Gerard W. Purcell Associates, LBJ In The Catskills, Warner Brothers W-1662, 1966
Vaughn Meader sold millions of records doing an impersonation of President Kennedy. The Beverly Hillbillies, about a rural family striking it rich and moving into exclusive society, was the number one show on TV. So with the sudden presidency of the very Texan Lyndon Johnson, it didn’t take long for comedy producers to try their luck at “going there” with poking fun at the new First Family.
Rather than Beverly Hills, the Johnson Family gets sent to the upstate New York resort area in the Catskill Mountains at the height of the Borscht Belt era. Picture the movie “Dirty Dancing”, only not retro. For an obvious and easy set up, the material is just so weak. The impressions aren’t that great and the comedy is full of stereotypes that don’t play well now. It’s hard to imagine that this passed for comedy 50 years ago.
Maybe not very funny Presidents in not very funny times don’t make great comedy records.
Today’s Summary:
Cost $2, $677 Remaining
THE GROOVES MAN 