ED WYNN
One of the first established comedians who successfully made the switch from the variety stage, to radio and then, into the early ranks of of television performers was a classic costumed funny-man named Ed Wynn...called "The Perfect Fool"
On one occasion, when being interviewed on radio in his home town of Philadelphia,Pa. Ed Wynn was asked to define what a comedian might be. "A comedian is not a man who tells funny things" he confided,"he is a man who tells things funny."
I remember one evening when, at the very height of his career as a fine radio comedian, when he ran into that definition head on. He was a doing a hour long comedy show sponsored by The Texaco Company. The announcer on the show, elegantly garbed in tuxedo wear as announcer were often garbed in those glorious days of studio-staged radio performances, was one of the best voices in the best voices on all of radio land.
I don't remember if it occurred in the very start of the show or during one of the one-minute commercials on behalf of the Texaco Company's product - Texaco gasoline.
One the nation's finest radio announcers stood erect before the large,boxy microphones and very plainly proclaimed that "Ed Wynn - the King of Comedy - The Perfect Fool - was presented for everyone's enjoyment by Texaco - the makers of Texaco gas-a-loon!"
The word "gas-a-loon" seemed to simply hang there in the air. I don't remember any other sound for what seemed like minutes, at least. Unbelievable! Impossible! Did you hear what he said? The redolence roared into space around us and laughter suddenly filled every crevice! Out of the riot of it all, it was the rather tinny, raspy voice of Ed Wynn himself which brought us back from radio's never-never-ever-land. He stood at the main mike position and kept saying all the ways the letters could possibly be pronounced... a pause and you sensed what the next trial term would be: "gas-a-loon!"
We survived. We all edged our way back to sanity. We realized, later, that we had been part of an historical moment. We had seen Ed Wynn's Philadelphia definition of a comedian to be - not things funny being said, but rather things being said funny!
.
Ed Wynn's remarkable show business wisdom in handling it all as he did remain a marvel. He made the most of it; enjoyed by many and took his friend and co-worker of many years Graham McNamee off the hook by making it all seem to be a fifty-five gallon drum of fun.
Furthermore, he never afterward let the audience or McNamee forget it and managed,in some way, to use the curious term, for the rest of the season. In doing so, he sold a lot of that good Texaco gas-a-loon,as well.
A.L.M. February 8, 2005 [c497wds]
