Category: Morty Gunty

Talk to the Hands

Watch this and fall in love with Shari Lewis.

The way the kids in the audience reacted was how I felt as a young boy watching Shari. A documentary celebrating the life and work of the late and very talented ventriloquist/puppeteer has some upcoming screenings.

I’ll take exception with the assertion in the trailer that, “In the early days of television, there really were no kids shows.” Howdy Doody began in 1947, as did Fran Allison’s Kukla, Fran, and Ollie puppet show. Crusader Rabbit was pitched as a limited animation TV cartoon series in 1948. Bob Clampett’s Time for Beany puppet ensemble first aired in 1949. The 1950s brought a flood of TV shows for kids.

That quote in the trailer continues with, “for Shari to come along… have puppets… comedy… I just knew this was different.” Shari was certainly special, but I wouldn’t say her act was essentially different from other ventriloquists. Edgar Bergen and Paul Winchell used dummies. Señor Wences and Shari talked to themselves with hand puppets.

Blogger Tralfaz says, “She was like the nice older girl down the street.”

https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-six-year-old-who-loved-shari-lewis.html

Shari wasn’t just nice, she was sexy. She had appeal beyond the kiddie set that, unfortunately, never took off. The dads in the audience must have paused to take in more than a passing glance. Everything about Shari Lewis was, in a word, attractive.

Phyllis Naomi Hurwitz, aka Shari Lewis

Tralfaz has this quote from a 1963 news item, reacting to the cancellation of Shari’s NBC show:

Childhood’s loss, however, may well turn out to be a gain for adult audiences… It will undoubtedly come as a great shock to the summer theater audiences who go to see “Indoor Sport” to find Shari, the perpetual ingenue with pony tail hairdo, playing a young matron with divorce on her mind—and without a note to sing or a hand puppet named Lamb Chop or Hush Puppy to talk to.

So what happened? Why wasn’t there a big primetime network TV breakthrough for Shari in the Sixties? Her greatest success was entertaining kids, and yet NBC canceled her beloved children’s show, while CBS kept Captain Kangaroo going year after year. This conundrum is something I hope the documentary can explain.

The Shari Lewis Show replaced the long-running Howdy Doody. Robert Crumb thought Howdy Doody was creepy and unsettling, whereas Paul Rubens loved the show and he took inspiration from it when creating Pee-Wee Herman. Which reminds me that I need to revisit and rework my posts regarding my unintentional role in getting Morty Gunty’s WOR-TV show in New York canceled.

Barry Mitchell’s Morty Gunty memories

Morty Gunty and Barry Mitchell 1964

Comedian Barry Mitchell spotted my items about Morty Gunty and he sent a very nice note with a state-of-the-art (for 1964) screen shot. Here is Barry’s YouTube channel. Great stuff, Barry!

http://www.youtube.com/user/barryfunnytv

On a cold January day in 1964, I was did my ventriloquism act on Morty Gunty’s local Channel 9 kiddie show, “The Funny Company.”

It was taped at WOR’s Times Square studio. I believe the address was 1440 Broadway.

Morty asked me my dummy’s name and I told him, “Melvin Mazel.” (“Mazel” is the Yiddish word for “Luck.”)

The attached screen grab is the exact moment Morty asked incredulously, “Melvin MAZEL?” then turned his head and said to an off- camera stagehand, “Irving, he’s from your parish!”

I saw Morty one more time in 1978 when he was performing at a nightclub in Miami Beach. I remember one of his jokes (paraphrasing, here) “My wife is an avid reader. She bought “The Joy of Cooking” and “The Joy of Sex” and brought a brisket to climax.”

Keep Smiling!
Barry Mitchell

I’ll try, Barry! Thanks very much.

‘Blind Date’ by Morty Gunty

Recently I posted comedian Morty Gunty’s rendition of “There’s A War.” Here is the flip side of the single, a comedy routine called “Blind Date,” with Morty backed by a cool jazz ensemble.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/JAN/GuntyBlindDate.mp3]

The writing credit is “A. Cogan,” presumably a misspelling of comedy writer Arnie Kogen, who can be seen with Mark Evanier and some other noteworthy gents, all associated with MAD Magazine.

Arnie Kogen, Al Feldstein, Sergio Aragonés, Mark Evanier, Al Jaffee
Arnie Kogen, Al Feldstein, Sergio Aragonés, Mark Evanier, Al Jaffee

Happiness Is a Warm Gunty

Sorry for the bad pun, but I couldn’t resist. When I first saw the eBay auction for this Morty Gunty postcard from The Funny Company TV show, I thought it was just like the one I had way back in late ’64.

Funny Company postcard with Morty Gunty

But looking at it now, I realize it’s not likely the same one. That postcard was printed in blue, including the autograph. Further, I don’t recall the words “Keep Smiling” being on the card, but my recollection could be faulty on that point.

So the mystery deepens. Based on my memory, there must have been at least two different printings, if not two different postcards.

The Full Morty

At last! I own an original Morty Gunty autograph. Not a pre-print. It appears to be inscribed “To Max.” I first wrote about it at this link, but I hesitated to buy it until humor writer Arnie Kogen confirmed the authenticity of the autograph. So I bought it, and here’s my scan, which is an improvement over the auction picture.

Morty Gunty Autograph

Comments for my Morty Gunty posts now include one of his daughters, and his daughters’ babysitter! This is wonderful. I’ll be contacting both soon, and hopefully be putting them in touch with one other.