The Entroporium

[Download]
Excerpts from The First Family.mp3

Just in time for the election and Halloween, a reason to talk about imitations of politicians. Vaughn Meader is dead.

Who?

In 1962, 27-year old comic Vaughn Meader was hired by a couple of veteran comedy writers to imitate President Kennedy for a record called “The First Family.” This was the ‘golden age’ of comedy records (basically starting with Shelley Berman and ending with Bill Cosby) and they still sold like crazy. After its release in late 1962, The First Family became the then fastest selling album of all time (1.2m copies in two weeks, 7.5m copies overall) and won the Grammy for Album Of The Year. Meader quickly became a megastar, appearing on every talk show, playing to sold out rooms and being profiled for Life Magazine. The record company readied Volume 2 for a November 1963 release.

I think you can see where this is going. After JFK’s assassination, Meader was dropped from public life like that. (“It was character assassination,” he said. “My character was assassinated. I got a bum rap.”) With no more prospects in show business because of his close association with JFK, his life descended into drinking and drugs, and he never again received any kind of national attention. You can read Meaders’ reflections on this bizarre life turn here.

I remember this record well from summer vacations out at my grandparents’ house in Roslyn Heights, NY. They had basically no pop records, but a smattering of the comedy records from the early 60s like the weirdly racist Jose Jimenez and The Button Down Mind Of Bob Newhart. The First Family was my favorite. It’s a classic and a gentle reminder that not all political humor need be mean-spirited.