bad.

[scottp]

Thanks for posting that. It stirred my "impressionist funny bone." I really liked TV shows such as "The Copycats."
As the years went by, I tended not to bother with impressionists any more because... I don't care if someone can sound like Christian Slater. But I suppose I've missed some good stuff that might have been mixed in there.
Anyway bravo for Colleen Collins!

[helloagain]

Too bad Jack didn't know about her. She would've come in handy all those times when Mary was 'sick'.

[Yhtapmys]

Too bad Jack didn't know about her. She would've come in handy all those times when Mary was 'sick'.

I felt bad for the writers on the first show when Babe had to fill in for her sister. It sounds like they didn't have time to re-write Mary's part so they tossed in some last-minute Babe lines to give her a reason for being there.

In thinking about Miss Collins, it dawned on me that television was really the place where people started showing up solely to do an act of impressions (mainly on Ed Sullivan). I don't recall a lot of it on radio, except maybe on Major Bowes. Sure, there would be special bits where an actor would be called in to fake someone's voice, but there wasn't a lot of "Now, if Cary Grant went into a lingerie shop, he's sound like this...."

Jack did a pretty funny Fred Allen. I've never warmed to Ollie O'Toole's version.

Yhtapmys

[helloagain]

Yes, Jack did a great impression of Allen, and judging by the audience reaction, I think he really had a clothespin on his nose. Mary was pretty good as Portland, also. And Dennis seemed to be able to do most anyone!

[scottp]

There's a Burns and Allen episode where the sponsor demands a big guest star-- which George recognizes as a sign the show's in trouble-- and Peter Lind Hayes imitates Lionel Barrymore (very well) and a couple others I can't remember.

[TimL2005]

One Of Bill Thompson's stock characters on Fibber McGee and Molly was Horatio K. Boomer, Thompson used a dead-on impersonation of WC Fields' voice-Which Fields himself complimented as being "dammed good!"

[scottp]

I don't consider Boomer as a dead-on impersonation, but it clearly borrowed the "tall tales" aspect of Fields' character. I heard "Mr. Old Timer" first, and to this day, more often, and I appreciate that character for being less derivative.

Of course Fibber claimed many amazing exploits himself.

[Maxwell]

I don't consider Boomer as a dead-on impersonation, but it clearly borrowed the "tall tales" aspect of Fields' character. I heard "Mr. Old Timer" first, and to this day, more often, and I appreciate that character for being less derivative.

Of course Fibber claimed many amazing exploits himself.

That ain't the way I heared it....

[Yhtapmys]

The name listed in the description is Colleen Collins. I've just started looking through Google for info on her but nothing so far. She's not bad.

I'll be damned if I didn't just find her in Graham Webb's cartoon encyclopedia. She did voices for Tex Avery at MGM, including Little Rural Riding Hood, The Counterfeit Cat and House of Tomorrow.

Yhtapmys

[scottp]

That Hoagy Carmichael show mentions that Colleen Collins worked with Rudy Vallee. I recently read "My Vagabond Lover" by Eleanor Vallee, and a lot of names were dropped in that book but I wouldn't have recognized "Colleen Collins" until now.
The book included Rudy's list of quite a few women he had known, in one way or another, with his "notes" about them. In the list he mispelled the name of one of his wives-- I think he had it as "Jane Greir."